Leaders, on the World Stage – All Others – Page 3 – Arabian Records (1st post : Eid Al Fitr – 01st Shawwal 1439 (AH) / 15th June 2018 ) / (BETA testing – Research

The Arab Kingdom

Amid the chaos of the First World War, a new pan-Arab empire was proclaimed. It faltered, but its historical lessons remain.

In December 2022, Abdullah II, the king of Jordan, gave an interview to the CNN anchor Becky Anderson. Sitting close to the Jordan River, not far from where Jesus is believed to have been baptised, this Muslim ruler expressed his concerns about the status of Jerusalem and the Christians under pressure from the new, extremist Israeli government. He emphasised that the ‘Hashemites’, his family, are the custodians of both Christian and Muslim sites in the holy city. Abdullah II cited his great-great-grandfather Sharif Hussein. It was from Hussein’s time, sometime at the end of the First World War, according to Abdullah II, that the Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites originates. His ancestor even gave sanctuary to Christian Armenian refugees in Jordan, said the king proudly on CNN.

Abdullah II’s remarks presented him as a confident and reassuring monarch but they also refer to a history of modern Arab kingship and the modern Middle East that has mostly been forgotten. Wikipedia in English, for instance, tells us that the custodianship of the Muslim sites in Jerusalem by the Hashemites follows from a ‘verbal agreement’ of Hussein with the Supreme Muslim Council of Palestine in 1924. The Indonesian version of Wikipedia repeats the claims of the English article. The Arabic version, however, tells us about the financial help Hussein gave for restoring the holy sites of Jerusalem and subsequent donations by the Hashemite dynasty for further improvements to the holy city. So, who was Hussein and what’s his relevance today?

Sharif Hussein is a legendary figure of the 1910s and ’20s. For some – certainly for Abdullah II – Hussein was the nationalist leader of the ‘Arab revolt’ during the First World War who won the war for the Arabs. In an alliance with Britain, he revolted against the Ottoman Empire in 1916 in order to establish a giant independent state that he called the ‘Arab Kingdom’. Others see him in less heroic terms. They blame him for ‘stabbing the Ottomans in the back’, the inability to stop the partitions decided by Europeans, and the Zionist settlement of Palestine – so, in a way, for losing the war.

The importance of Hussein and his Arab Kingdom for today is a forgotten experiment with state-formation exactly 100 years ago. Modern states do not originate only from nationalism. Abdullah II’s remarks at the Jordan River evoke Islam as a principle of government and Muslim rulers as protectors of Christians. This use of Islam is very different from what we usually hear about religion in the Middle East – for instance, ‘sectarianism’ (religion-based claims to institutionalised representation within nation states, often erupting in violence) or the fascist brutality of ISIS. But neither should we follow the king of Jordan into a monarchist-nationalist nostalgia. His great-great-grandfather Hussein was not born a nationalist. Here, I tell Hussein’s story as an exercise in unearthing ideas about Muslim government that we can call ‘imperial’. This is important because the imperial techniques of state-making defined the early 20th century in many regions of the world, and not nationalist or egalitarian revolutions.

Sharif Hussein bin ‘Ali was the scion of an important family from the sacred city of Mecca. Sharif means ‘nobleman’. Individuals who claim that they are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad use the Arabic honorific terms sharif (plural ashraf) and sayyid (meaning ‘master’, plural sada). Tens of millions of Muslims today claim this heritage. Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator until 2003, was one of them, for example. The rulers of Morocco, too, are ashraf. (The Saudi kings are emphatically not.) Furthermore, among all ashraf and sada, only the Jordanian ruling family and their relatives are called ‘Hashemites’ publicly, after Hashim, a legendary ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad. So, yes, both Hussein and his great-great-grandson King Abdullah II, sitting next to the Jordan River talking to CNN, are also ashraf, descendants of the Prophet.

Panoramic view of Mecca, c1845. Courtesy the Khalili Collections

Yet Hussein was born not in Mecca, but in Istanbul, at the metropolitan centre of the Ottoman Empire, sometime in the 1850s. The Ottoman Empire, a vast, three-continental administration in Europe, Asia and Africa, existed roughly between the 14th century and 1922. This empire was the Mediterranean Muslim superpower. The Ottoman emperor – sultan – assumed the title of the caliph of (Sunni) Islam, too. Today, in its final former territory across Europe and Asia, we find the states of Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt, Libya and Tunis in North Africa. In 1914, at the threshold of the First World War, its directly ruled population was estimated at around 25 million (at that time, the US population was about 100 million; Austria-Hungary was about 50 million).

For the Ottomans (a non-Arab, Turkic Muslim imperial dynasty), the most important ashraf were those in Mecca and Medina, the sacred cities in the Hijaz region of Arabia. Hence the value of Sharif Hussein bin ‘Ali for this Muslim empire. The loyalty of the Meccan descendants of the Prophet meant the symbolic recognition of the Ottoman caliphate. Since their conquest in the early 16th century, the Ottoman sultans usually appointed a sharif to serve as the emir of Mecca, its local ruler. From the mid-19th century, the descendants of the Prophet became closer and closer to Istanbul, literally. Hussein was born in Istanbul because his family branch in exile competed for the emirate of the holy city. He knew Turkish, his wife was Turkish-speaking, and his sons received Ottoman education. Hussein, known in the Ottoman administration as Şerif Ali Paşazade Hüseyin Bey (in Turkish transliteration), became quite an Ottomanised descendant of the Prophet.

