Saleem Takla

Saleem Takla (Arabic: سليم تقلا‎‎, also spelled Selim Taqla; 1849 – August 8, 1892) was the founder of Al-Ahram with his brother Beshara Takla.

Saleem Takla was born in Kfarshima, Lebanon in 1849 to Khalil and Nada Takla. The Takla family was Melkite Greek Catholic. When he was 12, he was sent to school in Beirut, first to a grade school organized by Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck and then to the National School in Abey founded by Butrus al-Bustani. During that time, the 1860 Druze–Maronite conflict dramatically impacted the region. After completing his studies, Takla taught at the Patriarchal College in Beirut founded by Gregory II Youssef.

In 1874 Takla moved to Alexandria, Egypt. During this period, Alexandria was “both a bridgehead of European colonialism and a crucible of Egyptian national integration and identity.” More people were becoming literate, thanks in part to the development of new schools in the city, and conflicts and crises throughout the Middle East piqued public interest in world events. Furthermore, Alexandria was becoming a center of the news and publishing businesses, with many European news services, printing presses, and publishers setting up shop in the city. A large population of translators in the city, many of them Syro-Lebanese (like Takla), further aided the newspaper business by allowing Arabic newspapers to better report on international events using sources in other languages. Finally, Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt from 1863–1879, and his successors patronized several Alexandria newspapers, which certainly aided the development of the industry.

As Syro-Lebanese immigrants, the Takla brothers benefited from belonging to a community recognized for “their knowledge of languages,” familiarity “with the practice of Arabic journalism,” and “close connections with Egypt's political and commercial élite.” In the newspaper business, “offering news of events in Syria and in the Syrian community” gave new papers access to a niche market, specifically the Syrian community in Alexandria.

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