Al-Hayat newspaper
Encyclopedia
Al-Hayat is one of the leading daily pan-Arab newspapers, with a circulation estimated over 200,000. It is the newspaper of record
for the Arab diaspora
and the preferred venue for liberal
intellectuals who wish to express themselves to a large public.
Though rather pro-West and pro-Saudi with respect to articles concerning the Arabian peninsula, it is quite open to various opinions concerning other regional questions. Al-Hayat prints in London, New York, Beirut, Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh. The newspaper has offices in Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Khartoum, Istanbul, Algeria, Paris, Vienna, London, New York, Moscow, Riyadh, Jeddah, Damam, Mecca, Medina and Washington.
The newspaper "is regarded as by far and away the best and most intensely read Arab newspaper", according to a 1997 article in The New York Times. A 2005 article in the same publication described Al-Hayat as a "decidedly Arab nationalist paper". The newspaper is distributed in most Arab countries, and most of its editors are from Lebanon, where Al-Hayat is very popular. It is more critical of the Saudi government than its main rival, Asharq Al-Awsat.
The newspaper's motto is ( "Life is belief and jihad
"), a line taken from a poem by Ahmed Shawki, meaning that adhering to one's beliefs and expressing one's opinions is as laudable and noble as a religious struggle.
, in Beirut, Lebanon in 1946. (He named his daughter, Hayat Mrowa (now Lady Palumbo), after the newspaper.) In 1966, as Mrowa checked final proofs for the next day's edition, an assassin walked into the Beirut office and shot him to death. Although the assassin's motive was never conclusively determined, investigators linked the shooting to the newspaper's criticism of the Arab nationalist movement. The publication survived 13 bombing attempts before the Lebanese civil war finally forced it to shut down in 1976.
. Owing to the newly relaunched newspaper's majority Christian Lebanese and Christian Palestinian management, critics dubbed Al-Hayat "a newspaper of minorities in the service of a prince," especially after publishing criticisms by Kurds and Shiites opposed to Saddam Hussein
. "Its ownership by Prince Khalid has meant that the paper treads softly when it comes to disquieting news about Saudi Arabia, a notable exception to its independent stand," according to a 1997 New York Times article.
.
By 1997, Al-Hayat shocked its Arab readership by establishing a bureau in Jerusalem. As of that year, the newspaper had a daily circulation of about 200,000 and was staffed by Muslim, Catholic, Maronite, and Druse
editors and reporters who formed "a highly professional team", according to a report in The New York Times
. The Times report described the newspaper as a source of "iconoclastic interviews" and "having the most influential cultural pages anywhere in the Arab world, and opening opinion pages to radical reactionary Muslim fundamentalists and virulent anti-religious
liberals, pro-Iraqi [under the Saddam Hussein
regime) Arab nationalists as well as conservative gulf Arabs.". Edward Said
of Columbia University
was a frequent contributor. The managing editor, Khirallah Khirallah, "can reach Yasir Arafat on the phone at any time of day or night", according to the Times article.
In January 1997 at least 14 letter bombs were mailed to the newspaper's headquarters in London and its bureaus in New York, Washington and Riyadh. Two security guards were wounded by one of the bombs as it exploded at the headquarters.
, and called upon their Saudi counterparts to condemn "militant jihadism" and to further delegitimize the concept by calling such actions un-Islamic. The publication was part of an exchange between American intellectuals—including Samuel Huntington
, Francis Fukuyama
, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan
—and counterparts in the Europe and the Middle East over the moral foundation for the Bush administration's war against terrorism, with the first letter entitled "What We're Fighting For" published in February 2002 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. A group of 153 largely conservative and Wahhabi Saudi scholars had responded in May, in a column entitled "How We Can Coexist," arguing that while Islam does indeed forbid violence against innocent civilians, the root cause of the 11 September attacks was unjust American foreign policy. The American rebuttal, which prompted the one-day Saudi ban of Al-Hayat, insisted that the blame rested squarely upon the governments and societies of the region: "We ask you sincerely to reconsider the tendency . . . to blame everyone but your own leaders and your own society for the problems that your society faces,"
had taken the decision to leave Syria
, citing unnamed Palestinian sources. The article added that—while sources in Gaza
reported the refusal of both Jordan
and Egypt
to host the organization—Qatar
had agreed to host its political leadership (though not its military leadership, which the article stated would likely return to Gaza), and that Hamas's political leader Khaled Mashal
would be departing Damascus
shortly to take up residence in Doha
. On 1 May, Al-Hayat published a short item noting that a member of Hamas's political bureau in Damascus had issued a statement denying any intent to leave Syria, quoted in the article as stating that Hamas "is still operating from Damascus, and what the media said in this regard is completely false."
