Religion in the Early Arabic Press in Beirut: An intellectual History

• Applicant: Mohammad Magout, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 523693607

This project is a study of the various ways religion was conceptualized in the early Arabic press of Beirut, Ottoman Syria, between 1870 and 1890. It systematically examines how, when, and under which circumstances the topic of religion came up in a selection of periodicals and how it was articulated in relation to concepts referring to other social spheres, institutions, practices, and identities. The project addresses these questions within the framework of intellectual history while drawing on scholarly literature from three primary research areas: first, debates in religious studies on the evolution and the globalization of the concept of religion (along with its opposite concept of the secular), especially in the Arab-Islamic context; second, literature on the development of secularism and secular thought in the Arab world and intellectual responses to this development; and finally, studies of social and cultural history of the Nahḍa. The goal of this project is to contribute to the historicization of conceptions of religion in late-Ottoman Arab social thought in light of transfers, entanglements, and encounters across confessional, cultural, and geographic lines. The project concentrates on four periodicals with different confessional backgrounds and intellectual orientations: al-Jinan (est. 1870 by Butrus al-Bustani), Thamarat al-Funun (est. 1875 by Islamic educational charity Jamʿiyyat al-Funun), al-Bashir (est. 1870 by the Jesuit mission), and al-Nashra al-Usbuʿiyya (est. 1871 by the American Protestant mission). While the focus in this study is on the content of these periodicals, attention will also be given to the role of the press as a modern medium of communication that contributed to the formation of a trans-regional and trans-confessional Arab public sphere. In terms of methodology, the project follows an extensive approach (as opposed to selective), seeking to capture as many discussions of religion and its relevance for society in these periodicals as possible regardless of genre of text, subject, and authorship. The proposed project would make a fresh contribution to intellectual history of Arab thought in the late 19th century in two primary ways: first, by taking an integrated approach to periodicals both as text and as medium of communication; second, by integrating Muslim and Christian as well as local, regional, and foreign perspectives in one study.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Ulrich Brandenburg; Professorin Dr. Bettina Dennerlein