Welcome to the
Zaidan Foundation

The mission of the Zaidan Foundation is to enhance intercultural understanding starting with the international dissemination of the Arab cultural heritage.

 

The Zaidan Foundation, established in 2010,
included the following highlights:

• The first fifty years of Al-Hilal issues (1892-1942);
• Five Jurji Zaidan historical novels that were translated into English;
• An Opera on the Life of Jurji Zaidan attended by President Mubarak of Egypt in 1992 as part of the hundredth anniversary festivities of Al-Hilal; and
• A Symposium on Jurji Zaidan at the Library of Congress in June 2012.

 

The Foundation is now pleased to announce the
following additions to this website:

Al-Hilal issues now span a period of 115 years from September 1892 to February 2007 extending the coverage of the first fifty years. Eleven of Jurji Zaidan’s historical novels serialized in Al-Hilal, can now be read in Arabic on this website. Al-Hilal, founded by Jurji Zaidan in 1892, is the longest continuously published magazine in the Arab world. It is not only a magazine but a repository of the history of Egypt and the Arab nation and a bulwark against extremism and terrorism.

A Bibliography of all the works by Jurji Zaidan and works written about him in Arabic and western languages. It includes links to open-source references that can be read on-line or on this website—in particular fourteen works by Jurji Zaidan can now be read on this website including two French translations of Jurji Zaidan’s historical novels.

Acknowledgements. Many persons and institutions contributed to commemorate the legacy of Jurji Zaidan and provided so many of the inputs that are now part of the Zaidan Foundation website. To all of these, too numerous to mention, the Foundation is deeply grateful. I would like to single out my special thanks and deep gratitude to the following: 

• Makram Mohammad Ahmad the CEO of Dar-al-Hilal in 1992 who was instrumental in organizing and participating in the festivities commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Al-Hilal. 
• The Government of Egypt for producing an Opera on the life of Jurji Zaidan; a Stamp to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Al-Hilal; and for minting an Egyptian Pound Coin bearing the portrait of Jurji Zaidan.
• The Library of Congress and Mary-Jane Deeb, Chief, African and Middle Eastern Division, for co-sponsoring the Symposium on Jurji Zaidan with the Zaidan Foundation in June 2012. And Ambassador Hussein Hassouna and Professor Thomas Philipp for their help in organizing this Symposium and their contributions to its success.
• The Library of Alexandria and Ismail Serageldin, Librarian, for their help in digitizing the Al-Hilal issues and converting them to a PDF format.
• Anne-Laure Dupont, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary History of the Arab World and the Middle East at Sorbonne Université for creating and updating a Bibliography of works by and on Jurji Zaidan that for first time provides links to open-source works and includes PDF works that can be read on this website.
• Last but not least, to Hada Zaidan, my wife and granddaughter of Gabr Dumit, and our son George Zaidan Jr, for their support and help in preparing this website.

George C. Zaidan
President
The Zaidan Foundation
February 2023