The logic of the time was not to create nation-states but to transform empires into looser organisations

From the 1870s, the descendants of the Prophet received political roles in the Ottoman imperial capital. Many other more ordinary Arabs from the provinces also became part of the modernising imperial bureaucracy. Hussein and his sons (and the rival sharifian Meccan family members), circulating between Mecca and Istanbul, benefitted from this modern experiment fusing Islam with imperial patriotism. It’s helpful to think of this as an ‘unelected system of representation’, for the sultan suspended the imperial constitution in 1878 and substituted the parliament with these new practices. The ashraf ‘represented’ their regions (in a way, Hussein’s family stood for Mecca and the Hijaz region) but also in general the Muslim community. Many ashraf sat on imperial councils, travelled on steamships and the new railway lines, and so provided a symbolic cover for the empire. After the coup d’état usually known as the Young Turk Revolution to restore the constitution in 1908, Hussein’s sons became elected members of the new imperial assembly. And from 1908, Hussein held the imperial office of the emir of Mecca.

Being a descendant of the Prophet and an Ottoman imperial notable was a uniquely powerful combination in a city where a growing number of Muslims from all over the world came to perform pilgrimage in the age of steam. No wonder that the European empires (with large Muslim colonies and domains) were keen on gaining Hussein’s attention, and Hussein was also keen to gain their attention, especially the British. Hussein had been loyal to the Ottoman Empire before 1908 but hated the Young Turks and the restored Ottoman constitution. He thought that the Quran should be the only constitution in the empire; and he also feared losing his position as emir of the holy city. In the 1910s, Hussein and his sons made cautious contact with the British consul in Cairo. Intriguing, in early 1914 Hussein’s son Abdullah asked the British consul to consider a British protectorate over the emirate of Mecca like the British did with the subdued Afghan emir.

This 1914 intrigue of the Ottoman ashraf of Mecca in order to switch empires was part of a much more complex momentum of imperial transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. We must understand that the logic of the time, despite the popularity of ethnicity- and language-based patriotic ideas, was not to create sovereign nation-states but to transform empires somehow into looser organisations.

By the 1910s, many faith- and ethnicity-based groups in the Ottoman Empire demanded reforms to transform the empire into a federation. Bourgeois Arabs were no exception as some Syrians started to imagine a decentralised Ottoman Empire with Arab autonomy. Other Arab groups – for instance, the religious entrepreneur-journalist Sheikh Rashid Rida and his activists, with some European encouragement – imagined a new empire as a Muslim association of emirs, and some other sheikhs even advocated for an Arab caliph instead of an Ottoman one. In many of these 1910s plans, the ashraf had a role and Hussein, as the ruler of Mecca, personally could expect a potential caliphate. European commentators imagined this would-be Arab caliphate as a type of papacy, restricted to the holy cities in the Hijaz. This would have ended the age-old Ottoman system of combining the emperor and caliph titles. In short, the spirit of the time was to create autonomous polities in some sort of federation as a better way to accommodate economic and political demands of ethnic groups, and to challenge the Ottoman leadership of Sunni Islam.

A flag of Hijaz, also known as the flag of the Arab revolt, presented by Sharif Hussein, King of Hijaz, to King George V of the United Kingdom in 1918. Courtesy the Royal Collection, London

And in October 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Great War as a member of the Central Powers. Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans fought together against the Allied Powers, the British-French-Russian alliance. The Ottoman caliph declared jihad on the Allied Powers (not, to be noted, on his own Central Power allies, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians). For the Allied Powers, Hussein, the emir of Mecca, was the most useful symbol against the Ottoman caliph. As a descendant of the Prophet, as an Arab, he was a potential challenger of the Ottoman claim to the caliphate (and, for the better, this emir of Mecca had already requested British protection). After an exchange of letters with the British High Commissioner in Cairo (this correspondence came to be known as the Hussein-McMahon correspondence), Hussein declared his revolt – the ‘Arab revolt’ – against the Ottoman government in June 1916. Ever since, there has been a debate over what the British promised exactly, what a promise means in informal diplomacy, and whether the British betrayed their promises later.

Bedouin Arabs with the flag of Hijaz during the Arab Revolt in 1917. Courtesy the Library of Congress

Despite the assurances about a large Arab polity in the correspondence with McMahon, no Allied planners really expected that the emir of Mecca would want something more than a small emirate with the holy cities in the Hijaz. When, in October 1916, Hussein and his sons announced their claim to a giant polity, with Hussein as ‘King of the Arabs’, it took the Allied Powers by surprise. The ‘Arab Kingdom’ was an idea about a new empire stretching from the Levant (what is today Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon) to the Iraqi regions, even Arabia, thus including most of the Arabic-speaking Asian Ottoman provinces (but not the North African ones). Overcoming their surprise, in January 1917 and later repeatedly, the Allied Powers recognised Hussein as king only over the Hijaz, a small portion of Arabia. But this new ruler and his sons were not satisfied with a kingdom of the Hijaz. They maintained their claims to a much larger state, a new Muslim-Arab empire. This is why, when the sharifian troops entered Ottoman Damascus in October 1918 under the orders of his second son Faisal, many Damascenes understood that they are now in the ‘Arab Kingdom’, being the subjects of Hussein, a new Muslim sultan.

Empire is often a rhetorical term to mean something evil. Think about the empire in Star Wars. But we historians use ‘empire’ as an historical-analytical category of government, whose organising logic differs from the ideal of the nation-state. Empire is a large organisation that uses all available means (violence, dynastic marriage, religion and ethnicity) to establish political and economic claims on diverse regions with diverse peoples. As Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper call to our attention, empires welcome and embrace ‘diversity’; it is nation-states that require a homogeneous population. Historical empires subjugated and colonised peoples, but the important issue for our purposes is that empire is a different way of subjugating and organising peoples from that of the nation-state.

