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By the late 1920s, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Islāmbūli (d. 1963) grew disillusioned with the Pharaonist discourse promoted by al-Siyāsa al-usbūʿiyya (The Weekly Politics), which marginalized the role of Islam in Egyptian identity. In response, al-Islāmbūli launched his own periodical, al-Maʿrifa , seeking to revive “the spirit of the East” and foster intellectual networks. This article explores how al-Islāmbūli adapted the pre-modern genre of taqrīẓ (commendation) within al-Maʿrifa and utilized it in multiple modes to establish literary and social capital. I highlight how al-Islāmbūli’s “outside” connections and networks were mediated “inside” the periodical through the various modes of commendation. Through analyzing al-Maʿrifa ’s multi-modal taqrīẓ of texts, letters, and contributors, I trace how this pre-modern genre evolved within 20th-century Egyptian periodicals as a tool for community-building and intellectual engagement.