The New York Times reported on the allegations the following day, citing the reports in Al-Hayat as evidence of strained relations between Hamas and the Syrian government, as a result of the 2011 Syrian uprising
. Anonymous Hamas officials cited pressure from the government to take a clear stance against the protests. While the political leadership again publicly denied any reports of an impending move—telling the Times “there is nothing to this report in Al Hayat that we are going to Qatar,” and “it is absolutely not true"—a Syrian historian at an Ohio university, citing contact with sources in Damascus, said that the "Hamas leadership was definitely examining its options, looking at other countries in which it might settle."
who blogs as "The Angry Arab News Service" has labeled Al-Hayat's current editor in chief, Ghassan Charbel, "a mouthpiece of Khalid Bin Sultan," owing to the hyperbolic praise contained in a 2005 eulogy of the then-recently deceased Saudi King Fahd of Saudi Arabia
.
—the principal location for its editorial, administrative, distribution, and subscriptions offices—the paper also maintains offices in Paris
, Riyadh
, Jeddah
, Dammam
, Beirut
, Cairo
, Baghdad
, and Damascus
. The three offices in Saudi Arabia reflect the paper's focus on the country as well as the regional division into central (Riyadh), west (Jeddah), and eastern (Dammam) editions.
Newspaper of record
Newspaper of record is a term that may refer either to any publicly available newspaper that has been authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices , or any major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and...
for the Arab diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
and the preferred venue for liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
intellectuals who wish to express themselves to a large public.
Though rather pro-West and pro-Saudi with respect to articles concerning the Arabian peninsula, it is quite open to various opinions concerning other regional questions. Al-Hayat prints in London, New York, Beirut, Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh. The newspaper has offices in Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Khartoum, Istanbul, Algeria, Paris, Vienna, London, New York, Moscow, Riyadh, Jeddah, Damam, Mecca, Medina and Washington.
The newspaper "is regarded as by far and away the best and most intensely read Arab newspaper", according to a 1997 article in The New York Times. A 2005 article in the same publication described Al-Hayat as a "decidedly Arab nationalist paper". The newspaper is distributed in most Arab countries, and most of its editors are from Lebanon, where Al-Hayat is very popular. It is more critical of the Saudi government than its main rival, Asharq Al-Awsat.
The newspaper's motto is ( "Life is belief and jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
"), a line taken from a poem by Ahmed Shawki, meaning that adhering to one's beliefs and expressing one's opinions is as laudable and noble as a religious struggle.
Origins
The original Al-Hayat was founded by Kamel Mrowa, a Lebanese Shi'i MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, in Beirut, Lebanon in 1946. (He named his daughter, Hayat Mrowa (now Lady Palumbo), after the newspaper.) In 1966, as Mrowa checked final proofs for the next day's edition, an assassin walked into the Beirut office and shot him to death. Although the assassin's motive was never conclusively determined, investigators linked the shooting to the newspaper's criticism of the Arab nationalist movement. The publication survived 13 bombing attempts before the Lebanese civil war finally forced it to shut down in 1976.
Refounding and new ownership
Al-Hayat was refounded in 1988 by Jamil Mrowa and Adel Bishtawi, and was bought in 1990 by the Saudi prince Khalid bin SultanKhalid bin Sultan
Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud is the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation of Saudi Arabia. He led Saudi troops in the First Persian Gulf War and also controversially led the botched Yemen bombing in late 2009...