At the end of the Great War, the political visions about the future of what became the Middle East – the Allied agreements about partition, the well-known 1917 British promise of Palestine to Zionists as ‘the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people’, Hussein’s Arab Kingdom, some bourgeois Syrian federative visions, and the very much existing Ottoman loyalists – were not about sovereign nation-states. These plans and visions all implied some type of empire. Perhaps, the most fitting for post-Ottoman Arabs was a federative polity, with or without a dynasty. The imperial logic of organising peoples and territories dictated the political imaginations up to about 1922.

During 1918 and 1919, the sharifian advocates of the Arab Kingdom projected Islam and Arab ethnicity as the founding norms of a new political order. From early 1918, the official journal in Mecca and his sons called Hussein ‘the Commander of the Faithful’ in Arabic (amir al-mu’minin) while the new king craved for the title of caliph. Both the sharifian and British propaganda started to advertise Prophetic descent as an important quality for Muslim rulership. The Arab Kingdom was to be ruled by Hussein and his sons, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Islam, Prophetic genealogy and ethnicity were to serve as the constitutional foundations of Hussein’s Arab Kingdom. We can call this idea of a state a ‘genealogical empire’.

Using religion in state-formation is considered today outside of international norms

Hussein’s genealogical empire was the first of many post-Ottoman Muslim imperial projects in the 20th century. Like the case with Christian, Hebrew and Buddhist imperialisms, there had been various kinds of Muslim empires in history, from the late-antique Muslim-Byzantian caliphates to the last great empires of the Mughals in India, the Qajars in Iran, and the Ottomans in the eastern Mediterranean. In a way, the Arab Kingdom was to contain recycled Ottoman institutions: the caliphate, a monarchy, Islam, the ashraf, and of course the ex-Ottoman peoples, such as Arabs, Turks, Armenians, Jews and Kurds, some of whom were Christians and even Shi‘i Muslims. The Ottoman politics of diversity had to be transformed into a new Muslim framework.

Using religion in state-formation is considered today outside of international norms. In 1919, the sharifian makers of the Arab Kingdom had to face the Ottoman Arab urban bourgeoisie who were rather advocating some type of federation, perhaps preserving an association even with Istanbul. For instance, in Ottoman Damascus, the sharifian occupiers had to compromise for a constitutional, federative ‘United States of Syria’, in which Faisal, the son of Hussein, was declared king in March 1920. But Sharif Hussein was not a federalist. In his imagination, this unrecognised Syrian princely polity was still part of his larger Arab Kingdom.

Next to the Arab federalists and the still-strong Ottoman loyalists, the sharifian imperial project also bumped into the intentions of the Allied Powers. This is the more familiar story about the modern Middle East. The French and British (and Russian and Italian) governments aimed at partitioning the Ottoman provinces. Just think about the Balfour Declaration in 1917, given by Britain’s foreign minister Lord Balfour to the Zionists to establish a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Ottoman Palestine, practically a promise for settler colonisation, a typical imperial gesture. The Covenant of the League of Nations in 1919 codified these agreements in the new international system. Hussein remained to be recognised only as the king of the Hijaz. There thus existed in 1919 a split situation – while the ‘Kingdom of the Hijaz’ was a minor Allied Power and as such participated in the Paris Peace Conference, the Hijazi (sharifian) representatives and administrators in the occupied regions projected the idea of the ‘Arab Kingdom’ with full force.

And even more complicated was the fact that Hussein’s polity was to be a subordinate to the British Empire. For instance, Hussein had no problem with a British appointment of his minister of war and often repeated that the British gave him power over lesser rulers in Arabia. Even more importantly, the British treasury financed the Hijazi (the sharifian) army and their occupation administration in Damascus, and in December 1919 the British government gave over the financing of this occupation zone to the French treasury. The French army did not trust Faisal, a would-be sharifian monarch in Damascus, who was too closely tied with his father Sharif Hussein, a potential caliph in Mecca, and with British politics. Besides, the French colonial empire had their own sharifian monarch in Morocco. In July 1920, the French army invaded the internal lands of Syria, expulsing the Hijazi sharifian regime and Faisal, the new king of the United States of Syria, and killed the Ottoman Syrian general Yusuf al-Azma. Thus, accidentally, the French army also ended the hopes of the local Syrian Ottoman loyalists about returning to Istanbul’s umbrella.

The possibility of a large Arab kingdom was not yet crushed as sharifian troops still held the Ottoman Hijaz railway stations in Transjordan, the mountains above the river Jordan. This is where Hussein’s third son Abdullah arrived in November 1920 to represent his father and establish his own emirate within the sharifian empire. The British planners agreed to this arrangement in April 1921 and at the same time transferred the defeated Faisal to rule a new country, the Iraqi kingdom. Thus emerged a chain of sharifian monarchies (the Kingdom of the Hijaz, the Emirate of Transjordan, the Kingdom of Iraq) in a loose association, under British control. This modular association of three Muslim rulers was still an empire, with Mecca as its centre. In 1921, British officials were astounded when Sharif Abdullah presented them with a constitutional draft of his new emirate that derived his authority over Amman from his father, Sharif Hussein, in Mecca. The operation of recycling the Ottoman Empire into a series of emirates held together by Prophetic genealogy, Islam, ethnicity, a railway, and dynastic claims was the defining project of the Middle East until 1924.

Abdullah II’s remarks today about the Hashemite protection of Christians and Jerusalem’s holy places originate in this moment and in this project. Muslim emperors had offered protection to persecuted communities in the past, and possibly Sharif Hussein was also glad to exercise this imperial gesture when his troops found Christian Armenian refugees in the occupied Syrian provinces. Furthermore, as a potential ruler of Jerusalem and a caliph – in fact, in March 1924 he did assume the caliphate in public – Hussein and his sons got in touch with the Jerusalem Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. A Jerusalem delegation arrived in Amman in March 1924 to acknowledge Sharif Hussein as caliph (and another Jerusalem group to anxiously express their doubts). About this time, the Hashemites started to act as protectors of the holy sites in a symbolic competition (but also cooperation) with interwar Zionists.

