The Muslim World

Kalima, one of the most significant cultural initiatives to come out of the Arab world in years, launched today and announced a much-anticipated list of 100 books, selected as candidates for translation into Arabic. Kalima (“word” in Arabic), funds the translation, publication and distribution of high-quality works of classic and contemporary writing from other languages into Arabic.


“The rest of the world enjoys a wealth of domestic and translated writing, why should the Arab world be any different?” asked Karim Nagy, Founder and Chief Executive of Kalima. “Today Kalima is bringing Arabic readers all over the world quality writing in their mother tongue - something they have been deprived of for so long. Kalima has taken the first steps on the long path toward rebuilding the Arab library.”


At the launch, Kalima unveiled the first six books which have already been translated and will soon be ready for distribution and sale. These are: Il Segno (The Sign), by Umberto Eco, The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig, The Future of Human Nature by Jurgen Habermas, A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, The Arab Roots of Capitalism, Gene Heck.


In most Arab countries, many quality works of world literature are only available in their original language, making them inaccessible for most readers. Only about 330 books are translated into Arabic each year. To put the problem into perspective, Spain translates in one year the number of books that have been translated into Arabic in the last 1,000 years.


Kalima plans to translate 100 in its first year alone. “Kalima reflects a broader cultural renaissance emerging from the Arab region, including a revived interest in the Arabic language,” said Mohamed


Khalaf Al-Mazrouei, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. “Arabic is a beautifully expressive language, and one that should be celebrated and enjoyed.”


About Kalima : Kalima - “word” in Arabic - is a non-profit initiative seeded by a grant from the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, which aims to fund the translation, publication, and distribution of high-quality works of classic and contemporary writing from other languages into Arabic. The initiative brings together authors, translators, publishers and distributors.


Throughout Europe’s “Dark Ages” and until the end of the first millennium, Arab scholars and libraries led the world in producing and preserving knowledge in science, medicine, philosophy and the arts. During that time, knowledge flourished thanks to the many translations of important works into Arabic. Since then, however, very few foreign works have found their way into Arabic, producing a gap that Kalima aims to close.


A full list of the 100 selected titles is available upon request.

Visit: www.kalima.ae

The owner of a London hair salon is being taken to an industrial tribunal by a Muslim teenager who says her headscarf cost her a job.


Sarah Desrosiers, owner of Wedge salon in King’s Cross, said she would fight the case and insisted she had not discriminated against Bushra Noah.


Ms Noah, 19, is claiming direct and indirect religious discrimination.


Ms Desrosiers said she would expect a hairdresser to have her hair on show while working.


Ms Noah, from Acton in west London, said wearing a headscarf was central to her religion and would not have affected her ability to carry out her job.


Ms Noah told BBC London: “I’m hoping for her to understand that she can’t get away with treating people like that.


“And just because I wear a headscarf doesn’t mean... I can’t work there.”


She said that during her interview with Ms Desroriers in March this year, the salon owner had said she felt “uncomfortable” with Miss Noah’s wearing of a headscarf.


Ms Desrosiers said she expected her staff to have their hair on show at all times.


She told BBC London: “I’m going for a more urban, alternative style and I would expect someone working in the salon to display that also.


“It has nothing to do with religion. If a person was wearing a cowboy hat or a baseball hat I would say the same thing.”


She said she was concerned her business would collapse if Ms Noah’s claim was successful. (Courtesy BBC World Service)

The United States has resumed contacts with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s 2005 commitment not to “engage” with the banned group — a move that could strain relations with President Hosni Mubarak’s government, according to a report by Washington Times. .


U.S. Embassy officials said they are acting in conformity with a worldwide policy of dealing with political parties that are represented in their national parliaments. Muslim Brotherhood members can only run for Egypt’s parliament as independents, and U.S. officials say they have met them only in that capacity.


