Tag: Arabian World Records

JORDAN: Asma Khader: A Feminist Warrior and Legend of Jordan

In a remote area in the Valley of Jordan, schoolgirls planned for their future debunking the stereotypical roles that society prescribed for women.

In a remote area in the Valley of Jordan, schoolgirls planned for their future debunking the stereotypical roles that society prescribed for women. Some of the girls dreamt of being “spokesperson” of the government. It was the first time Jordan had a government’s spokesperson. And she was a woman: Asma Khader.

The many times in which Khader have inspired women and girls are the moments she recalls with a warm smile. “Girls start to see that their role is not being wives only. They can be ministers and official spokespersons and get involved in politics,” says Khader. In 2003, she was the State’s Minister and the government’s spokesperson. “I was on the TV and the radio everyday talking to the public,” says Khader. She remembers holding press conferences every Monday’s morning in a public space where anyone could attend.

In a region where women could be trapped in the midst of stereotypes, cultural ones and those implied by outsiders, political and social empowerment are necessities when dealing with women’s rights advocacy. It’s a continuous battle in which women celebrate victories and overcome challenges and obstacles. With her dark short hair and formal attire, Khader is one of the warriors in this battle. A mother of three daughters and one son and a grandmother, she raised her kids on principal: gender equality. “The only son was not getting the privilege to enjoy being the only boy,” laughs Khader.

In the midst of busy Amman, Khader is in her office working tirelessly. She had to stop practicing law because of her current position as Commissioner and Vice President at the Independent Election Commission. She helped to launch, established and led several organizations promoting human rights and freedom of expression. I have visited and witnessed the works of two of them: Al-Mizan Legal Group and Sisterhood Is Global Institute Jordan. Both of the groups are nationally active and have a great impact on people’s lives. I have met several active members of SIGI in the different chapters in cities and towns all working together on women’s rights issues. 

Born in 1952, Khader has been a pioneer of women and girls’ rights advocacy since her childhood. She was the eldest of her siblings. In most Arab communities, it’s a tradition to identify parents by the name of their eldest child. For several years, Khader’s parents were known to be “Abu Asma” and “Umm Asma,” Asma’s father and Asma’s mother, until a change happened.

“I was shocked when everybody started to call my parents Abu Sameer and Umm Sameer after my brother was born,” says Khader and she chuckles. “They were known as Abu Asma and Umm Asma because I was the first child and then my sister and my sister. After three children, the boy was born. And in one second everybody started calling them Abu Sameer and Umm Sameer.” It was a matter of a name, but had deep meaning of discrimination against girls. 

The spark of activism was ignited focusing on gender roles in childhood. “I started to prefer going out and playing with children: with boys mainly,” says Khader. Soon, her father noticed her rebellious spirit. He was supportive and backed her activism. Khader mentions that when he noticed her passion in defending girls’ rights at a young age he told her: “You should be sure that I love you and I am proud of you. And I am sure you will be a good citizen, a good person in the society.”

“My father was a very open minded person, very educated, a believer in women and men, and a fighter against discrimination,” reiterating the importance of her father’s support in her life. “My mother was worried but she didn’t prevent me from being active. As a mother I can understand why she was worried all the time.”

Khader’s journey began. At a time when it was rare for women to be involved in politics, Khader took to the streets with her male colleagues protesting against Israeli’s airstrikes on a small village in Khalil near Hebron. She was only 13-years-old chanting while being carried on the shoulders of other protestors. She encouraged her colleagues from the girls’ school to join the demonstration.

That was her early engagement in public life. However, she was active in school, helping and defending other students. “And I think that was the root of my profession later, to be a lawyer,” mentions Khader.

While being in high school, Khader was also active in helping Palestinian refugees. Arts fill Khader’s office, accompanied by her memories. As a member of the Palestinian Women Union, in the late 1960s, Khader travelled to other countries to present Palestine in Folklore activities such as arts and traditional Dabkeh dance, and exhibiting handmade crafts made by women, especially those of the refugee camps.

Surrounded by crowds of people, mainly women, Khader announced: “We are not presenting women as victims.” Khader is one of the three judges of Manara Award for Gender Equality in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. She is representing her home country, Jordan.

As she entered the room, women and few men gathered around to greet her and I was one of them. A woman journalist sitting beside me was pleased to see Khader on a seat close to us. “Your excellency, this is my article,” said the journalist while flipping the pages of a magazine to show her the piece.

Despite being occupied with the event, Khader got engaged in a conversation with the journalist. During the event Khader listened to comments and questions, and answered in a professional manner. Being in a non-governmental event and listening to Khader took my imagination to a time when I was not in Jordan: when she was a government’s official having to answer the public. 

The challenge that most activists go throw is making their voice heard through the official channels. Having an official who was an activist could change the equation. It meant having reforms and changes within. Lobbying is something that women’s rights groups in several countries spend a lot of time and energy on. Similarly, in Jordan, a constitutional monarchy, in which non-governmental organizations, opposition and other groups have a chance to demand changes through the existing channels. At times, it is necessary to work with the government in order to achieve rights, gender equality in particular.

