Al Arabi: Who Will Preserve Its Future?
A few weeks ago, I wrote about *Al-Arabi* magazine, recounting a journey that began with a research project undertaken by architect Dalal Al-Hassan as part of an initiative to document the Al-Othman Mosque. During her research, she stumbled upon two old issues of the magazine, which featured a photographic article about the mosque. From there, I wondered: Who preserves this magazine, which once regularly entered our homes? Who safeguards its archive and paper copies?
Following the publication of the article, I received wonderful responses and information, some of which corrected my previous statements. Mr. Ibrahim Al-Mulifi, the director of *Al-Arabi* magazine, kindly contacted me and clarified that the paper edition is still being published and is available at distribution points within Kuwait and abroad. The distribution problem I had mentioned had been resolved some time ago, which was good news. However, the question that initially arose—“Where can we find *Al-Arabi*?”—evolved in my mind into a larger question: Where is *Al-Arabi* heading?
I also received a comment from my friend Riyadh Al-Sharikh, who informed me about a project undertaken by his late uncle, Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Sharikh, a pioneer of Arab technology and the founder of the “Sakhour” project. He did not merely speak about the importance of preserving Arab culture; he actually digitized the issues of *Al-Arabi* magazine and preserved them within a massive cultural project, donating them free of charge to the Ministry of Information. This work is now accessible through the “Al-Sharikh Archive for Arab Literary and Cultural Magazines.” I accessed the archive and was truly astonished by what I found. We are not talking about one or two magazines, but hundreds of magazines, comprising nearly two million pages and hundreds of thousands of articles by tens of thousands of writers—a complete Arab cultural memory, almost. You can enter it today, search by magazine name, author, or topic, and travel back decades, all while sitting in your home. Here, I found an answer to my first question: Yes, there are those who have preserved *Al-Arabi*. But the harder question remained: Who will preserve its future?
Among the other wonderful responses was one from my friend, Dr. Rashid Al-Hamad, who told me that he had been an avid reader of *Al-Arabi* since its inception. In fact, he once participated in a contest for issue No. 60 and won a prize of five dinars. Interestingly, even as I write these lines, he has not yet received that prize!
Then there is my grandson, Adnan, who is fifteen years old. He is a good follower of the magazine, reads my articles, and responds to them with comments, albeit in English. How I lament the state of our Arabic language! Adnan read the article and sent me a fundamental observation, wondering whether increased competition and changes in reading and viewing habits had affected the magazine’s ability to stand out and reach new generations. He asked whether the decline in audience and subscriptions could lead to financial pressures on any print publication, adding that the magazine must evolve to a degree that this generation can accept.
I paused at his words, not because he is my grandson, but because the question came from a fifteen-year-old boy—from the very generation we want *Al-Arabi* to reach. Then I laughed at the irony. A magazine named *Al-Arabi*, established nearly seven decades ago to convey Arab culture from Kuwait to the Arab world, is now having its future discussed with me in English by my Arab grandson!
Perhaps the issue here is bigger than just a magazine. Should we blame this generation for being more comfortable expressing themselves, researching, and reading in another language? Or should we ask ourselves: What have we and our cultural institutions done to make Arabic present and attractive in their world? If Adnan and his peers spend hours on phones, YouTube, podcasts, and social media platforms, the requirement is not to tell them, “Leave all this and come read the magazine we used to read,” because they will not come that way. The requirement is for us to go to them. Today, competition is no longer between *Al-Arabi* and another cultural magazine on a bookshelf; it has become competition for people’s time, attention, and perhaps even their language.
I am glad that the paper version of *Al-Arabi* still exists, albeit in limited quantities, and even gladder that its archive is preserved. However, I am not convinced that this is enough to reassure us about the future of a magazine with such a history. We are talking about a Kuwaiti cultural project that predates Kuwait’s independence, entered the homes of Arabs from the Ocean to the Gulf, and was one of the most successful forms of Kuwaiti soft power, long before we even knew the term “soft power.” Therefore, I believe the time has come to ask frankly: Does the administrative and financial model, suitable for managing a traditional government activity, suit the management of a cultural media institution that is now required to compete in a world that changes every hour? Why don’t we discuss transforming *Al-Arabi* into an independent Kuwaiti cultural institution, one that receives support befitting its history, while possessing the administrative and financial flexibility and freedom of movement needed to attract talent, produce modern content, develop its digital presence, and reach new generations?
Independence here does not mean the state should abandon it, but rather that we preserve it in a way that allows it to live, move, and compete. A magazine that is nearly seventy years old should not have as its only goal to remain on a shelf or preserved in an archive; rather, it must remain readable and influential. Ironically, I started this story looking for the history of a mosque, found the history of a magazine, then discovered a man who preserved this history, and ended up with a grandson asking me about its future and a friend demanding five dinars!
Our responsibility today is to preserve the *Al-Arabi* that is yet to be.
Sincerely,
Adnan Abdullah Al-Othman