“Our rare contacts with the nominally independent members of parliament have occurred only in the full light of day, with many other Egyptians present, including members from the ruling National Democratic Party,” said Francis J. Ricciardone, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt. Asked whether the dealings were approved by Miss Rice, who ruled out such contacts in June 2005, Mr. Ricciardone said: “Of course, we report fully to Washington on these contacts.”


An Egyptian official said that, even though the Muslim Brotherhood is illegal, foreign diplomats may meet with parliamentarians, regardless of their affiliation.Officially, those politicians represent their constituents, not the Muslim Brotherhood, he said.The government does not have a blanket policy for contacts between members of parliament from the Muslim Brotherhood and foreign diplomats, the official said.


The Muslim Brotherhood is not on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, which includes Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — both represented in their respective parliaments.

Just before the school year started in August 1971, Bill Feldman steered his Volvo amid the pickup trucks and horse trailers of small-town Arkansas, bound for his first job as a math professor. He was coming to the Bible Belt as a Jew reared in a Boston suburb, a scholar educated in Canada and Europe. To ease the culture shock, an uncle had given him three jars of kosher pickles for the trip.


The same month, 19-year-old Fadil Bayyari boarded the first plane of his life, carrying falafel from his mother for the journey from Tulkarem in the West Bank to Roosevelt University in Chicago. He handed a taxi driver at O’Hare the college’s address and was relieved of a month’s spending money when the cabby took the naïve newcomer downtown more or less by way of Indiana.


All these decades later, destiny or providence or something has delivered Mr. Feldman and Mr. Bayyari to the same acre of land at the bottom of one of Fayetteville’s many hills. There Mr. Bayyari, now a general contractor, will build the first permanent temple for the Reform Jewish congregation in Fayetteville, of which Mr. Feldman is president. And Mr. Bayyari, a Palestinian-American Muslim, is doing the job at no charge. Without his sacrifice, the congregation probably could not afford the project at all.


“To me, it’s a place of worship,” said Mr. Bayyari, 55. “In my mind and in my religion, I believe in Judaism as part of Islam. We believe in Abraham. We believe in Moses. In the Koran, there’s lots of talk about Isaac and Joseph. I am always fascinated by this, and I always feel I have a relationship with this faith. And knowing what’s happened in the Middle East, what better way to build bridges?”

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said he wanted to lift the ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities as part of a planned constitutional overhaul.


The remarks by Erdogan, whose AK Party won a new 5-year mandate in July elections, could reignite tensions with Turkey’s powerful secular elite, including army generals, which suspects him of wanting to boost the role of religion.


“The right to higher education cannot be restricted because of what a girl wears. There is no such problem in Western societies but there is a problem in Turkey and I believe it is the first duty of those in politics to solve the problem,” he told the Financial Times in an interview in Ankara.


The secularists regard the headscarf as a symbolic threat to Turkey’s separation of state and religion. They also fear any lifting of the ban would put social pressure on uncovered women to start wearing the headscarf in over-whelmingly Muslim Turkey.


But the AK Party says it is a question of freedom of expression and notes that the garment was only banned from university campuses in 1982 after a military coup.


Erdogan’s government has pledged to replace Turkey’s military-era constitution with a new charter that puts the focus on individual rights and freedoms and is more in line with the requirements of the European Union, which Ankara aims to join.


“We want a constitution that is going to provide and protect a state that is a democratic, secular, social state of law,” Erdogan told the FT.


“This constitution is going to point Turkey in a certain direction and it is our duty to debate it and consult with people in the widest possible sense,” he said.

For many Muslims around the world, wearing the veil is a religious obligation but for Mustafa Karaduman, a Turkish businessman, the veil is also big money. Karaduman has built a fashion empire across the Muslim world worth $50 million in sales last year. His brand, Tekbir, is sold in Turkey, in other Muslim countries and in Europe, says an ABC dispatch.


Karaduman’s secret is to make Islamic clothing that’s trendy. He says he crafts his product according to instruction from the Koran, Islam’s holy scriptures. “[The Koran] says: ‘dear prophet, take care of your son, daughter, girl, that they are covered full as their heart,’” Karaduman told ABC News.


“The sleeves are long till the wrist,” said Karaduman. “The legs should be covered till the ankle. The garment should not be transparent, and it should not show their shapes.”


“The head cover is also defined in the Koran,” he said. “Women are ordered to wear a scarf.” A religious man, Karaduman makes dresses according to his beliefs, but as a shrewd businessman, he crafts them with the finest fabrics and fancy patterns.


“My mission,” said Karaduman, “is to get as many women as possible to wear headscarves. I am not trying to do this with a stick, but with design.” At an Istanbul Tekbir store that ABC News visited, women loved the clothes. “I like the style,” said Zumrut. “In Islamic wear, I feel comfortable and beautiful.”


Ninety-nine per cent of Turks are Muslim, and radicals have gained influence over the years. However, Turkey remains a fiercely secular country, and headscarves are prohibited at public offices and schools.

The Islamic Jurisprudence Council banned the use of the verses of the Holy Qur’an as ringtones for mobile phones because it impinges on the sacred character of the Muslim Holy Book, according to the Saudi Press Agency.


“It is demeaning to the verses of the Holy Book to stop abruptly at the middle of a recitation or neglecting the recitation, as happens when they are used as ringtones in mobile phones. On the other hand, recording the verses from the Holy Qur’an in phone sets with the intention of recitation and listening is a virtuous act,” the scholars attending the council said in a statement.


During the 6-day meeting of the Council in Makkah, which began on November 3 under the chairmanship of Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, 70 Muslim dignitaries and scholars tackled a number of important issues.


The council decided that Muslims are permitted to determine the sex of a foetus provided it was a medical necessity, such as ascertaining diseases that are suspected to affect boys and not girls, and vice versa. The council said three doctors would be required to confirm the medical necessity of the procedure.


The council also encouraged Muslims in the West to participate in elections in non-Muslim countries and play an effective political role, especially if elections brought about public good or prevented social evils.


It said this was the only way for Muslims abroad to secure their rights.


It also encouraged Muslims in the West to integrate into Western societies but cautioned them against adopting any Western habits that are contrary to the principles of Islam.


Islamic scholars from various parts of the world, who attended the conference, also called for the upholding of Islamic unity and adherence to the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah (Tradition of the Prophet), while tackling issues affecting Muslim countries such as Iraq, Somalia.

The world’s largest travel fair has opened with a strong focus on green issues, highlighting the ever-increasing pressure on the tourism industry to promote environmentally friendly ways of seeing the world. A Euro monitor International report during the opening of the World Travel Market 2007 highlighted the potential for a boom in Halal tourism in the Middle East, where it forecasts 66 per cent growth in inbound tourists by 2011 to 55 million people. Clement Wong, travel and tourism research manager at Euromonitor International, said there was a market for a Halal startup airline, such as the budget airline set up by the Vatican earlier this year to transport pilgrims to holy sites.


A Halal airline could provide food prepared according to Muslim religious requirements, include prayers and provide separate sections for male and female travelers, he said. “There is a dearth in the supply of Halal tourism products,” he said, citing Dubai’s Ice Bar which is modelled on Western concepts but does not serve alcohol as an example to be copied. Other trends identified were the role of mobile phones in   revolutionizing the Asian travel industry and the growth of “voluntourism.” Algeria and Libya were tipped as new travel hotspots, while Australia retained its crown as the world’s top country brand for the second year running.

The Interfaith Association of Central Ohio held a public forum on the “Many faces of Islam” at the Ohio State House in the US. A large number of people from diverse faiths attended. Four panelists shared their experiences and challenges of being a Muslim in America especially after September 11. The panelists included Dr. Robert D. Crane, a former adviser to Nixon, Dr. Anisa Abd El Fattah, founder and chairperson of the National Association of Muslim American Women, Dr. Zulfiqar Shah, an executive member of the Fiqh Council of North America, and Imam Mostafa Al-Qazwini, director of the Islamic education center of Orange County, California.