But the core of the imagined Arab Kingdom – Mecca and the Hijaz – was gone by the end of 1925. Capitalising on the general dissatisfaction with King Hussein’s politics, a new conqueror, Sultan Abdulaziz of Najd in Central Arabia (‘Ibn Saud’) conquered the holy cities and expulsed the sharifian family. A new, this time Saudi, kingdom started in the Hijaz. King Hussein lived in exile – he was pointedly buried in Jerusalem near the Al-Aqsa mosque in 1931. So, when today Abdullah II claims protection over the holy sites, in fact he also claims his own ancestor’s grave.

In this story about the rise and fall of the sharifian Arab Kingdom – although never entirely gone, as Jordan is still with us – we have observed that religion, genealogy, federative ideas, ethnicity and monarchy were fundamental in the local making of modern Arab polities. While the Allied Powers partitioned peoples and regions, there was significant local involvement in the political furnishing of new states. The mixture of constituent fictions was not created by the Allied occupiers; instead, it emerged from how societies that succeeded the old Ottoman order continued to carry out imperial programmes in lieu of radical revolutions. At the same time, these successor societies were to be integrated into new European imperial orders, Greater France and Greater Britain, respectively. Western and Arab politicians, Orientalists, artists and the press further entrenched the essentialisation, racialisation and feudalisation of post-Ottoman Arabs in the 1920s and ’30s. The local and external logics of the imperial imaginary about Arab politics with its centrality on religion retained their force well into the second half of the 20th century, and, as we could observe in Abdullah II’s interview to CNN, even until today.

source/content: aeon.co / Adam Hestyan / edited Sam Haselby (headline edited)

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Sharif Husein and the campaign for a modern Arab empire

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ARAB

MOROCCO’s Arif Esa Appointed Deputy Chairman at International Trade Council (ITC)

Esa hopes that his new role will help him raise Morocco’s profile in the fintech and digital industry globally.

Founder and CEO of Moroccan fintech startup moneyIN Arif Esa has assumed the position of Deputy Chairman for the Banking/Finance/Blockchain & Trade Finance department at the International Trade Council (ITC).

This appointment not only recognizes Esa’s outstanding contributions but also positions him as the first Moroccan entrepreneur to hold such a role within the ITC.

Esa, who holds a stellar track record in finance and fintech, with a portfolio of global recognition and awards, spoke with Morocco World News about his motivation for taking this role, as well as his new responsibilities and objectives.

“Accepting this responsibility was not just an honor but an opportunity to provide pivotal advice and give back to the community. It also aligns seamlessly with our global vision to establish Morocco and Africa as prominent players in the fintech and digital industry,” he said.

As a globally recognized figure, Esa’s reputation in the finance and fintech industry drew the attention of the ITC panel, which spans 179 countries, 79 government trade and investment agencies, 418 chambers of commerce, and a vast network of businesses and employees.

After undergoing a “meticulous” evaluation process, Esa was humbled to be selected as the Deputy Chairman of this division, he said.

In his capacity as Deputy Chairman, Esa will play a key role in shaping the strategic direction of the ITC’s Banking/Finance/Blockchain & Trade Finance department.

This role includes overseeing various key focus areas, including financial Instruments, risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, promoting innovative solutions, and capacity building, among others.

A bridge to Morocco

Highlighting the significance of his new role, the Moroccan entrepreneur emphasized, “I am excited about the impact we can collectively achieve, and I look forward to contributing meaningfully to the growth and transformation of trade finance and continuing to promote Morocco and the economy in the years to come.”

One of the central aspects of Esa’s new position is its potential impact on the Moroccan fintech landscape and businesses. His appointment is expected to open doors for Moroccan start-ups and fintech ventures on an international platform, he said.

“With my reputation, influence, and track record in the finance and fintech industry, I am poised to attract heightened attention and interest from investors, venture capitalists, and family offices,” he underlined.

In addition, the Moroccan entrepreneur intends to use his position to advocate for supportive regulatory frameworks for fintech start-ups in Morocco, fostering an environment that encourages investment.

He also emphasized the importance of mentorship and personalized guidance, stressing that he is “committed to assisting start-ups in overcoming challenges, honing their strategies, and maximizing their potential for success.”

Esa’s engagement with international networks through the ITC is expected to provide Moroccan start-ups with expanded access to global markets, he noted, explaining that it will help them open doors to new markets and strengthen their credibility and standing on a global stage.

He further emphasized that his appointment “symbolizes a bridge between the Moroccan fintech ecosystem and the international financial landscape,” allowing him to “catalyze a transformational shift in how Moroccan start-ups are perceived, supported, and propelled towards greater success.”

Esa reflected on his journey with Morocco moneyIN, an instant payment solution, and how it prepared him for this new position.

“My journey with moneyIN Morocco has been a transformative experience that has uniquely prepared me for the prestigious role of Deputy Chairman within the Banking/Finance/Blockchain & Trade Finance department at the International Trade Council,” he explained.

He highlighted several key areas where his experience with moneyIN proved instrumental, including his ability to navigate the rapidly evolving fintech landscape and understand the potential of technologies like blockchain.

In particular, his background as an entrepreneur equipped him to empathize with the challenges start-ups face and advocate for measures that facilitate their growth.

His engagement with start-ups underscored the importance of mentorship and education, which Esa plans to extend globally.

Esa concluded by offering valuable advice to aspiring Moroccan entrepreneurs, encouraging them to “dream boldly, embrace disruption, and lead with integrity.”

He emphasized the importance of resilience, continuous learning, and global thinking, saying, “Aspire not only to make a mark but to leave an indelible legacy of positive change that reverberates across borders and generations.”

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com (headline edited)

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MOROCCO

ARAB CULTURE IN SPAIN: 5 Marvels of Arab Culture to see in Spain

.When you hear of Al-Andalus, you might think of Andalusia. And yet, from 711 to 1492, until the famous Fall of Granada, the Future Andalusia was only a small part of this vast Arab territory, whose influence can be seen everywhere in Spain. Let us take a tour.

Al-Andalus, a long series of powerful people

In the early 8^th century, the Iberian Peninsula belonged to the Visigoth Empire, when the commanders of the Umayyad Caliphate (with a territory extending from the Arabian Peninsula to the Maghreb) set out to conquer the lands on the other side of the Mediterranean.

The Umayyad dynasty ruled in Al-Andalus (what would become Spain) for more than 300 years. It was suceeded by Taifas (independent kingdoms). The Abbasids, then the Almoravids, rose to power. In 1147, it was the Almohads who took over the empire. This proved to be a prosperous period, with great scholars, such as Averroes, a doctor, lawyer, and advisor to the Caliph. These scholars helped to make Al-Andalus a grand dominion. But the Christian reconquest gained ground. From 1238 to 1492, the Reconquista blazed on, and soon only the Emirate of Granada remained in southern Spain, the last vestige of the great Muslim empire.

From the north to the south of Spain, the Arab-Andalusian influence can be seen everywhere

One after the other, Cordoba, Seville and Granada became the capitals of the kingdom of Al-Andalus during the Middle Ages. Arab culture has permeated everything from traditional Andalusian music to the names of localities, and the Spanish language. But the most visible influence can of course be seen directly in the architecture of buildings and streets. Numerous vestiges, sometimes intact, sometimes remodelled, remain in the cities’ maze of streets, and this period of Spanish history has left prodigious monuments of Arab origin and fabulous examples of Islamic art. Many of these monuments bear a unique blend of cultural influences as they were renovated or repurposed over the centuries.

The most beautiful Arab monuments in Spain

The Arab Baths of Ronda, a magnificent ruin site

The hammam tradition was a cornerstone of Arab culture for centuries. From the 13^th to the 15^th century, several such baths were built in Spain. The baths of Ronda, in Andalusia, are one of the best examples, with their three magnificent barrel-vaulted rooms and visible heating and water circulation systems. The Guadalevín river, which often floods, has prevented these baths from being used, but excavations have been carried out, and now you can visit and admire some of the best-preserved Arab bathhouses in the country.

pix: P. Escudero / hemis.fr

Baños Árabes
C. Molino de Alarcón
29400 Ronda
Málaga
+34 951 15 42 97
turismoderonda.es

The Alhambra of Granada, an extraordinary castle

On the Sabika hill, opposite the Albaicín district, stands the Alhambra of Granada, a majestic conglomeration of several buildings built in the early 12^th century. The grandeur of the last Nasrid rulers is at its peak. Not to mention the sublime, breathtaking view over the plain of Granada!

pix: KellyISP / Getty Images Plus

Alhambra de Granada
C. Real de la Alhambra
18009 Granada
+34 958 02 79 71
www.alhambra-patronato.es

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, from Islam to Christianity

Another Muslim building, the Cordoba mosque is a symbol of Arab influence at its most grandiose. From the 8^th century to 29 June 1236, the building served as a mosque, before becoming a church again following the Reconquista. Representative of the art of the Umayyads of Cordoba, it is a monumental structure, and it covers over 1.5 hectares. The building is a splendid example of Islamic architecture: the “forest of columns” in the main hall – 1,300 marble, jasper and granite columns – highlights the gargantuan size of the place.

pix: kasto80 / Getty Images Plus

Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba
C. Cardenal Herrero, 1
14003 Córdoba
+ 34 957 47 05 12
mezquita-catedraldecordoba.es

The Aljaferia Palace in Zaragoza, a seat of power

The Mudejar art of Aragon, in the north of Spain, has been declared part of UNESCO’s World Heritage, and the Aljaferia in Zaragoza is one of its most flamboyant masterpieces. When it was built in the second half of the 11^th century, this palace clearly displayed the magnificence of the Taifa of Zaragoza. It served as a residence, a fortified enclosure and a barracks. It currently houses the Parliament of Aragon. The palace’s interior decoration is gorgeous, with a series of delicate, refined arches.

pix: kasto80 / Getty Images Plus

Palacio de la Aljafería
Calle de los Diputados
50003 Zaragoza
+34 976 28 96 83
www.turismodearagon.com

The Seville Giralda, a perfect example of mixed construction

The architectural marriage of the Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the See in Seville, is immediately evident. The lower parts were built in the 12^th century, when the city was the capital of the Arab-Andalusian empire, under the rule of the Almohads. Four centuries later the upper floor was added, and the mosque’s minaret became a bell tower. It is now an unspoken rule that no building should be higher than this symbol of Seville.

pix: marinzolich / Getty Images Plus

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede de Sevilla – Giralda
Av. de la Constitución
41004 Sevilla
+34 902 09 96 92
www.catedraldesevilla.es

source/content: en-vols.com / ENVOLS (headline edited)

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SPAIN

ABU DHABI, UAE: How Manchester City Evolved under Sheikh Mansour’s Leadership to become European Champion

The managerial ability of Pep Guardiola was backed by Sheikh Mansour’s long-term project as City won a historic treble.

When Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Court, bought Manchester City in 2008, the club was languishing in the mid-table of the English Premier League.