Being in a leading position, Khader used her role as a government official and minister to work for gender equality. “When you are in a position where you can impact a decision, it’s very important,” says Khader speaking of her experience in the government. For instance, she was able to push to have shelters, by law, in order to protect vulnerable women. In addition to that, health insurance law was introduced that entitles working women to have the right in including their families in their health insurance plans. Khader also had a stance against death penalty that was frozen until 2014. She was also able to give licenses to independent media organizations, and thus enhancing freedom of expression condition in the country.

“It’s very important to see how problems and achievements and challenges are from the different points of view,” says Khader. “I realize that if there is good lobbying — a group who are really preparing their case well — then the ministries will discuss it and take it seriously. This was also an empowering experience: to be more active in civil society later and to know how to deal with issues and to be more effective.” 

Khader graduated from Damascus University with a law degree in the early 1970s. At that time, there was no faculty of law in Jordan, and therefore, Khader had to travel to Syria. When she returned after successfully graduating, her father died. “It was a sudden death before me being a lawyer,” says Khader and her eyes are tearful. I look around to find a framed letter on her desk. “He wrote this letter to me.”

“I have always pictured you a lawyer…defending the oppressed, and serving the motherland with awareness…I wish you success and prosperity,” Khader’s father wrote. While the father didn’t see his daughter a lawyer, he was certain that she would be and that she would defend human rights. He was right with what he pictured for her.

A life filled with activism and Khader talks with pride about every battle she fought. Taking serious risks is not a choice, but is a necessity in some campaigns such as the one against what’s known as honour crimes. For instance, Khader mentions incidents in which she was threatened that her daughters would be “raped.” Her daughters were safe and she wasn’t deterred from continuing in her work despite the threats.

“Everybody now is fighting honour crimes in the country and the laws were changed and the special court was established and efforts happened,” says Khader. This would not have happened if women’s rights activists and advocates, like Khader, stopped due to threats and obstacles facing them. “Everybody now from the leadership of the country to many officials of the country to even the public opinion [have a stance against honour crimes],” says Khader. “After 20, 30 years, they are changed. So sometimes, it is a long process.”

Based on decades of experience, Khader has advice: to not lose hope if the process is taking a long time. “Reaching leading positions is not easy and is not going to happen smoothly without hard work and seriousness and knowledge based approach to challenge all the obstacles and being ready to spend years after some of the demands, some of the rights and some of the dreams, and some of the achievements you are trying to reach,” insists Khader.

Yusur is a journalist currently working in Jordan. She is board member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. This Project was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.

Image: www.blog.learningpartnership.org

source/content: rabble.ca (headline edited)

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JORDAN

MOROCCO: World Cup Star Achraf Hakimi Named Best Arab Sportsman of the Year

-Achraf Hakimi has won the top male award at the Joy Sports Award ceremony in Riyadh

-The PSG and Morocco defender scooped the award for the best Arab sportsman

-Hakimi helped Morocco reach the semi-final of the World Cup in Qatar

Morocco and Paris Saint Germain defender Achraf Hakimi has been named the best Arab Sportsman of the Year at the Joy Sports Awards in Riyadh.

Hakimi beat Mohammed Al Owais, Salem Al Dosari and Yazid Al Rajhi for the top award.

The PSG defender walked onto the podium with his proud mother to receive the award during the ceremony in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Hakimi expressed excitement, thanking his mother for her support while dedicating the moment to his Morocco and PSG teammates.

source/content: sportsbrief.com (headline edited)

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MOROCCO

EGYPT: Remembering Salah Fadl: Egypt’s Extraordinary Literary Critic And Translator

The renowned Egyptian literary critic Salah Fadl, who was 84 years old, passed away yesterday after a battle with illness. He was described by the Arabic Language Academy as a “major figure in Arabic and literature” and “had a march full of dedication and accomplishment as he was a literary critic well-versed in arts of Arabic literature and comparative literature.” To commemorate his long life of accomplishments, we will shed light on some of his greatest achievements throughout his career.

Early Life

Fadl was born in an Egyptian Delta village called Shabas Al Shuhadaa in March 1938 and majored in Arabic language and literature at Cairo University where he graduated in 1962. From 1962 to 1965, he was hired as a researcher at Cairo University. Fadl then sought new horizons away from Egypt as he traveled to Spain on a scholarship to earn a doctorate in literature from the Central University of Madrid.

Life Abroad

During his study period abroad, he taught Arabic literature and translation at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Madrid University from 1968 to 1972. At the same time, he worked with the Supreme Council for Scientific Research in Spain on a project aiming to revive and promote the philosophical legacy of Ibn Rushd (a jurist who wrote on many subjects, including philosophy).