Ashamed of their Countries of Origin

All panelists felt that America was a great place to practice Islam despite the challenges they faced after September 11. “I lived in six different countries after leaving Iraq where 15 of my family members were killed by Saddam,” Imam Mostafa Al-Qazwini said, “but America is the best place to practice Islam. After Sept. 11, I felt like I should go back to Iraq. We, Muslims suffered twice. The (sight) of the buildings collapsing was like our homes collapsing. And later on we were accused. Our children were asked why your parents attacked America. It was a test for us. I decided to stay and fight against the stereotyping of Muslims and the narrow mindedness of the people.”


Dr. Shah said that he felt more secure in America than anywhere else. “Unfortunately when I go to Pakistan for a visit, my father says, let’s hurry up and get home and don’t go to too many public places because it is unsafe. But now, when the plane lands in the US, I want to hurry up and leave the airport. I feel like a visiting head of state. I have 17 police officers welcoming me; they go through my entire luggage at customs. I made America my home because here everyone is treated with true dignity, unlike in most Muslim countries.” Dr. Crane felt that things were gradually changing for the better for the Muslims after Sept. 11. “I am concerned about the radical Muslims who have harmed the image of Islam. We should explain Islam as the scholars have.”


Dr. Anisa Abd El Fattah said that America was a great country, one of the few where there were no religious wars or persecution. “But now I am ashamed of the US. We never had such xenophobia. Our church had never been as powerful as it is today, yet today we have become the most hateful and malicious people in the world. We are people just like you, I ask you to understand us, give us space and not be so judgmental.” Participants showed a lot of enthusiasm by asking questions ranging from why Muslims prayed five times a day to which translation of the Qur’an was the best. Dr. Crane (who became Muslim in 1981 and was made ambassador to the UAE under President Reagan but fired by the then Secretary of State   Alexander Haig) told Arab News, “I feel it was because I became a Muslim but I was never told that officially.”


Dr. Crane said the Arabic word “daraba” used in the Qur’an has 17 different meanings ranging from striking to separating. He felt that Islam did not condone wife beating. Dr. Anisa Fattah felt that a lot of men thought daraba meant beating because it was something they were doing anyway and did not want to change. Dr. Zulfiqar Shah said that the Qur’an never criticized the Jews or the Christians as is the common misconception. “Qur’an has always criticized the evil doers among the Jews, the Christians and for that matter among the Muslims.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Nov. 9. The Vatican described the historic meeting, the first audience by the head of the Roman Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch, as “warm” and cordial. Pope Benedict warmly greeted King Abdullah, grasping both his hands before leading him to a library for their private meeting. The two leaders clasped hands on meeting and smiled before embarking on their historic talks. The king and the pope held talks for about 60 minutes in the pontiff’s library with the help of interpreters. Benedict spoke in Italian and the king in Arabic.


During the meeting, Pope Benedict and King Abdullah emphasized that dialogue between religions and cultures was essential in order to promote tolerance, get rid of violence and achieve peace and security for all peoples. They stressed the need for interfaith and intercultural dialogue among Christians, Muslims and Jews “for the promotion of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values, especially in support of the family,” the Vatican said. The Vatican talks assume great importance as King Abdullah met the pope, the leader of Roman Catholics, as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. During his talks with the pontiff, Abdullah has emphasized the need for an International Cultural Dialogue to eradicate malicious thoughts. He also urged Italy to play a greater role in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.


Both sides called for a “just solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Views were exchanged on the situation in the Middle East and on the need to find a just solution to the conflicts affecting the region, especially that between Israelis and Palestinians,” the Vatican added. The pope and the king also stressed that violence and terrorism have no religion or nation. The Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said the Vatican hoped the meeting would produce a frank dialogue between the two sides. There are hundreds of thousands of Christian guest workers in Saudi Arabia.