It had just finished the previous season in ninth position, 32 points behind Manchester United, the champion of England and its famously successful city rival.

United then was brimming with world-class talent.

A team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Edwin van der Sar, United had also won the Champions League in 2008.

It was Sir Alex Ferguson’s second European triumph with United as manager following the famous treble-winning season in 1999.

So it was a couple of months after United enjoyed one of its greatest seasons that Sheikh Mansour made his foray into English football with a club that was never able to sit alongside the elites in the sport.

But the visionary UAE leader went on to change the footballing landscape in such a way that City is now football’s ultimate aristocrat.

So how did City, who completed a historic treble by winning the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League this season, become the most dominant team after Sheikh Mansour took over the club?

Long-term goal

Brazilian star Robinho joined Man City from Real Madrid in 2008. — Twitter

City did not become successful overnight despite the takeover from Sheikh Mansour in 2008.

It made a slow and steady progress and one that was backed by Sheikh Mansour in every step.

In the first season after the takeover, City could only finish 10th in the league despite acquiring a big-name player from Real Madrid, Robinho, the Brazilian superstar.

But City made gradual improvement and next season in 2010, the team became stronger after the arrival of Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Kolo Toure.

Chelsea, United, Arsenal and Tottenham were the top four teams that season as City finished fifth, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League.

FA Cup triumph

The next season in 2011, City finally ended its trophy drought. A Carlos Tevez-inspired City won the FA Cup that season with a 1-0 win over Stoke City in the final – it was the team’s first major triumph since 1976.

City had reached the final with victory over United in the semifinal, the club’s first success in a knockout game against the bitter rival since 1975.

City then went on to finish third in the league, qualifying directly for the Champions League in what was another landmark for the club.

Premier League ecstasy

After breaking into the top-three of the Premier League, City turned on the style in England.

Sergio Aguero had just joined City from Atletico Madrid and the Argentina star made an instant impact.

City thrashed Tottenham 5-1 and humiliated United 6-1, signalling its arrival on the big stage as the big contender for the title.

The battle for the league title, though, was not easy with United bouncing back only to fall again.

It went to the last day with City needing a win against the Queens Park Rangers to pip United for the title.

But City was trailing 2-1 until the 91st minute in the dramatic last game of the season.

The Blues though scored an equalizer in the 92nd minute before Aguero found the winner in the last minute of injury time with a moment of magic, sparking wild celebrations on the field and in the stands.

It was City’s first league title in 44 years and it was the start of a golden era for the club.

Guardiola arrives

City had added one more Premier League title in 2014. Two years later, the club hired Pep Guardiola, who famously led Lionel Messi’s Barcelona to glorious triumphs during his four-year stint as manager of the Catalan club.

Guardiola arrived in City after a two-year spell at Bayern Munich.

A man famous for building teams that play eye-catching football, Guardiola was entrusted with the responsibility of making City a serial winner as well as an aesthetically pleasing team.

The Spanish coach imposed his style on the team and it won the league in 2017-2018 by collecting the highest points for a season.

City retained the Premier League title next season, its first successful defence of the title in history.

With world-class players in the team, City was producing mesmeric football as it also won two more league titles in 2021 and 2022.

But the biggest dream — the Champions League title — remained unfulfilled after defeat to Chelsea in the 2021 All-England final.

Historic treble

Sheikh Mansour’s Manchester City was finally rewarded in Europe for its perseverance.

City produced another masterclass in beautiful and brilliant football as Guardiola’s team won its third straight Premier League title, overcoming a spirited challenge from Arsenal.

The club then beat city rival United in the final to win the FA Cup.

And once it outplayed Real Madrid, the most dominant team in the history of European football, in the Champions League semifinal, City became the overwhelming favourite in the final against Inter Milan.

The Italians put up a big fight in the Istanbul final, but the superior quality of City made the difference as Rodri’s sumptuous goal separated the victor from the vanquished.

City’s wait to be European champion was finally over as it also became the first team since Manchester United to complete the treble.

It has taken the team 15 years since the takeover from Sheikh Mansour to scale the highest peak.

The long-term vision of Sheikh Mansour helped City become the king of European football.

The club has won seven Premier League, three FA Cup, six League Cup and the 2023 Champions League title in these 15 trophy-laden years under Sheikh Mansour’s leadership.

“One of the main reasons why this club became what we are is because of the people from Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mansour, took over the club,” Guardiola said. “Without that, we would not be here.”

The biggest tribute City can pay to Sheikh Mansour now is by becoming the first team since Real Madrid to defend the Champions League title.

source/content: khaleejtimes.com (headline edited)

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Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Court, attends the Champions League final. — Reuters

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MANCHESTER (U.K.) / ABU DHABI , UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

SAUDI ARABIA / ALGERIA: Saudi Justice Minister Waleed Al Samaani Elected as Head and Algeria’s Abdul Rashid Tabbi as Deputy Head of the Pan-Arab body -‘Council of Arab Justice Ministers’

Al-Samaani and Tabbi will serve in their roles for two years.

Saudi Justice Minister Waleed Al-Samaani has been elected head of the executive office of the Council of Arab Justice Ministers, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Abdul Rashid Tabbi of Algeria was elected deputy head. Both will serve in their roles for two years.

The announcement came on Wednesday during the 71st session of the executive office, held at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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Saudi Justice Minister Waleed Al-Samaani attends 71st session of the executive office of the Council of Arab Justice Ministers. (SPA)

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SAUDI ARABIA / ALGERIA

TUNISIA / MOROCCO: Fatima Al-Fihri: The Woman who Founded the World’s First University in Fez, Morocco

When thinking of the oldest universities in the world, probably the first ones that come to most people’s minds are Oxford and Bologna, but according to UNESCO and the Guinness World Records, Al-Qarawiyyin University (also written as Al-Karaouine) is the “oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world.”