Fadl then returned to Egypt to become a Professor of Literature and Criticism at the Faculty of Arabic Language and Girls College at Al Azhar University. His stay in Egypt didn’t last too long as he then went to Mexico to serve as a visiting Professor at Mexico College for higher studies from 1974 to 1977. There, Fadl established an Arabic language and art department. Additionally, he taught in numerous universities in Egypt and abroad, including Bahrain, Yemen, and Mexico.

Books

The scholar was an exceptional writer who wrote numerous publications in the fields of criticism, comparative literature, theatre, novels, and poetry. Amongst his most famous works was “Medieval Spanish Poetry: A Study and Examples” (1974), “The Realistic Approach in Literary Innovation” (1978), and “Structuralist Theory in Literary Criticism” (1978). Through these publications, Fadl helped enrich Arab literature by producing books that are used as a source of knowledge today.

Just before his death, he applauded the Abu Dhabi Centre for choosing Taha Hussein as the face of the Book Fair while serving as president of the Cairo Academy of the Arabic Language. He explained that this initiative strengthens ties between Egypt and the UAE and their desire to value the two nations’ icons in various spheres of creativity and culture.

Fadl had success in a variety of disciplines before taking on the role of Egypt’s cultural attaché, where he worked to strengthen ties with the countries he visited. His legacy will remain as he contributed to the Arab world through his interesting perspectives and rich knowledge in several fields.

source/content: scoopempire.com (headline edited)

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EGYPT

SAUDI ARABIAN Professor Dr. Yasser Aldhamen at Michigan State University (MSU) Develops Pioneering Cancer Tumors Immunotherapy Strategy

Michigan State University (MSU) faculty member Dr. Yasser Aldhamen created a pioneering cancer immunotherapy strategy that can shrink tumors and increase therapeutic resistance against some types of cancer.

This came during a research he recently published in “Molecular Therapy” Journal, which is classified as one of the best scientific journals specialized in genetic and cellular therapy in the world.

Professor Aldhamen’s research project took about two years, completing 41 scientific papers published in prestigious international journals, as well as 3 previous patents registered with the US Food and Drug Administration.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Dr. Aldhamen said, “The whole idea is to treat patients without drugs to eliminate cancer.”

“Based on my previous work, a method was devised to harness the naturally active immune system to control tumor growth by activating the action of specific immune system cells, such as NK cells, and innate immune cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, within tumors.”

Dr. Aldhamen occupies, in addition to his duties, the position of Deputy Director of Research in the Faculty of Medicine at Michigan State University, and has supervised 5 students in the doctoral stage, two students in the master’s stage, and more than 15 students in the bachelor’s stage.

He also receives some trainees for 8 weeks from the secondary stage, by virtue of his interest in training future researchers in the laboratory, motivating them that making the world takes a long time.

He also participated in 15 conferences around the world, and membership in a number of advisory committees at the university working on developing research and exchanging experiences with researchers in countries such as Egypt and Peru. — SPA

source/content: saudigazette.com.sa (headline edited)

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SAUDI ARABIA

BAHRAIN: ‘Librae’ is New York’s First Bahrain-owned Bakery, Serving up a Slice of Third-Culture Cuisine

Owner Dona Murad says the motto is Bahraini hospitality, Copenhagen technique and New York energy.

If you ever find yourself in Cooper Square, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, you might find a queue forming outside a cosy-looking bakery.

That would be Librae, New York’s — and possibly the whole of America’s — first Bahrain-owned-owned bakery. It’s the brainchild of Dona Murad, a Bahraini entrepreneur married to a New Yorker.

“We always wanted to have something in his hometown to represent the both of us,” Murad says on the phone from Dubai, where she lives when she’s not in the Big Apple.

“We wanted a space that brought together different cultures, religions and diversity.”

One quick look at the menu confirms they have achieved exactly that. Highlights include the rose pistachio croissant, a feta and dill scone and a lumee babka bun.

Lumee, or black lime, is liberally used in Bahraini cuisine.

“It’s used in tikka and stews and we wanted to create a pastry that was Bahrain and New York,” Murad says.

“So we took black lime, crushed it up, made it sweet in a lemon curd and put it into a babka, that’s classic New York.

“We gave it oomph and our own identity.”

Murad arrived in New York before the opening with black lime in her suitcase, knowing it was always going to be on the menu.

Another unique dish is the Marmite cheddar and scallion escargot, which is also on the menu at Hopscotch, Murad’s first cafe in Bahrain.

“Marmite is so hard to find in New York. We were buying it on Amazon in tiny little bottles, scraping every morsel out of the corners,” Murad says with a laugh.

“But we took that and put it in our morning bun and get the occasional English or Australian person who gets excited to see it on the menu.

“We love using flavours familiar to us, experimenting with them, putting them together in things that become delicious, like a disco in your mouth.”

Murad describes Librae as a “third culture cafe”, where they use “a little bit of this, a little bit of that”, with flavours and design influences from all over the world, from Bahrain to Bali and Morocco to India.

