Rida was born near Tripoli in Al-Qalamoun in Beirut Vilayet. His early education consisted of training in "traditional Islamic subjects". In 1884–5 he was first exposed to "al-`Urwa al-wuthqa", the journal of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh. In 1897 he left Syria for Cairo to collaborate with Abduh. The following year Rida launched "al-Manar", a weekly and then monthly journal comprising Quranic commentary. Through "Al-Manar"'s popularity across the Islamic World, with an active readership across Java to Morocco, Rida essentially led the early Salafi movement and championed it's cause.