Founded in 859 A.D. by Tunisian-born Fatima al-Fihri in Morocco’s Fez, the university is not only the oldest higher education institution on Earth but also the first to be founded by a Muslim woman. Fatima used her inheritance from her merchant father’s wealth to found the university which started as an associated school – known as a madrasa – and a mosque that eventually grew into a place of higher education. It also introduced the system of awarding degrees according to different levels of study in a range of fields, such as religious studies, grammar and rhetoric. Though the university first focused on religious instruction, its fields of study quickly expanded to include logic, medicine, mathematics and astronomy, among many others.

The University of Al Quaraouiyine became a state university in 1963 and now awards degrees in Islamic, religious and legal sciences with an emphasis on classical Arabic grammar and linguistics and law.

Interestingly, teaching is still delivered in a very traditional manner, whereby students are seated in a semi-circle around a Sheikh (Islamic scholar), who prompts them to read sections of particular texts, asks them questions on aspects of grammar, law, or interpretation, and explains difficult points. Education at the University of al-Qarawiyyin concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in, Classical Arabic grammar/linguistics and Maliki Sharia, though lessons on non-Islamic subjects are also offered to students. Teaching is still delivered in the traditional methods. The university is attended by students from all over Morocco and Muslim West Africa, with some also coming from further abroad. Women were first admitted to the institution in the 1940s

Fatima al-Fihri was born in 800 A.D. She was the daughter of Mohammed Bnou Abdullah al-Fihri – a rich merchant who settled in Fez with his family during the reign of Idris II.

Fatima’s family was part of a community called the “Qarawiyyin” (the ones from Qayrawan) whose two thousand families migrated from Qayrawan in Tunisia, to Fez in Morocco which was then under the rule of Idris II, a respected and devout ruler.

After the community was banned by the local ruler. The caravan included Fatima’s father Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Fihri, and sister Mariam. Fatima was well versed in classical Islamic learning such as fiqh (jurisprudence) and hadith (Islamic traditions based on Prophet’s life). She inherited a large fortune from her merchant father which she used to build the university. She personally supervised the entire gigantic enterprise, from putting up the foundation to the functionalizing of these institutions. When she embarked on her mission, she had lost her father, husband, and brother – all primary sources of support and protection for a woman. Any other woman would have retreated to the backwaters of domestic life. But Fatima appears to have been an extraordinarily inspired and determined woman with steely grooves. All her great achievements came during periods of loneliness and in circumstances when women normally shun the world and seek the company of the home.

During her lifetime, Fatima was called the “mother of boys”. According to historian Mohammed Yasser Hilali, “this nickname probably stems from her charity and the fact she took students under her wing.” Fatima al-Fihri herself is considered a saint and she is much respected among the believers especially in Fez. In 2017, a prize was created in Tunisia in her honor. It rewards initiatives which encourage access to training and professional responsibilities for women. Furthermore, an academic program and a scholarship given to students from Europe and North Africa pay tribute to Fatima al-Fihri.

The University of Al-Qarawiyyin (also Al-Karaouine), which was then just called a madrasa (an institute of religious learning), was 30 m long, with a courtyard, a large library, and several schoolrooms. Although initially only the Qur’an and related religious lessons were taught, many other courses of study, like mathematics, medicine, Arabic grammar, history, geography, astronomy, chemistry, music and logic were soon introduced. Fatima studied there herself, along with her students, and awarded them degrees once they completed the courses: a degree that was chiseled onto a wooden board, which is now displayed in the university’s library. She also conducted debates and symposiums periodically for her students, producing politically-aware individuals.

With these innovative ideas, Fatima al-Fihri had not merely founded the first university but had introduced the concept of awarding degrees that is now an essential part of modern higher education.

In fact, the university produced many celebrated intellectuals and historians who are still known to this day: the Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd, Andalusi diplomat and geographer, Hassan al-Wazzan and historian and thinker Ibn Khaldun, the famous Jewish philosopher, Moses Ben Maimon and Aka Maimonides.

The Christian scholar, Gerbert of Aurillac, who later became Pope Sylvester II, is believed to have visited the university several times. His visits helped him introduce Arabic numerals and the concept of zero to Europe. The University of Al Qarawiyyin is still considered a leading religious and education institution in the Muslim world. The university has moved away to another part of Fez, but the mosque and the library remain at the ancient complex. The University of Al-Qarawiyyin is the oldest existing, continually operating and the first degree awarding educational institution in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness World Records and is sometimes referred to as the oldest university.

(M Ahmad is a regular writer for this newspaper and can be reached at specialachivers78@gmail.com)

source/content: risingkashmir.com (headline edited)

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TUNISIA

SAUDI ARABIA to Chair ‘WTO Trade Policy Review Body’ for 2023-2024

Almoqbel is the first Arab ambassador to the WTO to preside over the TPRB.

The World Trade Organization General Council has selected Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to WTO Saqer Abdullah Almoqbel to chair its Trade Policy Review Body for 2023-2024.

Almoqbel is the first Arab ambassador to the WTO to preside over the TPRB.

The TPRB aims to facilitate the efficient operation of the multilateral trading system by increasing the transparency of WTO members’ trade policies. All members are subject to review every two to six years under the mechanism.

Periodically, the agency releases reports on the global economy, including detailed chapters examining the trade policies and practices of each member, as well as descriptions of the trade policymaking institutions and the macroeconomic environment.