They also create new desserts for religious occasions, whether it’s for Eid and Ramadan, Christmas or Hanukkah.

It’s not just the flavours that stand out, either, but the technique used in the baking.

Murad and her husband, Andre, love the food scene in Copenhagen and so they were inspired by the Denmark capital’s unique fermentation process, which uses more salt and fat than usual with sourdough.

“Their approach to fermentation is quite a scientific one so giving examples might be a bit tedious, but if I had to explain it in two words it comes down to ‘no shortcuts’,” Murad says.

“Our croissant for example takes over 72 hours to get just the first step.”

Murad says their motto is “Bahraini hospitality, Copenhagen technique and New York energy”.

They were also really inspired by Denmark’s bakery culture, which, she says, is “small, warm and they have really good coffee”.

The combination of great pastries and delicious coffee was important to her when setting up.

“You don’t get two great products in one space. Usually people ignore one or the other,” Murad says.

“It might be a great bakery but they don’t care about coffee, so we wanted to do both.”

This is a similar premise she used in creating Hopscotch and Grind, a roastery she also owns in Bahrain.

Hopscotch opened six years ago and remains a go-to spot for food and coffee lovers on the island.

Nowadays, her brother and mother run the business in Bahrain, while she hops between the US and UAE.

Other dishes on Librae’s menu also hail from Hopscotch. The labneh zaatar morning bun customers find in New York, for example, is inspired by the zaatar labneh twist in Bahrain.

“It’s the evolution of the brand,” says Murad. “Librae is like the cooler, younger sister.”

As someone with no experience of running a business in New York, Murad was nervous about opening Librae.

But what made it even more risky was that they were doing it when there was still a mask mandate in the city because of the pandemic.

“It was scary, it was so polarised there,” she says. “You had people who would not walk into some places for certain reasons, so we were scared at the beginning. We didn’t have our foot in the door.

“Before opening, we were making almost 400 croissants a day. We refused to open until we had a croissant I would stand in line for … so I was standing outside the door, handing out croissants to people on the street.”

People would nudge away from Murad, looking at her as if she was “crazy”, she says, but every third person would respond.

“We would form a connection, tell our story and that got people talking to us and interested. Those people came back and stood in line to support us.”

They finally opened in May last year and the community has responded well.

“It’s so surreal,” Murad says. “I go outside and I look at the line forming and get goosebumps.

“Our communities responded here, in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, all over the Gulf and a lot of people in New York. We have regulars now.”

Another aspect she brought from the Gulf was the idea of relaxing in a cafe.

“Coffee culture in New York is very different to Dubai or Bahrain,” she says. “We wanted to create a bakery where people would sit down and dwell and enjoy, somewhere to have a good cup of coffee and pastries.

“There are a lot of coffee shops that are beautiful and New York runs on caffeine because it’s such a fast-paced society. This is a space that brings the way we enjoy coffee to the centre of Manhattan.”

Murad hasn’t had much time to think about her next step, but she hasn’t ruled out opening something new in the UAE.

“If the right opportunity comes along, it’s my second home, so why not? Dubai has so many great options, but there is always room.”

As for Librae, which is simply named after her star sign (“You know how when you don’t know how to pronounce something it automatically becomes cooler,” she says with a laugh), she’s focused now on growing the brand.

“I want to continuously learn in the industry. I enjoy what I do. Whatever opportunity comes my way, I want to be able to take it. I want to expand Librae’s horizons and see where it takes me.”

source/content: thenationalnews.com (headline edited)

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pix: caterermiddleeastcom

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BAHRAIN

IRAQ lift the 25th ‘Arabian Gulf Cup 2023’ with Victory over Oman

Despite a crush that killed two people, the match went ahead and Iraq beat Oman 3-2 to win the 25th title.

At least two people died and more than 60 were injured after a crush at Iraq’s Basra International Stadium hours before the Gulf Cup final in which Iraq were crowned champions.

The match went ahead despite Iraq’s state news agency confirming one person had died and 60 were injured, while provincial health authorities said a young female doctor had also died.

Hamza Ahmed, 26, from Baghdad, died after being caught up in the incident, his brother Omar told The National. He had been in Basra since the start of the tournament. His brother, cousin and friend were injured.

The Arab Gulf Football Federation announced the match would go ahead as scheduled, and Iraq claimed the trophy after a close encounter.

Iraq opened the scoring through midfielder Ibrahim Bayesh after 24 minutes. Ten minutes into added time Omani midfielder Salaah Al Yahyaei levelled from a penalty, sending the match into extra time.

Midfielder Amjad Attwan put Iraq ahead after 116 minutes with another penalty, but three minutes later Omani striker Omar Al Malki levelled again with a header.

Iraqi defender Manaf Younis scored the winning goal two minutes into added time.

Thousands of fans had walked to the 65,000-capacity stadium on Thursday morning before the match, with many prevented from entering.

