''Al-Bashir'' ( 'The Messenger') was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

magazine published in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

(modern-day Lebanon), by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. It was published triweekly from 1870 to 1947 and supported the Catholic religious cause in the region.

History and profile

It was launched by Ambroise Monnot, S.J. in Beirut with the name ''Concile du Vatican'' in 1870 as an eight-page weekly Arabic publication. The founding objective was to protect the Vatican Council (1869–1870) from the harsh criticisms exerted by the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

journals published in Beirut. In 1871 the publication was renamed as ''Al-Bashir'' and became a comprehensive journal. In the early period the editor was Father Louis Cheikho who later founded and edited another Jesuit magazine, '' Al-Machriq''. ''Al-Bashir'' was a supporter of the Decentralization Party. The rival of ''Al-Bashir'' was '' Al-Muqtataf'', and there were frequent hot debates between them concerning various topics. One of these debates took place in 1883 when ''Al-Muqtataf'' published articles about the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

-related views developed by

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. The most serious attacks came from the editor of ''Al-Bashir'', Cheikho, who argued that Darwin's ideas were totally absurd. The editors of ''Al-Muqtataf'' who were Protestants were accused of being

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

by ''Al-Bashir''. The accusations of the editors and contributors of two journals lasted until 1884, and the incident became known not only in the region but also in Europe. The problem was solved the same year only through the intervention of the Ottomans who asked the editors through the Directorate of Foreign Affairs and Publications in Beirut to stop accusing each other if they did not want to be subject to the bans or penalty. Partly due to this event the journal was censored by the Ottoman in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. In 1888 the journal was given a certificate of honor and a silver medal from the Roman jubilee committee of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

. A Belgian-born Jesuit and Orientalist

Henri Lammens Henri Lammens (1 July 1862 – 23 April 1937) was a Belgian Orientalist historian and Jesuit, who wrote (in French) on the early history of Islam. Education and career as a Jesuit Born in Ghent, Belgium of Catholic Flemish stock, Henri Lammens ...

was one of the editors, and Philippe Cuche, an Arabic writer, was among the contributors and directors of the journal. Lammens served in the post twice, briefly in 1894 and then from 1900 to 1903. ''Al-Bashir'' ceased publication in 1914. The paper reemerged in 1924 and was again published by the Jesuit under the editorship of Lahad Khater. It was one of the critics of Antoun Saadeh's

Syrian Social Nationalist Party The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP; ) is a Syrian nationalist party operating in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. It advocates the establishment of a Greater Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present-day Syria, Leb ...

(SSNP) in the late 1930s. For ''Al-Bashir'' the SSNP was financed by Italy and Germany which were ruled by the Fascist parties and was attempting to create internal troubles in Lebanon and in Syria. ''Al-Bashir'' was in circulation until 1947 when it was permanently closed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashir 1870 establishments in Ottoman Syria 1914 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire Arabic-language magazines Catholic magazines Catholicism in Beirut Defunct magazines published in Lebanon Jesuit publications Lebanese Jesuits Magazines established in 1870 Magazines established in 1924 Magazines disestablished in 1914 Magazines disestablished in 1947 Magazines published in Beirut