Al Liwa (newspaper)
Newspaper in Egypt (1900–1912)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Al Liwa (Arabic: The Standard) was a nationalist newspaper which was published in Cairo, Egypt, in the period 1900–1912. It was the first mass circulation newspaper in the country.[1] The paper was founded by Mustafa Kamil Pasha. From its start in 1900 to the death of its founder in 1908, Al Liwa adopted a nationalist political stance. Between 1907 and 1910 it was the official organ of the National Party which was also established by Mustafa Kamil Pasha. The paper adopted a pan-Islamist political stance between 1908 and 1910. Al Liwa was not affiliated with the National Party from 1910 to August 1912 when it was closed down.
- Nationalist (1900–1908)
- Pan-Islamist (1908–1910)
| Founder | Mustafa Kamil Pasha |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2 January 1900 |
Ceased publication | 31 August 1912 |
Political alignment |
|
| Language | Arabic |
| Headquarters | Cairo |
| Country | Egypt |
History and profile
Mustafa Kamil Pasha launched Al Liwa in 1900 when Al Muayyad, a newspaper in which he published articles, was shut down by the British.[2][3] The first issue appeared on 2 January that year.[4][5] The paper had a biweekly supplement entitled Majallat Al Liwa.[4] Al Liwa became popular among young men and one of the most read newspapers in the country.[6][7] It had the largest readership of 14,000 in the period 1900–1908.[8]
Kamil's articles published in the paper mostly contained his call to resist British existence in Egypt.[4] In 1906 the paper harshly criticized the appointment of Saad Zaghloul as education minister due to his pro-British tendency.[9] In March 1907 the French and English language editions of Al Liwa were launched, namely L'Etendard Egyptien and The Standard Egyptian, respectively.[4] All of these publications were financed by Khedive Abbas Hilmi.[10] In 1908 one of the contributors of the paper was Salama Moussa.[11]
Kamil established a political party, the National Party (mostly known as Al-Watani party or Patriotic Party), in Alexandria on 22 October 1907, and Al Liwa became its official organ.[2][12] Following the death of Mustafa Kamil on 10 February 1908 Mohammad Farid took over the leadership of the party and reshaped the ideological approach of the paper.[13] Farid fired Mahmud Izzat who had been the executive director of Al Liwa and who was close to Ali Fahmi Kamil, brother of the Mustafa Kamil.[14] In addition, Farid appointed a new editor-in-chief to the paper, Abdulaziz Jawish, who was a religious conservative figure.[13][14] In 1909 the French and English editions of Al Liwa ceased publication.[4]
Jawish published articles in the paper, criticising the Khedive and his Coptic Prime Minister Boutros Ghali.[15] He supported radical conservative views which led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1909.[13] However, Jawish's writings produced much more significant consequences for both Muslims and Copts in that Prime Minister Boutros Ghali was assassinated by Ibrahim Al Wardani on 21 February 1910.[13] Wardani was close to the National party.[16][17] The British authorities demanded that the paper should change its editorial stance, but Farid denied their request.[14] Instead, he announced that Al Liwa was not affiliated to the National party anymore.[14] Farid and other party members established another paper, Al Alam, which was made the official organ of the National party.[14] The last issue of Al Liwa was published on 31 August 1912.[4]