. Owing to the newly relaunched newspaper's majority Christian Lebanese and Christian Palestinian management, critics dubbed Al-Hayat "a newspaper of minorities in the service of a prince," especially after publishing criticisms by Kurds and Shiites opposed to Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. "Its ownership by Prince Khalid has meant that the paper treads softly when it comes to disquieting news about Saudi Arabia, a notable exception to its independent stand," according to a 1997 New York Times article.
Al-Hayat in the 1990s
In May 1993, the newspaper scooped every other news organization by breaking the news about the secret Oslo talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Al-Hayat also initiated a joint news-gathering operation in the mid 1990s with the Saudi-connected Lebanese Broadcasting CorporationLebanese Broadcasting Corporation
The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation , widely known as LBC, is the first private television station in Lebanon. It went global in 1996 when it launched its satellite channel LBC Al-Fadha'iya Al-Lubnaniya covering the Arab World. It now has several channels covering Europe, America, Australia, and...
.
By 1997, Al-Hayat shocked its Arab readership by establishing a bureau in Jerusalem. As of that year, the newspaper had a daily circulation of about 200,000 and was staffed by Muslim, Catholic, Maronite, and Druse
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
editors and reporters who formed "a highly professional team", according to a report in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. The Times report described the newspaper as a source of "iconoclastic interviews" and "having the most influential cultural pages anywhere in the Arab world, and opening opinion pages to radical reactionary Muslim fundamentalists and virulent anti-religious
Antireligion
Antireligion is opposition to religion. Antireligion is distinct from atheism and antitheism , although antireligionists may be atheists or antitheists...
liberals, pro-Iraqi [under the Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
regime) Arab nationalists as well as conservative gulf Arabs.". Edward Said
Edward Said
Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
was a frequent contributor. The managing editor, Khirallah Khirallah, "can reach Yasir Arafat on the phone at any time of day or night", according to the Times article.
In January 1997 at least 14 letter bombs were mailed to the newspaper's headquarters in London and its bureaus in New York, Washington and Riyadh. Two security guards were wounded by one of the bombs as it exploded at the headquarters.
2002 ban in Saudi Arabia
On October 23, 2002, Saudi censors banned Al-Hayat because the edition contained an open letter from 67 American intellectuals that defended the War on TerrorWar on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, and called upon their Saudi counterparts to condemn "militant jihadism" and to further delegitimize the concept by calling such actions un-Islamic. The publication was part of an exchange between American intellectuals—including Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington may refer to:* Samuel Huntington , American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader* Samuel H. Huntington , American jurist* Samuel P. Huntington , American political scientist...
, Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
—and counterparts in the Europe and the Middle East over the moral foundation for the Bush administration's war against terrorism, with the first letter entitled "What We're Fighting For" published in February 2002 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. A group of 153 largely conservative and Wahhabi Saudi scholars had responded in May, in a column entitled "How We Can Coexist," arguing that while Islam does indeed forbid violence against innocent civilians, the root cause of the 11 September attacks was unjust American foreign policy. The American rebuttal, which prompted the one-day Saudi ban of Al-Hayat, insisted that the blame rested squarely upon the governments and societies of the region: "We ask you sincerely to reconsider the tendency . . . to blame everyone but your own leaders and your own society for the problems that your society faces,"
2007 ban in Saudi Arabia
In late August 2007, the Saudi government banned distribution of Al-Hayat within the Kingdom for less than a week. The ban was a culmination of weeks of extended tension between the newspaper and the Saudi information ministry, which the paper's staff alleged to have ordered Al-Hayat to drop columnist Abdul Aziz Suwaid, who had written a number of columns criticizing the government for inefficiencies, including a wave of mysterious deaths among camel populations. In addition to criticism of the agricultural ministry's handling of the camel's death, the paper had also run articles critical of the health ministry after the death of a girl following a medical operation. Other reports attributed the ban to the paper's disclosure that a Saudi extremist had played a key role in an Iraqi al-Qa'ida front group. Although the government and paper both refused to officially comment, a private distribution firm in the kingdom, the National Company of Distribution, told the Associated Press that it had been told not to distribute the paper. The Saudi edition of the newspaper—with a circulation of 200,000 in Saudi Arabia at the time—did not appear on newsstands for at least three days, with an anonymous source in the Riyadh office telling the Financial Times that the paper had been told it had "crossed a red line."2011 reporting on Hamas decampment from Syria
On 30 April 2011, Al-Hayat reported that HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
had taken the decision to leave Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, citing unnamed Palestinian sources. The article added that—while sources in Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
reported the refusal of both Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to host the organization—Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
had agreed to host its political leadership (though not its military leadership, which the article stated would likely return to Gaza), and that Hamas's political leader Khaled Mashal
Khaled Mashal
Khaled Mashal, also known as Khaled Mashaal, Khaled Meshaal, and Khalid Mish'al, has been the main leader of Hamas since the assassination of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. In addition, Mashal heads the Syrian branch of the political bureau of Hamas.Mashal was born in Silwad, a village north of...