Abdullah, who arrived here Nov. 9 on the second leg of a European tour, also met separately with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The king had visited the Vatican twice before as crown prince and deputy prime minister. At the end of the meeting, Abdullah presented Benedict with a golden sword studded with jewels as well as a gold and silver statue of a palm tree and a man riding a camel. The king received a 16th-century engraving of the Vatican from the pope.

Muslims are being “demonized” by the British media, with 91 per cent of reports being negative, according to a research commissioned by London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone. The mayor said the survey, by consultancy firm ‘Instead’, studied a week’s news reports and found Islam was portrayed as a “threat to the West”.


Another poll published yesterday found that at least 35 per cent of Londoners held Islam responsible for the 7/7 attacks. The YouGov poll, commissioned by the Evening Standard, spoke to 701 people.


Livingstone said the research by ‘Instead’ - a consultancy firm which deals with issues of diversity and equality found   that the national media had a “hostile and scaremongering attitude” towards the community. Livingstone said: “The overall picture presented by the media is that Islam is profoundly different from and a threat to the West. “I think there is a demonization of Islam going on which damages community relations and creates alarm among Muslims,” he said. Livingstone urged editors to be balanced in their coverage saying out of 352 articles studied by researchers last year just 4 per cent were positive, the BBC reported.


The Evening Standard poll asked 701 people about issues and attitudes towards Islam, wearing the veil and faith schools. The poll found about a third of those questioned wanted political groups “promoting fundamentalist Islamic agendas” banned. While more than half of those interviewed said Muslims in London were “isolated” from others, about 50 per cent thought Islam was a “generally intolerant faith”. Regarding veils, at least eight out of 10 people said neither students nor teachers should be allowed to wear the veil in school. On faith schools, some 20 per cent of the respondents wanted faith schools to be “encouraged”, 10 per cent wanted their numbers to be reduced and one in three wanted them banned. Another poll, carried out by Ipsos-Mori on behalf of the Greater London Authority (GLA) and published on Monday, found 86 per cent of Muslims in the city and 91 per cent of other Londoners strongly felt that the police needed to work closely with the community.

The Bahrain based Islamic Bank Albaraka Banking Group (ABG), which is considered to be the biggest Islamic banking group, listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange in terms of capitalization, announced that it continued to record strong growth in operating income and operations during the first nine months of 2007. Net profits increased by 94 per cent, total assets by 25 per cent, equity by 25 per cent  and total operating income by 34 per cent, according to a statement of the Group. The results show that the Group’s total operating income increased by 34 per cent to reach $ 311 million for the first nine months of 2007 compared to $ 232 million for the first nine months of 2006.   All the components of these profits registered noticeable increases especially Islamic financing and investment activities. This reflected very positively on the net profit which achieved a significant increase of 94 per cent to reach $ 161 million for the first nine months of 2007 compared to $83 million for the same period of last year.  


Balance sheet items also showed significant growth, especially those related to core financing and investment activities during the first nine months to September 2007. Total assets increased to $ 9.56 billion as at the end of September 2007 compared to $ 7.63 billion as at the end of December 2006, reflecting an increase of 25 per cent. Total financing and investments increased by 29 per cent from $ 5.45 billion as at the end of December 2006 to $ 7.06 billion as at the end of September 2007. Customer accounts and unrestricted investment accounts registered a noticeable increase of 21per cent in line with the growth in assets to reach $ 6.60 billion as at the end of September 2007 compared to $ 6.15 billion as at the end of December 2006. Likewise, the equity registered a strong increase of 25per cent to reach $1.51 billion in total as at the end of September 2007. This increase is mainly attributable to the successful IPO of the Group last year, in addition to retained profits, the statement added.