A video posted on social media, apparently from the scene, showed fans crying for help as others were pushed along by the moving crowd.

Authorities later opened the gates of the stadium to relieve the pressure, allowing ticket holders to enter. Later they closed all gates but one, which was kept open for Omani fans.

They also opened nearby Al Minaa Stadium, which has a 30,000-seat capacity, for fans to watch the game on screens.

Calm soon returned to the area.

“After consultations with concerned parties in sultanate of Oman and to ensure the safety of the Omani citizens, and as a support to the brothers in the Republic of Iraq to make the final match a success, it has been decided to bring back fans who are still at Basra International Airport,” the Oman Football Federation said earlier.

It urged Omani fans still outside the stadium not to enter, but later it allowed fans to head to the stadium after securing their seats.

Meanwhile, Oman Air cancelled at least one flight to Basra.

The deadly incident came hours after the Governor of Basra, Asaad Al Eidani, called on fans not to gather outside the stadium, especially those without tickets.

“This could lead to a stampede and [the] perfect image of our country, hosting this event, could be tarnished only a few hours before the final ceremony,” Mr Al Eidani said late on Wednesday.

“We call upon you to abide to security forces guidelines to ensure the safety of the citizens,” he said, adding that dozens of big screens had been set up around the city for those without tickets.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has travelled to Basra and met organisers to discuss the incident.

Mr Al Eidani warned fans that the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation may be forced to move the match to another venue outside Iraq if measures were not taken to stop such incidents, prompting many of them to withdraw.

At the end of the match, Iraqi players hugged each other as they cried.

The fans shouted: “Long live Iraq” and “Oh Iraq, we are ready to sacrifice ourselves for you.”

Outside the stadium and in Baghdad, fireworks lit up the sky while some shot into the air live ammunition despite warning from Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Thousands of fans poured on to the streets after the match, waiving Iraqi flag and dancing. Cars were honking in rhythmic succession as fans cheered: “Go, go the Lions of Mesopotamia.”

“That’s not only a precious triumph, but a precious joy that we need so much and waited for a long time,” Abbas Mohammed said, driving his car in a Baghdad street while hoisting the Iraqi flag.

“It’s a bittersweet achievement,” said Ali Yassir, standing near by.

“Unfortunately, the day started with a tragedy that made all of us sad. That trophy is for those who lost their lives or were wounded while trying to attend the match.

Mr Al Sudani congratulated the Iraq team.

“The cup is Iraqi,” he said. “We are proud of our lions.”

He also thanked those who were behind making the tournament a success.

The eight-team tournament kicked off on January 6, bringing together teams from Iraq, Yemen and the six Gulf Co-operation Council states — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

Iraq is hosting the biennial regional competition for the first time in more than four decades, after enduring wars, diplomatic isolation and instability after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Iraqis have celebrated the event as a triumph of sports diplomacy, part of continuing efforts to heal a political rift between their country and its Gulf neighbours, and recovery as a footballing nation.

They hoped hosting the event would turn a new page in the country’s troubled history and represent a crucial step towards full national recovery, mainly by attracting sorely needed foreign investment.

Fifa banned Iraq from hosting international matches between 2003 and 2018, because of the poor security situation. It lifted the ban early last year.

Since late Wednesday, fans have flocked to Basra from other parts of Iraq, snarling traffic.

The local government in Basra announced an official holiday on Thursday in an attempt to clear the roads.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry is asking the public to celebrate in a “civilised way” and avoid celebratory gunfire. It has said it will arrest those who shoot into the air.

On Monday, Iraq beat Qatar 2-1 and hours later Oman beat Bahrain 1-0 to set up the final match of the tournament.

source/content: thenationalnews.com (headline edited)

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Iraqi national football team players lift the trophy as they celebrate at the stadium in Basra. AP

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IRAQ / 25th Arabian Gulf Cup 2023

EGYPT & ARAB: Heritage of 12 Arab countries on show at the 1st Bayt Al-Arab Fair (House of the Arabs) 2023 in Cairo

The first Arab exhibition for productive families, Bayt Al-Arab (House of the Arabs) opened in Cairo in the presence of Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League secretary-general, and several Egyptian and Arab officials, including a high-ranking Saudi delegation.

The products at the exhibition reflect the identity of the 12 participating Arab countries.

It offers an important opportunity to learn about the richness of the cultures of these countries in craftwork and handicrafts in order to protect these industries from extinction.

The number of participants featuring at the exhibition is about 150, of which 70 are Egyptian and 80 from other Arab countries.

The exhibition, which continues until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors. 

Saeed Al-Zahrani, head of the Saudi delegation, shared with the audience at the opening ceremony a number of success stories, and said the participation of the Social Development Bank aimed at supporting and empowering micro-enterprises for family businesses, which are considered a fundamental pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

At the Saudi pavilion, visitors were drawn to the heritage products of various regions of the Kingdom, such as Al-Sadu weaving, Al-Qat Al-Asiri, and the manufacture of Al-Masleh, in addition to the products of many Saudi family businesses displayed within the Tagseed (incarnation) initiative, which is marketed for home projects in all international and local exhibitions. 

