This research aims to study the biographies of Arab and Islamic figures and
personalities published in Cairo between 1898 and 1935 by Al-Manar magazine.
The research attempts to clarify the methodology Al-Manar magazine and its
owner Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Reda (1865-1935) used in selecting the figures and
personalities to be written about. It analyzes the criteria employed in determining
the figures Al-Manar published biographies about. Moreover, the research focuses
on revealing the geographic locations of these figures as well as introducing their
intellectual and political backgrounds and the areas in which they are famous in.
This research is also concerned with a systematic and technical study of
biographical writing methods adopted by Mohammed Rashid Reda and other writers
who contributed to Al-Manar magazine. It examines the sources used as well as the
contents of the published biographies.
The importance of this study lies in the service it provides to researchers of
Arab and Islamic affairs during the period of the late nineteenth century and the
first half of the twentieth century. It imparts information about prominent figures and
personalities who contributed to the events and issues of that period.
The researcher adopted the methodology of historical research in conjunction
with methodologies of description and analysis. He conducted a comprehensive
survey of the thirty-five volumes of Al-Manar, which were issued over thirty-seven
years. The researcher collected the material related to biographies, classified,
analyzed, and presented them in a descriptive-analytical framework.
The paper concludes with the result that Mohammed Rashid Reda relied on
a specific criteria for choosing the figures he wrote about. He also referred to this
criteria for selecting the method of writing biographies in terms of titles, content,
documentation, quotations, the publication of documents and correspondence, and
expressing his position in favor of or in opposition to the figures he wrote about.
These criteria were applied to all biographies published in Al-Manar whether written
by Mohammed Rashid Reda or others.
The research recommends further studies to be made about the journal AlManar, as it is an important historical source.