Al Qibla

Al Qibla was first published on 15 August 1916, five weeks after the capture of Mecca by Sharif Hussein.{{cite thesis|author=Thomas Aplin|title=Ambivalence and the National Imaginary: Nation and Canon Formation in the Emergence of the Saudi Novel|degree=PhD|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/21006|pages=66–67|year=2015|location=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/21006}} The founders of the paper were Muhib Al Din Al Khatib and Fuad Al Khatib. They were tasked by the British to start the paper to address the whole Arabic-reading public. It was published by Wilāya Press in Mecca on a semi-weekly basis.{{cite thesis|author=Abdulrahman Saleh Shobaili|title=An Historical and Analytical Study of Broadcasting and Press in Saudi Arabia|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/302622210/citation/EF52F64A4B3147B6PQ/1|location=Ohio State University|pages=47–48|id={{ProQuest|302622210}}|degree=PhD|isbn=9798658527567|year=1971}} Muhib Al Din Al Khatib was also its founding editor-in-chief.{{cite journal|author=Amal N. Ghazal|title=Power, Arabism and Islam in the Writings of Muhib al-Din al-Khatib in al-Fath|journal=Past Imperfect|year=2008|volume=6|page=134|doi=10.21971/P73K50|doi-access=free}} Tayeb Al Sassi also served in the post.

Shortly after its start Sharif Hussein became the King of Hejaz, and the coronation ceremony held in October 1916 was fully covered in Al Qibla.{{cite journal|author=Elie Podeh|title=The bay'a: Modern Political Uses of Islamic Ritual in the Arab World|journal=Die Welt des Islams|date=April 2010|volume=50|issue=1|page=129|doi=10.1163/157006010X487155}} The paper featured international news based on the official communiques from Cairo, local news and writings of leading Arabic writers concerning ethical and social virtues.{{cite journal|author=M. Reeves Palmer|title=The Kibla: A Mecca Newspaper|journal=The Muslim World|date=April 1917|volume=7|issue=2|pages=185–190

|doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.1917.tb01541.x}} It also published reports from European and other foreign newspapers and periodicals. The British agents in the region helped the distribution of the paper.{{cite book|author=James Renton|editor1=James Renton

|editor2=Ben Gidley|page=114|location=London|year=2017|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|title=Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe. A Shared Story?|isbn=978-1-137-41299-7|chapter=The End of the Semites|doi=10.1057/978-1-137-41302-4_5|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41302-4_5}}

Following capture of Hejaz by Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, founder and later king of Saudi Arabia, Al Qibla was replaced by Umm al Qura. Al Qibla folded after the publication of the last issue in September 1924. It produced a total of 852 issues during its lifetime.

Sharif Hussein was closely interested in the design of the paper and the language used in the news. He also published several articles in the paper{{cite journal|author=Ronen Yitzhak|title=Unwritten treaty: The historical background to Jordanian–Israeli relations, 1921–1951|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|year=2021|volume=57|issue=3|page=416|s2cid=233302672|doi=10.1080/00263206.2021.1898383}} which was supported by the British authorities. From 1919 his name appeared as the editor-in-chief of the paper in the masthead. The contributors of Al Qibla were mostly Syrian exiles living in Egypt.{{cite encyclopedia|author=Samir Seikaly|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/arab_bureau|encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the First World War|title=Arab Bureau|date=9 November 2016}}

Al Qibla had an Arabist and Islamist ideology. The goal of the paper was to strengthen the awareness of the Arabs and Muslims about the threats of Wahhabism against Islam.{{cite journal|author=M. Talha Çiçek|title=Visions of Islamic Unity: A Comparison of Djemal Pasha's al-Sharq and Sharīf Ḥusayn's al-Qibla Periodicals|journal=Die Welt des Islams|year=2014|volume=54

|issue=3–4|pages=467–468, 473|doi=10.1163/15700607-05434P07}} Al Qibla also opposed to the Committee of Union and Progress and the military alliance of the Ottoman Empire with the Central Powers in World War I. In addition, Sharif Hussein employed the publication to justify his revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The paper's interest in the Ottoman Empire continued with the publication many articles criticizing the developments in the country. It also published an article in which it was argued that the Caliphate should belong to the Arabs when the last Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI expressed his intent to assume the role.{{cite journal|author=Resul Yavuz|title=The termination of Hashemite domination by Saudi conquest of the Hedjaz and the Attitudes of Britain on this issue after the First World War|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/cttad/issue/82075/1355575|journal=Journal of Modern Turkish History Studies|year=2023|volume=23|issue=47|page=614}}

Following the publication of the Balfour Declaration in November 1917 Sharif Hussein published a number of articles in Al Qibla in which he called for the cooperation with Jews and asked Arabs to avoid conflicts with the British in that they would help them achieve independence.{{cite thesis|author=Aida Ali Najjar|id={{ProQuest|288060869}}|year=1975|title=The Arabic Press and Nationalism in Palestine, 1920-1948|isbn=9781083851468|location=Syracuse University|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/288060869|degree=PhD|author-link=Aida Najjar|page=42}} The paper frequently praised the rule of Sharif Hussein whom it compared to Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt between 1805 and 1848.{{cite book|author=Adam Mestyan|year=2023|title=Modern Arab Kingship: Remaking the Ottoman Political Order in the Interwar Middle East|publisher=Princeton University Press|pages=177–178|location=Princeton, NJ; Oxford|isbn=9780691249353|doi=10.1353/book.113384}}

In the anniversary of the foundation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz several issues of Al Qibla were reprinted and distributed as a supplement of the Jordanian daily newspapers, including The Jordan Times, in 2016.{{cite news|title=Al Qibla's 43rd issue reprinted

|url=https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/al-qibla%E2%80%99s-43rd-issue-reprinted|access-date=28 June 2021|work=The Jordan Times

|date=25 September 2016}}

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Category:1916 establishments in Asia

Category:20th-century establishments in the Arabian Peninsula

Category:Kingdom of Hejaz

Category:1924 disestablishments in Asia

Category:Arabic-language newspapers

Category:Defunct newspapers published in Saudi Arabia

Category:Former state media

Category:Government gazettes

Category:Mass media in Mecca

Category:Newspapers established in 1916

Category:Publications disestablished in 1924