Umm Al-Qura (newspaper)
Saudi Arabian official newspaper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Umm Al-Qura (Arabic: أُم القُرى, lit. 'The Mother of Villages') is the first Arabic-language Saudi Arabian daily newspaper based in Mecca,[1] and the official gazette of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The paper has been in circulation since 1924. Its editor-in-chief now is Ashraf Al-Husseini.
 | |
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Ministry of Media |
| Founded | 12 December 1924 |
| Language | Arabic |
| Headquarters | Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
| Website | http://www.uqn.gov.sa/ |
History and profile
Umm Al-Qura is established by Ibn Saud, the Kingdom's founder, and the first issue was published on 12 December 1924.[2][3] In fact, the paper was a successor of Al Qibla which was the official gazette of the Kingdom of Hejaz.[4] One of the reasons behind the establishment of Umm Al-Qura was the harsh criticisms of an Egyptian newspaper, Al Muqattam, against Ibn Saud.[5] Ibn Saud started the paper to counterweigh the propaganda of Al Muqattam through the paper.[5]
Umm Al-Qura was initially a weekly newspaper issued in four hand-printed pages before it had turned into a government gazette – an announcer of royal decrees and other state-related news.[6][7] Shortly after its start, Umm Al-Qura frequently featured articles supporting Wahhabi doctrine which was given as a branch of Sunni Islam.[8] The paper called Ibn Saud the Caeser of the Arabs following the annexation of Hejaz.[9]
The founding editor-in-chief of the paper was Yusuf Yasin, an advisor to Ibn Saud.[10][11] Ghalib Hamza Abulfaraj, a Saudi businessman, also served as the editor-in-chief of the paper.[12] One of its early contributors was St John Philby.[13]
Umm Al-Qura is published by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information.[14]
Significant events covered by the paper
The significant events that the paper covered, sometimes in special issues, included:[2]
- Unification of Hejaz and Nejd (1926)
- Establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1932)
- Discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia (1938)
- The historic meeting between King Abdulaziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States (1945)
- First Arab-Israeli war (1948)
- Death of King Abdulaziz (1953)
Financial crisis
During World War II all newspapers at that time, Sawt Al Hijaz, Al-Madina Al manawara, and Umm Al Qura experienced financial crises, leading to the suspension of their publication from 1941 to 1946 except Umm Al Qura which continued to be issued.[15]
