Al-Hayat

Al-Hayat (Arabic: الحياة, lit. 'life') was an Arabic newspaper founded in 1946. Based in Beirut until 1976, the publication moved to London after its refounding in 1988. It was a pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred venue for liberal intellectuals who wished to express themselves to a large public. Founded in 1946, the paper closed in March 2020 after years of financial problems. Though rather pro-West and pro-Saudi with respect to articles concerning the Arabian Peninsula, it was quite open to various opinions concerning other regional questions. Al-Hayat printed in London, New York, Frankfurt, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Beirut and Cairo. The newspaper operated offices in London, Paris, Washington, New York, Moscow, Riyadh, Jeddah, Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad, Dubai, Amman, and Damascus, among others. The newspaper was "regarded as by far and away the best and most intensely read Arab newspaper", according to a 1997 article in The New York Times. A 2005 article in the same paper described Al-Hayat as a "decidedly Arab nationalist paper". The newspaper was distributed in most Arab countries, and most of its editors were from Lebanon, where Al-Hayat was very popular. It was more critical of the Saudi government than its main rival, Asharq Al-Awsat. The newspaper's motto was "Life is belief and struggle" (Arabic: إن الحياة عقيدة وجهاد), a line taken from a poem by Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawki.