''Ibdaa'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: ''Creativity'') is a monthly Arabic literary magazine based in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, Egypt. It has been in circulation since 1983.

History

''Ibdaa'' was launched in January 1983. The magazine, based in Cairo, is published by the General Egyptian Book Organization, an agency of the

ministry of culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

poet Ahmed Abdel Muti Hijazi became chief editor of the magazine in 1990 which he held until 2002 when he resigned from the post. He was reappointed chief editor of ''Ibdaa'' in 2006. As of 2015 the editor of ''Ibdaa'' was Egyptian novelist Mohamed Mansi Qandil. One of the major contributors was Ahmed Morsi, an Egyptian painter and poet. His column was ''Risalat New York'' (Arabic: ''Dispatch from New York'') which included his writings about

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

, and

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

Bans

''Ibdaa'' has been banned several times. For instance, it was banned following the publication of a painting portraying

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

naked. The other ban occurred after publishing a study about Jewish culture. In April 2007, the magazine was banned and its license was revoked by the Egyptian State Council Administrative Court on 7 April 2009 due to the publication of a poem entitled "On the balcony of Leila Murad" by Egyptian poet Hilmi Salem (1951-2012). The poem in which God was likened to an Egyptian peasant was regarded by the court as "blasphemous". The petition to the court was made by the authorities at

Al Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

. However, the earlier prints of the poem in Salem's 2006 anthology and in '' Al Wafd'' daily and '' Al Arabi'' magazine did not cause any stir. In addition to the ban, the magazine was harshly criticized by Hamdi Rizq writing for ''

Almasry Alyoum ''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ar, المصري اليوم ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Arabic as is its website, ''almasryalyoum.com''. An ...

'', a daily in Egypt, due to its publication of the poem. The ban and license revoking were reversed on appeal in June 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibdaa 1983 establishments in Egypt Arabic-language magazines Censorship in Egypt Literary magazines published in Egypt Magazines established in 1983 Magazines published in Cairo Monthly magazines published in Egypt State media Banned magazines

History

Bans

See also

References