Nevin Al-Kilani, Egypt’s culture minister, said that the participation of dozens of families from Egypt and the Arab world was “the best evidence of Egypt’s keenness to support heritage both locally and regionally.”

Raef Al-Khouli, an official involved in the organization of the exhibition, told Arab News: “The Arab House exhibition in the Dome Palace is a wonderful opportunity to visit because there are many handicrafts from all Arab countries, which are sold at very reasonable prices, because all who are present are the owners of the profession or craft, and are not merchants.” 

At the entrance, Al-Khouli said, visitors can register their names and phone numbers, and will receive entry for free, taking a dedicated bus to the exhibition venue.

Al-Khouli added: “At the Saudi pavilion there is a wonderful medal that the visitors can buy. It is a commemorative medal for the door of the Kaaba and the door of the Prophet’s Mosque.

“On the sidelines, there is a large theater and artistic performances are held in it throughout the day,” Al-Khouli said, adding that visiting families could bring children as well, because there is a play area and many drawing and coloring activities.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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The first Arab exhibition for productive families, which continues in Egyptian capital Cairo until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors. (Supplied)

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EGYPT & ARAB NATIONS

EGYPT: Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Named Best Arab Government Institution by 2nd Arab Government Excellence Award 2023

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) was named as the best Arab government institution in the second edition of the Arab Government Excellence Award.

SCA Chairman Osama Rabie received the award on Thursday during a ceremony held at the Arab League (AL) premises in Cairo to announce the winners of Arab Government Excellence Awards.

This Arab competition is organised under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE.

The 72-kilometre-long Suez Canal – which connects the Mediterranean and the Red Seas – is the shortest maritime route between Asia and Europe and is the fastest crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.

Around 12 percent of the world’s trade passes through the canal.

The world’s longest man-made canal without locks is one of Egypt’s main sources of foreign currency.

In 2022, the Suez Canal’s revenue hit a record $7.9 billion, up from $6.3 billion in the previous year.

The total number of vessels that crossed the canal this year reached 23,400, up from 21,700 in 2021.

Meanwhile, total cargoes that crossed the canal this year hit a record high of 1,420 billion tons, up from 1,220 billion tons in 2021.

The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was also picked as the best Arab ministry

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)

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File photo: Egypt s Suez Canal

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EGYPT

IRAQ-BRITISH: If Memory Serves: Lamees Ibrahim’s Quest to Dish up the Iraq of her Past

In our continuing series on inspiring life stories across continents, we learn what made her leave a career in medical science for a ‘cuisine lab called the kitchen’.

When Lamees Ibrahim left Baghdad in the 1970s, certain parts of the city, not least the riverside strip of fish restaurants along Abu Nawas, became a fixed ideal in her memory.

After an interval of three decades, a return to the flat bank of the Tigris in 2004 was an unexpected low point in a thoroughly disturbing homecoming.

The street once the “pomegranate of Baghdad” was no longer filled with diners being entertained by poets and musicians, engulfed in the aroma of arguably Iraq’s national dish, masgouf.

Instead, Dr Ibrahim stood shaken as she took in a rubble-strewn wasteland populated by a handful of struggling fish sellers.

Yet one sense was still powerfully triggered by the fresh carp grilling over the charred wood.

“It was not in very good shape,” she tells The National. “There were only bits of its old self left, but the smell was still amazing. There are certain scents that you smell and you think, ‘Wow, this is Baghdad.’ It is very, very specific. If you enjoy samak masgouf once, you will never forget it.”

Dr Ibrahim had made a long, hazardous journey from her home in London, where she moved decades earlier: marrying, earning a PhD in Pathology, raising four children.

Her husband was with her as she set out from Jordan in a car just after Fajr prayers that day, to “feel” her land, see her extended family, and show her eldest child, Maysa, her ancestral roots.

But the Baghdad conjured up by the smell of the barbecued fish was gone; the deserted, bombed-out streets were not at all familiar to her. They did, however, bring back one particularly strong recollection from childhood.

Sometimes in the summer months, the young Lamees would gather with her three siblings around their father to be regaled by stories about Iraq.

“I remember one day when he said: ‘Look, we built this country, the Iraqis, and we have to keep doing that. If every one of us contributed their own brick then the wall would go up and up, and we should keep on building.’ I never forgot that,” Dr Ibrahim said, “and I felt that we had to add our little brick to the wall. We had to make Iraq keep going.”

She returned to London on a mission to help rebuild Iraq in some way for the younger generations that would never have a chance to experience what it had been in the golden years.

The need to describe the country’s rich history and accomplishments was urgent, but whatever she put down on paper seemed inextricably tied to cooking. So it was that she came to realise it would be through food that she could preserve connections to things past.

