The Dialectic of East and West in Al-Muqtataf Magazine 1876-1952 AD (An Analytical Historical Study)

Abstract

This study is based on the treatment of Al-Muqtataf magazine, one of the most prominent scientific, intellectual and cultural magazines in the Arab world, on the subject of the dialectic of East and West. The study sought to track and monitor the journalistic representations formed by the magazine on the relationship between East and West, as the former is a field of identity, heritage and authenticity, and the latter is a measure of progress, modernization and creativity, especially since the magazine witnessed the end of the Ottoman Empire and followed the details of World War I (1914-1918 AD) and maintained the level of follow-up in World War II (1939-1945 AD) and worked hard to draw the structural transformations in modern Arab thought. The study relies on two methods: the first is the historical method, which is capable of tracking historical contexts and publishing them at specific times, and the descriptive analytical method through which the mechanisms of discourse presented by the magazine in its confrontation with the subject of the dialectic of East and West were monitored and dismantled. The study revealed that Al-Muqtataf magazine, from its inception until its disappearance, sought to provide a balanced journalistic treatment. It sees that Western civilization has negatives and positives, while at the same time calling for Reforming the eastern interior at all levels, and from its discourse we can see that the magazine succeeded in following a policy of moderation and selecting what is good and appropriate to the Arab soil from customs, traditions and modernization methods while emphasizing the (local identity) and (the globality of knowledge).