Umm Al-Qura (newspaper) explained

Publisher:Ministry of Media
Type:Weekly newspaper
Language:Arabic
Headquarters:Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Website:http://www.uqn.gov.sa/

Umm Al-Qura (Arabic: أُم القُرى||The Mother of Villages) was the first Arabic-language Saudi Arabian daily newspaper based in Mecca,[1] and the official gazette of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The paper has been in circulation since 1924.

History and profile

Umm Al-Qura was established by Ibn Saud, the Kingdom’s founder, and the first issue was published on 12 December 1924.[2] [3] In fact, the paper was a successor of Al Qibla which was the official gazette of the Kingdom of Hejaz.[4] One of the reasons behind the establishment of Umm Al-Qura was the harsh criticisms of an Egyptian newspaper, Al Muqattam, against Ibn Saud.[5] Ibn Saud started the paper to counterweigh the propaganda of Al Muqattam through the paper.[5]

Umm Al-Qura was initially a weekly newspaper issued in four hand-printed pages before it had turned into a government gazette – an announcer of royal decrees and other state-related news.[6] [7] Shortly after its start, Umm Al-Qura frequently featured articles supporting Wahhabi doctrine which was given as a branch of Sunni Islam.[8] The paper called Ibn Saud the Caeser of the Arabs following the annexation of Hejaz.[9]

The founding editor-in-chief of the paper was Yusuf Yasin, an advisor to Ibn Saud.[10] [11] Ghalib Hamza Abulfaraj, a Saudi businessman, also served as the editor-in-chief of the paper.[12] One of its early contributors was St John Philby.[13]

Umm Al-Qura is published by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information.[14]

Significant events covered by the paper

The significant events that the paper covered, sometimes in special issues, included:

Financial crisis

During World War II all newspapers at that time, Sawt Al Hijaz, Al-Madina Al manawara, and Umm Al Qura experienced financial crises, leading to the suspension of their publication from 1941-1946 except Umm Al Qura which continued to be issued.[15]

Notes and References

  1. Mark J. R. Sedgwick. Saudi Sufis: Compromise in the Hijaz, 1925-40. Die Welt des Islams. November 1997. 37. 3. 360. 1570657. 10.1163/1570060972597039.
  2. Web site: Umm al-Qurá, Number 1131, 1 November 1946. 1 November 1946. 4 February 2019. www.wdl.org.
  3. Web site: Leading monitor of crucial events in the Saudi Arabia for 100 years: Umm Al-Qura newspaper. 21 May 2018. Arab News. 4 February 2019.
  4. Joshua Teitelbaum. 2020. Hashemites, Egyptians and Saudis: the tripartite struggle for the pilgrimage in the shadow of Ottoman defeat. Middle Eastern Studies. 56. 1. 43. 202264793. 10.1080/00263206.2019.1650349.
  5. Book: Noha Mellor. Noureddine Miladi. Noha Mellor. Routledge Handbook on Arab Media. Routledge. 2021. 978-0-429-76292-5. London; New York. 328. https://books.google.com/books?id=kg0HEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA328. The Saudi Press: The Combined Power of Wealth and Religion.
  6. News: Joseph A. Kechichian. Nationalist adviser. 29 November 2020. Gulf News. 21 January 2011. 14 December 2020. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201214172444/https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/nationalist-adviser-1.748234.
  7. Sebastian Maisel and John A. Shoup. (2009). Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab States Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Arab States. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p.329. .
  8. Book: David Commins. Bernard Haykel. Thomas Hegghammer. Stéphane Lacroix. Saudi Arabia in Transition: Insights on Social, Political, Economic and Religious Change. 2015. Cambridge University Press. New York. 9781139047586. 159. From Wahhabi to Salafi. 10.1017/CBO9781139047586. 126609426. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139047586. David Commins.
  9. Book: Adam Mestyan. 2023. 260307818. Modern Arab Kingship: Remaking the Ottoman Political Order in the Interwar Middle East. Princeton University Press. 190. Princeton, NJ; Oxford. 9780691249353. 10.1353/book.113384.
  10. C. C. Lewis. Ibn Sa'ūd and the Future of Arabia. International Affairs. July 1933. 12. 4. 523. 2603605. 10.2307/2603605.
  11. Abdulrahman Saleh Shobaili. An Historical and Analytical Study of Broadcasting and Press in Saudi Arabia. Ohio State University. 56. . PhD. 9798658527567. 1971.
  12. Book: Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008. 2007. 48. Publitec Publications. 9783598077357. Beirut. 10.1515/9783110930047. 18th.
  13. Daniel Silverfarb. Great Britain, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia: The Revolt of the Ikhwan, 1927-1930. 10.1080/07075332.1982.9640276. The International History Review. 1982. 4. 2. 241.
  14. Terki Awad. The Saudi press and the Internet: how Saudi journalists and media decision makers at the Ministry of Culture and Information evaluate censorship in the presence of the Internet as a news and information medium. University of Sheffield. 25. PhD. 2010.
  15. William A. Rugh (2004). Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 77. .

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