“I wanted to write something, I needed to write, I had to write,” she says. “So I started. Eventually, it became a cookbook with a bit of history and anecdotes about culture, about civilisation.

“My background has nothing to do with cooking. It’s not cuisines of any kind, but I have a passion for Iraq. It’s my motherland, my country.”

When the 21-year-old Lamees had come to London in the early 1970s, it was to pursue a postgraduate medical degree at King’s College and then head back to her beloved Baghdad. Soon after arriving, she married and her life, she says, became busy but limited as she immersed herself in studying and research projects.

“You go to college, you study, you attend lectures, you come home, you open the books, read, read, read, have some dinner, and go back to college,” she says.

“I didn’t know that I was homesick until one day during Ramadan I saw an elderly woman going into King’s College Hospital with her black abaya and veil. I said to her ‘marhaba hajji’ and she was shocked. She hugged me, and I went home, crying all the way.

“I cried because I had a goal. I wanted to get a degree, and the sooner I got it, the sooner I could go back home. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

She was haunted by her homeland, by such memories as the heady perfume of jasmine and the days in her youth when the children would pick the flowers and turn them into long necklaces.

But the months turned into years, and years into decades. At first, returning to Baghdad was difficult as the academic successes mounted and her family grew. It became impossible when Saddam Hussein came to power, with Dr Ibrahim fearing that she would be detained were she to attempt a visit, and never see her three daughters and son again.

Her father died and then, on news of the death of her mother, Dr Ibrahim made the fateful trip when she found a country that was “not what I was expecting, of course. It was demolished, devastated.”

The resulting homage, The Iraqi Cookbook, was published in 2009, a labour of love with the name of each dish painstakingly recorded in Arabic. Samak masgouf, of course, features, and Dr Ibrahim advises in the foreword that all visitors to Iraq should try it in one of the cafes and restaurants on the bank of the Tigris.

“I came back to London with one idea in mind, which is something that as a girl I grew up to learn,” she says. “I must do something for my country. I need to tell my children what my country is like, our history, our culture, our ability to do what we did in the old days.”

She is speaking by Zoom from her home in Richmond-Upon-Thames, her voice at times faltering and cracking with emotion as she talks about dedicating herself to bringing Iraq to the diaspora.

“Iraq to me is very important, very important,” Dr Ibrahim says. “It is in my blood. It’s in my genes. It’s my history.”

The book sold out in the UK and the US, and was reprinted by popular demand. Bit by bit, the time-consuming process of writing and re-writing, working with publishers and photographers, the press interviews had taken Dr Ibrahim away from her career in pathology.

“And I never went back,” she says. “I’m still very interested. I read a lot about Covid. I follow the research, but I’m not going back to that lab. I have a cuisine lab called the kitchen.”

With the emergence of the pandemic, Dr Ibrahim revisited experiments that she had begun as a teenager when she would try to make her mother’s recipes without meat. Sometimes it was successful, she acknowledges, sometimes not.

As a child, though, she had never been as fond of lamb as her siblings were. The family cat adored her, loitering under the table at lunchtimes for the morsels of the daily stew that Lamees would sneak down to her.

During lockdown, her own children became “guinea pigs” for her avant-garde creations as Dr Ibrahim collected together an array of vegan offerings that would appeal to a young audience interested in preserving the planet.

“Dishes don’t need to have meat to have the taste and flavour, for it to smell like an Iraqi dish,” she says. “Iraqi cooking can be vegan, as well as meat and fish-centric.

“If you can preserve the taste of the flavour of the dish, go for it. Many Iraqi dishes are, in fact, vegan but we ate them before ever knowing the word ‘vegan’.”

When one of Dr Ibrahim’s friends called to see how she was faring with the tight coronavirus restrictions in the capital, she told him she had been busily cooking all the recipes to be photographed for The Iraqi Vegan Cookbook. Curious, he wanted to know whether she was including any kubba, knowing that Dr Ibrahim had devoted an entire chapter to its many meaty variants in her first book.

On learning that the new book would contain Kubbet Jeriesh, Kubbet Halab and another recipe that Dr Ibrahim made from lentils, he answered: “Only three?”

His grandmother, he said, had never enjoyed meat in her kubba so the family reinvented the dish to suit her preferences, stuffing the shells with pine nuts, onion, spices and parsley.

“If all these years ago we had vegan Iraqis, we have plenty today,” Dr Ibrahim says, smiling.

The Iraqi Vegan Cookbook had been due out on December 31, but the release has been delayed not least because of the queues of hauliers that built up in Calais and Dover as a result of Brexit and the French shutdown of the border when the new strain of the coronavirus emerged in the UK.

Rescheduled for release at the end of January, Dr Ibrahim hopes that sharing more of the oldest cuisine in the world will counter some of the negative perceptions that persist about Iraq today.

