Its founder and editor in chief was Ibrahīm al-Yāziǧī,[3] a linguist and journalist from Lebanon,[2] who on his readers’ request published aḍ-Ḍiyāʾ in succession to his earlier periodical al-Bayān (1897–1898).

[4] The subtitle of the periodical underlines this aspiration: “maǧallat ʿilmīya adabīya ṣaḥīya ṣanāʿīya“ (“a scientific, literary, sanitary and industrial journal”).

It was one of the early magazines in Cairo which featured short stories.

[5] Alongside countless scientific and literary topics, articles on the development of newspapers in Egypt at that time are also to be found (cf.

[6] A complete and free available digital version[7] of this journal can be found in the digital collections[8] of the ULB Bonn.