| Frequency: | Bi-weekly |
| Founder: | Butrus al-Bustani |
| Firstdate: | January 1870 |
| Finaldate: | 1886 |
| Country: | Ottoman Empire |
| Based: | Beirut |
| Language: | Arabic |
Al-Jinan (Arabic: الجنان|al-Jinān|The Gardens) was an Arabic-language political and literary biweekly magazine established in Beirut by Butrus al-Bustani and active between 1870 and 1886.[1] [2] Its first issue appeared in January 1870. Written largely by Butrus' son Salim, who became its editor-in-chief in 1871,[3] the magazine finally ceased to appear because of the growing difficulties of writing freely in the Ottoman Empire under the rule of Sultan Abdülhamid.[4]
Al-Jinan had a pan-Arab political stance.[5] It was the first significant example of the kind of literary and scientific periodicals which began to appear in the 1870s in Arabic alongside the independent political newspapers.[4] The magazine was also one of the earliest Arabic magazines which covered narrative fiction such as novels, novellas and short stories.[3] [5] One of the novels serialized in the magazine was Salim Butrus' historical novel Passion during the Conquests of Syria (Arabic: الهيام في فتوح الشام|Al-Ḥayām fī Futūḥ al-Shām, 1884), which is about the 634–8 Muslim conquest of the Levant.[6]
Al-Jinan was issued by subscription only, and was not sold in bookstores.[3] In the initial phase the readers sent their subscriptions by post to Beirut.[3] Following its success local agents were employed to collect subscriptions in the cities, including Baghdad, Basra, Cairo, Alexandria, Aleppo, Assiut, Casablanca, Tangier, London, Paris and Berlin.[3] Three years after its start Al-Jinan had nearly 1500 subscribers.[5] The magazine's readers included the leading Muslim merchant families in Beirut.[5] It also had readers in Palestine.[2]
The issues of Al-Jinan are archived at Al-Aqsa Library in Jerusalem.[7]