Editor | Rifaa Rafi Al Tahtawi |
---|---|
Categories | Education magazine |
Frequency | Bimonthly |
Founder | Ministry of Education |
Founded | 1870 |
Final issue | 1877 |
Country | Khedivate of Egypt |
Based in | Cairo |
Language | Arabic |
OCLC | 28815667 |
Rawdat Al Madaris (Arabic: روضة المدارس المصرية, lit. 'School Garden'), also known as Rawdat Al Madaris Al Misriyah,[1] was a bimonthly education magazine which was published in Cairo, Egypt, between 1870 and 1877. It was the first Egyptian and Arab publication which specifically focused on education.[2]
Rawdat Al Madaris was established by the Ministry of Education led by the reformist Ali Pasha Mubarak in 1870.[3][4] It was started part of Khedive ismail's reforms.[2] In the first issue its goal was stated as "the consolidation of the educational system and the shaping of the minds of the students and their sensibility."[5] Therefore, it attempted to broaden knowledge which was to be expressed in an easily understood language.[6]
The editor of Rawdat Al Madaris was Rifaa Rafi Al Tahtawi from its start in 1870 to 1873.[7][8] The magazine played a significant role in the introduction of his views.[5] Tahtawi's son, Ali Fahmi, worked in Rawdat Al Madaris as a director.[2] The magazine was headquartered in Cairo and came out bimonthly.[9][10] It was distributed freely to students,[9] and teachers were asked to subscribe to the magazine.[6]
Rawdat Al Madaris produced many articles on school reform in Egypt and shaped the basis of this reform.[2] Its reform approach was based on Jamal al-Din al-Afghani's ijtihad view.[11] The magazine supported the teaching of botany, geography and history and that of traditional subjects.[2] Ali Pasha Mubarak, Rifaa Rafi Al Tahtawi, Abdullah Fikri and İsmail Al Falaki were some major contributors of Rawdat Al Madaris.[6] Contributors of the magazine also included university professors and undergraduate students who published articles on various scientific subjects, including chemistry.[4][12] In addition, the magazine featured an Arabic translation of Molière’s Le Médecin malgré lui by Muhammad 'Uthman Jalal in 1871.[13][14] However, it was published in only three issues of the magazine due to the obscenity of the language used by Jalal.[13] The magazine also covered Arabic poetry contributing to its revival.[5]