would be departing Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
shortly to take up residence in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
. On 1 May, Al-Hayat published a short item noting that a member of Hamas's political bureau in Damascus had issued a statement denying any intent to leave Syria, quoted in the article as stating that Hamas "is still operating from Damascus, and what the media said in this regard is completely false."
The New York Times reported on the allegations the following day, citing the reports in Al-Hayat as evidence of strained relations between Hamas and the Syrian government, as a result of the 2011 Syrian uprising
2011 Syrian uprising
The 2011 Syrian uprising is an ongoing internal conflict occurring in Syria. Protests started on 26 January 2011, and escalated into an uprising by 15 March 2011...
. Anonymous Hamas officials cited pressure from the government to take a clear stance against the protests. While the political leadership again publicly denied any reports of an impending move—telling the Times “there is nothing to this report in Al Hayat that we are going to Qatar,” and “it is absolutely not true"—a Syrian historian at an Ohio university, citing contact with sources in Damascus, said that the "Hamas leadership was definitely examining its options, looking at other countries in which it might settle."
Current organization
Currently, Al-Hayat is organized under the larger umbrella of Dar al-Hayat ( "Publishing House of Life"). Its website www.daralhayat.com hosts the content of three different publications: Al-Hayat (International Edition), published daily in a 24-page spread; Al-Hayat KSA (Saudi Edition) published over 48 pages on weekdays and 36 pages on weekends; and a weekly woman's magazine Laha ( "For Her").Masthead
While Ghassan Charbel holds the position of editor in chief, Jameel Theyabi is the assistant editor in chief of the Saudi Edition, which was launched in 2005, and has increased circulation in Saudi Arabia from 20,000 to almost 200,000. Additionally, Abdullah Iskandar serves as director for editing in Britain, and Zouheir Qoseibati in Lebanon, and Raja Rassi as director general.Criticism of Charbel
Outspoken media critic As'ad AbuKhalilAs'ad AbuKhalil
As'ad AbuKhalil Arabic: أسعد أبو خليل is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus....
who blogs as "The Angry Arab News Service" has labeled Al-Hayat's current editor in chief, Ghassan Charbel, "a mouthpiece of Khalid Bin Sultan," owing to the hyperbolic praise contained in a 2005 eulogy of the then-recently deceased Saudi King Fahd of Saudi Arabia
Fahd of Saudi Arabia
Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, was King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005...
.
Bureaus
Although Al-Hayat is headquartered in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
—the principal location for its editorial, administrative, distribution, and subscriptions offices—the paper also maintains offices in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, Dammam
Dammam
Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the most oil-rich region in the world. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province and several government departments are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province and third largest in Saudi...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
. The three offices in Saudi Arabia reflect the paper's focus on the country as well as the regional division into central (Riyadh), west (Jeddah), and eastern (Dammam) editions.