“Iraq is positive,” she says. “Iraq is full of history, full of culture. This is the cradle of civilisation. I don’t like to talk about what’s going on now. I would like to talk about the positivity of all of our achievements.

“I feel nowadays, if I add that little brick, then I have added something which I would be proud of as an Iraqi living in the West. Living in Iraq, we can build from within. We are living in the West – all my children are also living in the West, but we add our bricks from our side, from outside the country.”

Dr Ibrahim is modest about her contribution to the wall that her father told her about all those years ago, hesitating to use the word achievement. If her writing can be described as such, she says, she wants to make clear that it was never about her. It was always for Iraq.

source/content: thenationalnews.com (headline edited)

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Dr Lamees Ibrahim has dedicated herself to bringing the country of her birth to the diaspora: ‘Iraq is very important to me. It is in my blood. It is in my genes. It is my history,’ she says. Courtesy of The Mosaic Rooms
The homage to Dr Ibrahim’s homeland, ‘The Iraqi Cookbook’, was published in 2009, a labour of love with the name of each dish painstakingly recorded in Arabic. Courtesy Lamees Ibrahim 

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BRITISH / IRAQI

SAUDI ARABIA: Meet Mawadah Muhtasib, the Saudi Woman Artist behind ‘1st Reversed Arabic Calligraphy Typeface’

Mawadah Muhtasib, an emerging Saudi artist who reversed the typeface of the Arabic language, is well on her way to becoming a prominent name in the global art scene.

From learning her mother’s technique of writing backward at age 13 to exhibiting in London and New York City, Muhtasib has generated international intrigue in the art of Arabic by creating the first reversed Arabic calligraphy, or calligraffiti, typeface.

Her messages are not only meant to be read, but are also designed to be deciphered. Engaging her audience with the challenge of decoding letters is a large part of experiencing the artwork itself.

“It’s about expanding your human capabilities into creating the impossible. And this is exactly what I have been trying to do,” she told Arab News in an exclusive interview.

FASTFACT

The Arabic language is one of the richest art forms, the artist says, but in modernity, it is difficult to appreciate the depths of something that has become so ordinary.

Born out of a quest to layer the heritage of Arabic letters with innovative graffiti art methods, her work dares to be the first of its kind, granting her Dubai’s Art Bus competition award and a chance to show her work at exclusive showcases.

As graffiti art surged in popularity in 2013, Muhtasib experimented with mural painting alongside a novel group, hoping to develop a boundaryless form of art.

With a vision to modernize the traditional, she created a decorative typeface that mixed Arabic and Latin, written from left to right.

It’s about expanding your human capabilities into creating the impossible.

Mawadah Muhtasib

Muhtasib said: “We are so used to Arabic calligraphy when it comes to Thuluth calligraphy, Al-Kufi, Al-Naskh, and so on, and we just read that way and pass it on.

“When I’m doing my Arabic calligraphy, people sit and stare at my work for hours trying to figure out what these letters are, and the moment they realize it’s Arabic, they start to analyze and see all these letters in a different form that we as Arabic speakers are not used to.”

The Arabic language is one of the richest art forms, the artist says, but in modernity, it is difficult to appreciate the depths of something that has become so ordinary.

The goal is not only to get the viewer to read but to actively reflect on the beauty and form of each stroke and letter within the alphabet.

Muhtasib now passes on her craft through community workshops exclusively for women, most recently at Saudi’s largest light-based festival, Noor Riyadh.

“In my workshops, I do not teach people to write in reverse … I’m basically giving you the key of how to use the tools of starting to practice in the form of Latin calligraphy,” she said.

As soon as students understand the anatomy of the font family, Muhtasib introduces slanted brushes, layering techniques and stroke pressure. From the first session, students are sent home with a new creative form of expression. “The soul of a person is laid out on a page,” she said.

Writing in reverse is not new; the artist’s mother passed down the habit after having to write backward to maintain privacy at work. Alongside that, she passed down her passion for creative innovation.

While most calligraphers in the Kingdom were mimicking Western methods, Muhtasib, at 16 years old, was inspired and encouraged by Tunisian artist eL Seed and Saudi Moroccan artist Shaker Kashgari.

“I took that trick that my mom taught me years ago on how to write and then I changed it into a decorative typeface,” she said.

The concept was designed to preserve the rich heritage of the Arabic language. For foreigners, it offers a chance to engage in the language and learn its history.

“This is Arabic calligraphy in reverse that I took, improved, adjusted and made into a different form. But viewers will also wonder how it actually looked like (originally) and this will make a lot of people go in-depth and learn more about Arabic calligraphy,” Muhtasib said.

The philosophy behind the Typeform has gained interest from international luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Carolina Herrera, Montblanc, Sephora and more, resulting in several collaborations.

Muhtasib urges creators to push the boundaries of art and culture.

With calligraphy, “your sky’s the limit,” she said.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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Mawadah Muhtasib now passes on her craft through community workshops exclusively for women. (Supplied)

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SAUDI ARABIA