Founded in 1870 by Butros Bustani, al-Jenan was a fortnightly literary and political review published in Syria, the purpose of which was to fight fanaticism and preach understanding and unity for the sake of the Arab national welfare. Bustani gave it the motto: patriotism is an article of faith, a sentiment hitherto unknown in the Arab world. This phrase appeared as an epigraph on the title page of each volume. The review was published with fair regularity to the end of Bustani's life. The publication drew contributions from a number of writers from the neighboring Arab countries as well as from Syria itself; but its value lay mainly in its exposition of the precepts of its founder, and the impulse it gave to the movement of ideas towards breadth of view and tolerance.