Lisan al Hal

Khalil Khattar Sarkis (also known as Khalil Zayniyya)[4] had established his own printing house called Al Adabiyya through which he printed his newspaper, Lisan al Hal, and a magazine entitled Al Mishkat.[1] Said Aql also took part in the establishment of these papers.[4] Khalil Khattar Sarkis was part of the Reform Society of Beirut and the society of the Lebanese Revival whereas Said Aql was a member of the latter.[4]

Lisan al Hal was published twice per week for a long time until the 1900s.[5] One of the early editors of the paper was Salim Sarkis.[6] Yūsuf al-Asir was also one of the early editors.[7] Khalil Khattar Sarkis continued as editor until his death when in 1915, his son Ramez Khalil Sarkis took over the task until 1941 when he was elected as a Lebanese Member of Parliament from Beirut and was assigned as minister of education. During the Ottoman era, the paper was censored several times.[6]

After his election and starting 1942, editing of Lisan al Hal was continued by his son Khalil Ramez Sarkis who was also a literary figure and had a series of literary works published. After Khalil Ramez Sarkis, editing and publishing was taken over by Gebran Hayek.[8][9] Bishop George Khodr wrote for the daily in his column called Hadith al Ahad (The Sunday Talk) from 11 March 1962 to 25 January 1970.[10] The newspaper stopped publication during the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s.

The daily was disestablished in 1999.[11] The circulation of the paper just before its closing was 33,000.[12] The name and the licence of the paper was acquired by the Lebanese National Congress that resumed its publication as a weekly newspaper.[3]