A brief history of the newspaper "Thamarāt al-Funūn"

Thamarāt al-Funūn is a weekly newspaper founded in 1875. Sheikh Abdel-Kader Mustafa al-Kabbani, a prominent figure in the public field during the late nineteenth century, managed its operations and editorship. He also managed its financial matters and all necessary foreign correspondence, and supervised the editing, proofreading and printing processes since its foundation.

In 1878, upon the death of Hajj Saadallah Hamadeh, founder of the “Funun Society” or “Society of Arts”, which initially published the newspaper, Kabbani purchased the rights to the newspaper and its printing press. He continued to solely supervise its production and management for more than thirty-three years. During that time, the newspaper got suspended in 4 instances, and finally ceased publication on Monday, November 20, 1908.

Thamarāt al-Funūn was published for thirty-four years. It was concerned with publishing local and international news, as well as news related to the Islamic and Arab worlds in the political, social, economic, cultural, literary and scientific fields, in addition to publishing translated news from foreign newspapers and magazines.

It had reporters spread across the Ottoman Empire: in Beirut, Damascus, Latakia, Cyprus, Acre, Mount Lebanon, Hama, Sidon, Haifa, Jaffa, Chouf, Tripoli, Izmir, Tyr, Nablus, Egypt, Tarsis, Alexandretta, Homs, Astana (Istanbul), Gaza, Port Said, Algeria and Baghdad.

During the period of its publication, the newspaper gained historical significance for being a testimony and record of political, social, and literary events. It was also a reliable source during the most delicate periods in the history of Lebanon and the Arab World, mainly with the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the growth of foreign influence in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon. This period witnessed a major literary and cultural renaissance, motivated by the spread of schools and missionaries, the growth of Arab nationalism and fanaticism, accompanied with interest in the Arabic language.

The newspaper was also concerned with women's liberation movements and the emerging of press revival and accompanied these transformations in the Arab and Islamic society by being an active participant and efficient contributor during that renaissance.

In addition to establishing the newspaper, Kabbani founded the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association and established its free-of-charge schools in the year 1878. He announced its establishment through his newspaper, after the establishment of the Syrian Protestant College (American University of Beirut) and the Saint Joseph University in Beirut.