On this occasion, Sheikh Saleh Abdulla Kamel, chairman of Albaraka Banking Group, said that he was pleased with the results stressing that such results reflect the strong commitment of the Group to continue, after the success of the Group’s private placement and IPO, with pressing ahead with the implementation of its ambitious plans to increase its operations and activities in its existing markets especially Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Algeria and expand into new markets identified in the medium term expansion strategy of the Group.


In this regard, a representative office has already been opened in Indonesia and a general manager appointed for the banking unit in Syria which is getting ready to begin its operations.   Furthermore, the merger of Al Baraka Islamic Bank and Al Amin Bank into one bank with a comprehensive range of products and services to serve the local and regional markets has been completed with great success, he noted.


The declared results reflect the success of the key strategies being implemented by the Group, which aim to maximize benefits from business dealings between the units of the Group, expansion in the markets of such units and the diversification of the product base and services, improving the quality and profitability of such products and services as well as enhancing the capital resources of the units to enable them compete more effectively in their markets.

Malaysia together with Iran and Turkey plan to produce what they call “Islamic” cars for the global market, according to Proton Holdings Bhd’s managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir. From an idea mooted by Iran, the proposed cars are expected to have Islamic features such as compass, Qibla reading and compartment for keeping the Holy Qur’an and scarves. “What they (Iran) want to do is to call that an Islamic car,” he told Bernama news agency on the sidelines of a dinner organized by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) here last night. The dinner was held in conjunction with the visit of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohd Affendi Norwawi, to Iran.


According to Syed Zainal Abidin, the Islamic car proposal will be a good opportunity for all those involved. “We will identify a car that we can develop to be produced in Malaysia, Iran or Turkey. The car will have all the Islamic features and should be meant for export purposes,” he said. Syed Zainal Abidin said with government support, the Islamic car producers will be able to get a big volume of orders. “For Proton, we are more than happy because we have products that we can share. For us, the proposal will be an advantage because it can help reduce our cost of development and provide better volume and economies of scale,” he said and added: “They have identified and proposed three countries — Iran, Malaysia and Turkey. Why these three countries? I think it’s because they are automotive-based,” Syed Zainal Abidin added.


The minister was leading a 40-member delegation comprising government officials and representatives from private companies on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Iran from Nov 5 to 11. Objective of the mission is to identify potentially large business opportunities for Malaysian companies. It is also meant to explore possible joint ventures between Malaysian companies and those in the Middle East as well as to attract investments from the Middle East in Malaysia’s economic corridors development.

Dubai Airshow took off in the first week of November in spectacular fashion with record-smashing single-day orders exceeding Dirham 180 billion in value as Emirates airline created global aviation history by ordering 143 aircraft worth Dirham  127 billion. The 10th edition of the biennial event showcasing a breathtaking array of aviation marvels was opened by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. While Emirates, the world’s fastest growing airline, placed orders and options worth over Dirham 126 billion with both Airbus and Boeing soon after the show’s opening, Qatar Airways announced another mega deal worth $13.5 billion with the US plane-maker.


European plane-maker Airbus, which scored over its rival Boeing with the much-vaunted 120 wide body jet order from Emirates, stole the show on the opening day. The Emirates order, which created civil aviation history, were for 120 fuel-efficient widebody Airbus A350s, 11 A380 super jumbos and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs. Qatar Airways order was for   30 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 27 Boeing 777s. With the new orders, Emirates is set to become the world’s largest operator of A380 and 777 in the next few years. The first day’s orders at the Dubai show beat the total for the whole of 2005 event by more than Dh100 billion, and were further boosted by the purchase of 20 A320 valued at Dh5 billion by National Air Services of   Saudi Arabia. On top of that, Cessna and Brazilian plane-maker Embraer reported deals worth a total of Dh1.2 billion.

Saudi Arabia signed 15 agreements worth $242 million to establish educational, technical, vocational, health and infrastructure projects in Yemen and promote cooperation in fisheries, geology, higher education and aviation. The projects to be financed are a central hospital in Hadeeda, a college of medicine and health sciences at Taaiz University, a university hospital and cancer center at Hadramout University, a gas power station in Maareb, a technical institute and vocational center and the renovation of Aden General Hospital.


The agreements were signed during a meeting of the Saudi-Yemeni Coordination Council, which was co-chaired by Crown Prince Sultan and Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawwar. Addressing the meeting, Prince Sultan highlighted the growing relations between the two Muslim neighbors.      


Mujawwar said his country was making vigorous efforts to become a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council by developing its infrastructure. “We want to become a deserving candidate for GCC membership by improving infrastructure, health and education. We feel happy to learn that we are moving in the right direction,” he said. He sought the Kingdom’s financial and technical support to facilitate Yemen’s integration into GCC economies.

The ‘Dubai Cares’ campaign for collecting donation for educating the children in poor countries raised Dirham 1,738,345,000. Launched by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the campaign raised the money during its 8-week run. The campaign involved all donation channels including SMS, bank transfers, donation boxes across several Dubai malls, direct contributions and sale of memorabilia..


‘Dubai Cares’ is based on a long-term strategy of investing in community-based, education programs to build the human capacities of some of the poorest countries in the world. The donations will be used to build and renovate schools, train teachers, provide teaching materials, sport and recreation equipment, offer scholarships, organize school feeding programs and encourage physical education. The campaign will be recognized for bringing together individuals, communities, government departments and corporations in an amazing display of communal spirit within Dubai’s multicultural landscape.

The Zakat Fund of the United Arab Emirates launched yesterday its services aimed at assisting commercial companies to calculate their Zakat electronically. Addressing a press conference, the Secretary General of the Zakat Fund Abdullah Bin Aqida Al Muhairi said that the new system, sponsored by Damas Group, enables commercial companies to calculate their Zakat dues electronically in preparation of its payment.


He said that the venture targets a major sector in the economy, thus enabling them to calculate and channelie the Zakat, WAM reported. Zakat is an obligatory due on wealth of every Muslim if his/her annual income exceeds a minimum level called Nisab. It is paid to specified categories as the social and economic support.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan’s largest political party, suffered a major setback in parliamentary elections in election held in the third week of November. The IAF, the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, won only eight seats in polls held on November 20 compared with the 17 seats it clinched in the previous general elections in 2003. The party, which has fielded 22 candidates in Amman and other major cities, accused the government of committing “violations,” but did not provide any evidence.

The Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey launched the construction of a strategic new railway linking their three countries on Nov. 21.


“Today is an historic day. We are launching the construction of a railway that will mark the revival of the great Silk Road,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at a ceremony in eastern Georgia attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Abdullah Gül.


The railway will link Baku in Azerbaijan with Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) and the Turkish city of Kars, bypassing Russia to allow goods to be shipped through the south Caucasus region to Turkey and on to western Europe.


Saakashvili called the railway a “geopolitical revolution” and “a transport window to Europe” for goods travelling from as far away as China.


The three countries have already cooperated to build a corridor of pipelines to deliver oil and gas from the energy-rich Caspian Sea to Turkey. The projects were backed by Western companies and governments keen to create alternative routes to Russian pipelines for Caspian Sea reserves.


The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, expected to cost $420 million, will see 29 kilometres of rail built in Georgia and 76 kilometres in Turkey. The railway is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.


It will initially have the capacity to ship up to five million tonnes of cargo a year.

A couple files for divorce every six minute in Egypt, with a third of marriages breaking up in the first year, according to a report released by the state-run statistics bureau. Courts across Egypt rule on 240 divorces each day, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has said in the report.


In most cases men take the initiative to file for divorce since under Muslim Sharia law they are allowed to seek unrestricted legal separation from their spouses while women must face long court procedures. In line with Sharia, men do not need to go to court to file for divorce and can take up to four wives. Egypt, home to 76 million people, now has 2.5 million divorced women.