Saudi Arabia’s new position at TPRB reinforces its leadership position within the WTO. In addition to being the organization coordinator for the Arab group, the Kingdom has chaired the Council for Trade in Services, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Working Group on Transfer of Technology, and the Committee for Balance of Payments Restrictions in previous years.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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SAUDI ARABIA

WORLD ARAB RECORD: U.A.E : Longest Arab Space Mission in History Launched

Florida, March 02nd, 2023

The longest Arab space mission in history was launched today at 9:34 am (UAE time).

The 6-month mission is carried out by astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi aboard the International Space Station as part of Crew-6.

source/content: wam.ae (headline edited)

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

LEBANESE AMERICAN: James Abourezk, 1st Arab American US Senator

James Abourezk, 1st Arab American US senator, dies at 92.

James Abourezk, attorney and Democratic politician who served as a United States senator and United States representative from South Dakota and co-founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee(ADC), died today on his 92nd birthday.

He was born in Wood, South Dakota, the son of Lena (Mickel), a homemaker, and Charles Abourezk, an owner of two general stores. Both of his parents were Lebanese immigrants. He grew up near Wood on the Rosebud Reservation and has lived in South Dakota most of his life.

Abourezk represented South Dakota in the United States Senate from 1973 until 1979. He was the author of the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed by Congress in 1978 to try to preserve Indian families and tribal culture.

He was instrumental in the creation of both the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. He became chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee from its creation in 1977 to 1979.

Abourezk was elected in 1970 as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives and served from 1971 to 1973. In 1972 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1973 to 1979.

Abourezk was an outspoken critic of Israel and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East after touring the region and visiting his parents’ hometown in Lebanon as a senator. The position lost him many political allies, and he decided to retire from the Senate after a single term.

In 1980, Abourezk co-founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and traveled throughout the U.S. organizing Arab Americans in the wake of the “Abscam” debacle. Abscam was an FBI sting operation where agents dressed up as “oil-rich sheiks” in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption.

Abourezk’s marriages to Mary Ann Houlton and Margaret Bethea ended in divorce. In 1991, he married Sanaa Dieb, a restaurateur. They moved to Sioux Falls where she opened an award-winning Arab restaurant.

Survivors include his wife; children Charles Abourezk, Nikki Pipe On Head, and Paul Abourezk from his marriage to Houlton; daughter Alya Abourezk from his third marriage; a stepdaughter; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Warren David, president of Arab America and a former national president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said, “during a time when discourse regarding the negative portrayal of Arabs and the injustice faced by Palestinians were scarce, he (Abourezk) acted as a pioneer who instilled a sense of immediacy in the Arab American community–he was a trailblazer in that regard.”

Compiled by Arab America

source/contents: arabamerica.com (headline edited)

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AMERICAN / LEBANESE

SAUDI ARABIA: Yasser Al Misehal – the Saudi Football Chief joining Fifa Council

Saudi Arabia Football Federation president will be part of powerful arm of world football’s governing body.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday returned to the powerful Fifa Council with their federation head Yasser Al Misehal getting elected at the AFC Congress held in Bahrain.

Who is Yasser Al Misehal?

Al Misehal is the president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), and has presided over a period of unprecedented change and progress in Saudi football, under the patronage of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The men’s national team pulled off one of the biggest shocks in tournament history when they beat tournament favourites Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar late last year, a feat Al Misehal described in a December interview with The National as “one of the most historical moments for the Saudi nation “.

A member of both Fifa’s and the Asian Football Confederation’s Disciplinary Committees, Al Misehal also served as chairman of the Saudi Pro League from June 2016 to October 2017.

According to his LinkedIn page, Al Misehal studied Sport Management at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi from 2014 to 2015 and has a Bachelor’s degree in finance from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals.

An avid sports fan since childhood, Al Misehal is an honorary member of Al Ettifaq Football Club.

How has he changed Saudi football?

Under Al Misehal’s patronage Saudi football has undergone major changes. Saudi age-group sides have enjoyed recent success, with the Under-23s clinching the Asian Cup in Uzbekistan in June, and the U20s triumphing at the Arab Cup on home soil in August.

According to the SAFF, the organisation is responsible for the development and up-skilling of more than 3,000 national coaches – more than at any time in the country’s history – and 1,700 referees across the kingdom.

In the past three years, Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in women’s football as both grass-roots player development and the establishment in 2021 of a first women’s national team. The kingdom has also introduced an inaugural women’s football league and girls’ school league.

Latest figures show there are now 520 registered players across 25 clubs in the league, and almost 50,000 girls in the inaugural schools’ league.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Pro League is able to attract superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, who in December joined Riyadh-based Al Nassr on what is believed to be the most lucrative contract in world football.

What is the Fifa Council?

The Fifa Council is the main decision-making body of the organisation, outside the Fifa Congress. The council is a supervisory body that sets the vision for the organisation and for global football.

It has members from six confederations, with the AFC getting seven spots in the 37-member council.

Al Misehal’s elevation to the Fifa Council restores Saudi Arabia’s presence in the decision-making position at world football’s governing body after an absence of 21 years. Al Misehal will automatically become a member of the Asian Executive Office, too.

What next for Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia has grand plans for football. On Wednesday, the country won the hosting rights for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Saudi Arabia was the only country left in the race after India withdrew their candidature as potential hosts .

The 2023 Asian Cup will be hosted by Qatar. It was previously set to be held in China but the country withdrew because of its Covid-19 guidelines. Qatar won the tournament’s last edition, in 2019, which was hosted by the UAE.

Saudi Arabia is also looking host the 2026 women’s Asian Cup, which will be another milestone in the journey of women’s sports in the kingdom.

However, the biggest target is said to be a bid for the hosting rights of the 2030 Fifa World Cup, with Saudi Arabia reported to be considering a joint proposal with Egypt and Greece.

source/content: thenationalnews.com (headline edited)

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SAUDI ARABIA