''The Majalla'', often directly transliterated as ''Al Majalla'' (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

:المجلة, "the magazine") is a

Saudi Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

-owned,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based political news journal published in Arabic, English and Persian. The magazine's headquarters in Saudi Arabia is in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

. From 1980 to 2009 a print edition was issued weekly, every Sunday. In April 2009 the magazine moved to an all-online format. The online version continues to be published weekly.

History and profile

''The Majalla'' was launched by

Hisham Hafiz Hisham Ali Hafiz (28 April 1931 - 26 February 2006) was a Saudi Arabian newspaper publisher and author. He is best known for co-founding ''Arab News'' and his Saudi Research and Publishing Company published 16 newspapers and magazines at the ti ...

in 1980. The magazine is owned by Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), and was reestablished in 1987 by

Ahmed bin Salman Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from ...

, then chairman of the SRMG. The former chairman of the SRMG is

Turki bin Salman Al Saud Turki bin Salman Al Saud ( ''Turkī ibn Salmān Āl Su‘ūd'') (born 1987) is a Saudi prince, one of the grandsons of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz, and businessman who is the chairman of Tharawat Holding Company. On 9 February 2013, h ...

. The SRMG owns many other newspapers such as ''

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

'', ''

Al Eqtisadiah ''Al Eqtisadiah'' () is a Saudi daily business newspaper, published by Saudi Research and Publishing Company. It has been in circulation since 1962. History ''Al Eqtisadiah'' was first launched as an economic daily in 1962. The founders of the p ...

'', ''

Urdu News ''Urdu News'' is a Saudi Arabian Urdu language-news website with the focus on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the globe. It was the first daily Urdu newspaper published in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and also in other Arab countries. It is ow ...

'' and ''

Asharq Al Awsat ''Asharq Al-Awsat'' (, meaning "The Middle East") is an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London. A pioneer of the "off-shore" model in the Arabic press, the paper is often noted for its distinctive green-tinted pages. Although pu ...

'' and magazines, including ''

Sayidaty ''Sayidaty'' (Arabic سيدتي ''Sayyidatī'', meaning ''My Lady'' in English) is a weekly Arabic and a monthly English women's magazine published in both Riyadh and Beirut and distributed throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Am ...

'', ''

Al Jamila ''Al Jamila'' is an Arabic monthly women's magazine, published in Dubai. It is one of the publications of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group. History and ownership ''Al Jamila'' was firstly launched in London and then, in Riyadh in October 1 ...

'', '' Arrajol'', ''Bassim'' and ''Heya''. ''The Majalla'', along with ''Sayidaty'' and ''

Al Yamamah Al-Yamama () is a historical region in south-eastern Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Only a handful of centralized states ever arose in the Yamama, but it figured prominently in early Islamic history, becoming a central theater in the Ridd ...

'', is among popular magazines in Saudi Arabia.

Editors

Abdul Karim Abou-Nasr was the first chief editor of the magazine. He created the concept and managed it from April 1, 1979 to October 22, 1983. The first issue was published on February 16, 1980. During this period, Elias Mansour was the managing editor and Gaby G. Tabarani was the secretary of the editorial staff. From 1983 to 1987 the chief editor of the magazine was

Othman Al Omeir Othman Al Omeir (; born 1950) is a Saudi Arabia, Saudi-born British businessman, journalist and editor. He is considered to be close to several Saudi rulers, including the incumbent Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, King Salman and former rulers Kin ...

who owns news portal ''

Elaph Elaph (; ''Solidarity'') is the first daily Arabic independent online newspaper and is not associated with any established print or broadcast medium. History and profile ''Elaph'' was launched by Elaph Publishing in London in 2001. The reason fo ...

''. Then Abdel Rahman Al Rashid served as the editor-in-chief of the magazine from 1987 to 1998.

Adel Al Toraifi Adel Al Toraifi (Arabic: عادل الطريفي; born 1979) is a Saudi journalist and a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs, focusing on Saudi-Iranian relations and foreign policy decision making in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. He was t ...

was appointed editor-in-chief of ''the Majalla'' in 2010, and the chief editor of the magazine. In July 2012, Toraifi was also appointed deputy chief editor of ''Asharq Al Awsat'', a daily published by SRMG. Toraifi's term as the editor-in-chief of the magazine ended in July 2014 when Salman bin Yousuf Al Dossary was appointed to the post. His term ended in 2016 when Ghassan Charbel was appointed to the post. ''The Majalla'' offers the readers an overview of the main weekly news, analysis and exclusive reports with a focus on political affairs. The magazine also provides news from ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

'', ''World Monitor'' and ''MEED''. Because of its close connection with the Arab world, ''The Majalla'' has often broken stories from sources close to militant groups like the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

, and

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

. It also publishes articles written by senior Saudi princes like

Prince Turki Al Faisal Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (; born 15 February 1945), commonly known as Turki Al-Faisal, is a House of Saud, Saudi prince and former government official who served as the head of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency from 1979 to 2001. He ...

. The magazine is also well known for its political cartoons, particularly those by the late Mahmoud Kahil. These were often critical of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. ''The Majalla'' sponsored London's first Festival for Arab Caricature in 1989.

Circulation

In 1994 ''The Majalla'' sold 116,000 copies. The audited circulation of the magazine at the end of the 1990s is stated to be just under 100,000 copies. Its 2009 circulation was 86,961 copies.

References

External links

Home page of the Arabic editionEditors page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majalla, The 1980 establishments in the United Kingdom 2009 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Arabic-language magazines Arabic-language websites Defunct political magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1980 Magazines disestablished in 2009 Magazines published in London Magazines published in Saudi Arabia Mass media in Jeddah Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom News magazines published in the United Kingdom Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Online magazines with defunct print editions Saudi Arabian news websites Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom