Al Jadid Magazine

Oum Kulthoum was more than a singer; she stood as a cultural institution whose voice defined Egyptian and Arab identity, making her an emblem of a national cultural conception. After the June 1967 defeat, she became a prime target not just for criticism of an individual artist but for an attack on the broader cultural vision she symbolized.

“A state is not tested when it tries someone who is widely loved. It is tested when it tries someone whom most of the country despises,” writes Sally Ali in her essay, “On One Day, Beirut Abolishes and Damascus Executes.”* This observation is particularly relevant to the recent death penalty decisions in Syria and Lebanon, where the question of punishment has become inseparable from the question of state governance.

Lilia Hassaine’s “The Bitterness of Migration” (Mararat al-Hijra) brings a novel to Arabic readers that explores the complexities of migration and belonging.

In Algeria, the debate over whether French should be replaced by English has become increasingly entangled with broader geopolitical and ideological tensions, often overshadowing the country’s actual linguistic and educational needs.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, superstition has long coexisted with religion, folklore, and everyday life. Beliefs surrounding the evil eye, divine curses, unseen forces, and supernatural causes for misfortune continue to shape how many people interpret disasters and hardship.

A prolific writer and leader of existential philosophy, Jean-Paul Sartre held a dominant position in 20th-century French intellectual life. Throughout his life, however, Sartre faced significant backlash — even danger — over his opinions.

Lebanese people often say that just as Egypt is the gift of the Nile, Lebanon is the gift of the Litani. Rivers create the ideal conditions for the rise of great civilizations, a connection acknowledged since ancient times through the worship and reverence of rivers in Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and across the wider world.

Lebanese novelist and critic Mounir El Hayek’s novel “Ziyyah” (Al-Rafidain Publishing House, 2025) tells a story that transcends time — two time periods, separated by a century, yet facing similar tribulations. Set in a fictionalized version of the town of Qabb Elias, the author’s very own hometown, the characters’ lives unfold in a story that intertwines history with a twist of magical realism.

Arabic in the pre-Islamic era — or Jahiliyyah, the ‘age of ignorance’ — was a diverse continuum of spoken dialects and poetic language rather than a single unified language. The period encompasses the history of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding regions prior to the spread of Islam in 610 CE, a time characterized by nomadic Bedouin tribes and a rich oral poetry tradition.

Trauma reshapes historical memory. People do not necessarily long for the past because it was ideal, but because the present became unbearable. Writers associated with Romanticism often imagined the past as spiritually richer or more authentic than industrial modernity. Postcolonial criticism often interrogates nostalgia, whether for empire, lost cosmopolitanism, or precolonial identities. Such topics are especially relevant to Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria.