Search

Copyright of Dirasat Tarbawiya is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biography is a genre with a long history in Arabic literature. This paper aims at demonstrating how Ǧurǧī Zaydān (1861–1914), one of the most prominent figures of the Nahḍah , adapted biographical writing to the needs of his time. The new medium of the periodical press seemed to be the most adequate means for him to realize his endeavors. The paper points to the central position accorded to biographical essays in al-Hilāl , the journal founded by Zaydān in 1892. Zaydān who saw himself in the role of the 'educator of society' pursued a twofold aim: the dissemination of historical knowledge and the presentation of role models. Through an exemplary reading of selected biographical essays published in the early years of al-Hilāl , the paper analyzes the style and structure of the essays and demonstrates how Zaydān selected and grouped the portrayed persons, building up a body of texts to be read as a series of exemplary lives. Focusing on the specifics related to the publishing medium, it examines various forms used by Zaydān to interact with the reader. Whereas, in previous research, much emphasis has been laid on the contents debated in the periodical press, I argue that it is particularly revealing to examine the effects and impact of form and style, of textual strategies and medial practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates the concept of composite nationalism with special reference to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, an intrepid politician and eloquent intellectual. Azad's scheme of composite nationalism was against the Muslim League's popular demand of separate homeland for Muslims. The scheme of composite nationalism by Azad incorporated the themes of anti-imperialism, pan-Islamism and anticommunalism. These aspects of composite nationalism overlap and intertwine each other in terms of inception, development and manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muhammad Rashid Rida, the editor of al-Manar and one of the preeminent Muslim thinkers of the twentieth century, published between 1898 and 1935 dozens of reports, analyses, and Quran exegesis on Jews, Zionism, and the Palestine question. His scholarship greatly influenced the Muslim Brothers and still reverberates in the Arab political discourse today. Based on the first systematic reading and contextualization of al-Manar's pertinent texts, this article examines and explains the radical shifts in Rida's views: from describing Zionism as a humanitarian enterprise of a virtuous nation to depicting it as a plan for ethnic cleansing; from expressing doubts about the ability of the Arabs to prevail against the Jews to proclaiming certainty that they would; and from condemning French anti-Semitism to embracing hateful theories about Jewish conspiracies and vices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]