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Moroccan reciters performed well at the competition and demonstrated exceptional talent and proficiency in Quranic recitation.
Moroccan Ilyas Hajri has clinched the title of World Quran Reader in the Hafiz category at the fourth edition of the Bahrain Online Quran Recitation Competition.
The Moroccan Quran reciter won the prize for his exceptional proficiency in reciting the Holy Quran.
This win adds to a string of previous successes, as Hajri has consistently shown excellence in Quranic recitation competitions. Last year, he won first place in the International Quran memorization competition in Astana, Kazakhstan.
In addition to Hajri, Moroccan Yassine El Kazzini secured the second position in the same category.
Meanwhile, Moroccans Abdelbasset Ourach and Mustapha Zahid claimed third places in the categories of memorized recitation (Tajweed) and melodious recitation (Murattal) respectively.
The finals of the competition were conducted in-person in Bahrain’s capital city Manama, where the top performers competed to secure their positions in various categories of Quranic recitation.
The competition brought together over 5,000 participants from 74 countries.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Sameer Mohamed Mujahid from Bahrain was crowned the World Quran Reciter in the Tajweed category, while Ahmed Mohamed Saleh Ahmed from Yemen secured the same title in the category of junior reciters.
Organizers of the competition highlighted its mission to promote and celebrate the recitation and memorization of the Holy Quran.
It also aims to serve the Quranic tradition by providing a platform for individuals of all ages and nationalities to showcase their skills and proficiency in reciting the Quran.
Moroccans have built a strong reputation for their excellence in Quran recitation competitions, consistently shining on the global stage.
Last month, Moroccan Elias Al-Mahiawi won first place at the 20th International Quran Competition in Tanzania.
The Sharjah Award for Gulf Women’s Creativity in Literature and Arts announced the selection of the Bahraini innovator and poet, Fawzia Al-Sindi, as the cultural personality for its sixth session for the year 2024.
Al Sindi will be honored on April 23 at Al Jawaher Center for Events and Conferences in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, as part of a ceremony honoring the award winners.
The award, which is organized by the Cultural Office of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, was created in special honor for the cultural figure among the creative Gulf women pioneering in cultural work.
Salha Ghabish, head of the Council’s Cultural Office, said: “This addition required many discussions with the award’s work team, including members of the jury, as we saw the importance of honoring female figures with distinguished creative, intellectual and professional contributions who are well-known in the Gulf and Arab cultural arena, and whose works have reached the international level through translation.” And communicating with cultural bodies in the world and participating in introducing Arab and Gulf culture through their productions.”
The Bahraini Fawzia Al-Sindi was chosen as one of the influential figures in Bahraini and Gulf society. She has literary and poetic works, and her works have been translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. She has written many articles in Arab newspapers, including the Emirati Gulf, and has participated in many conferences, literary festivals and intellectual forums in the Arab world. And the world.
Regarding her winning the award, Fawzia Al-Sindi said: “I am pleased and honored to have been chosen as a ‘cultural personality’, which in its cultural and human depth represents a tribute and honor to my poetic and literary experience and to all Arab poetic experiences, with my gratitude to those in charge of the Cultural Office of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah for honoring poetic and literary experiences.
Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum named Islamic Personality of the Year.
Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, has honoured Her Highness Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with the Islamic Personality of The Year award.
The award was coferred at the closing ceremony of the 27th edition of The Dubai International Quran Award in recognition of her efforts and contributions in supporting Islamic, humanitarian, charitable and social causes.
The award was received on behalf of her by Sheikh Saeed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum during a the ceremony held at The Cultural and Scientific Association in Dubai.
Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed also honoured members of the award jury alongside 10 awardees.
Mohammed Al Ammri from Bahrain took top honours during the awards ceremony, followed by Naji bin Sliman from Libya, while Sheikh Tijan Ambi from Gambia took third place.
source/content: gulfnews.com (headline edited)
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The grand ceremony of the 27th edition of The Dubai International Quran Award in Dubai.Image Credit: DMO/X
• 2023 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix wins Event Innovation Award at F1 Promoter Awards in London, which recognises exceptional achievements of Formula 1 venues across the world.
• Award recognized several key innovations at Bahrain International Circuit, including the establishment of an industry-leading solar facility.
The 2023 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix has won The Event Innovation Award at the F1 Promoter Awards in London. The ceremony recognizes key achievements of F1 venues across the world, with Bahrain picking up the award for a number of industry-leading innovations over the last twelve months. These included key sustainability initiatives as well as technology developments in areas including race control and traffic management.
The awards themselves are arranged and judged by Formula 1, the commercial rights holder of the sport. Categories are open to all Formula 1 venues from across the world, with a shortlist of three circuits announced in advance of the awards ceremony. Arif Rahimi, Chairman of Bahrain International Circuit, collected the award on behalf of BIC, which was presented by F1’s Chief Commercial Officer, Emily Prazer. The awards ceremony was attended by other senior BIC management, as well as Formula 1 promoters and partners from around the world.
The Event Innovation award was presented to the F1 venue which demonstrated the most significant innovation in their event delivery, commercial product offering or infrastructure. Announcing The 2023 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix as the overall winner, the judges recognized several key innovations at BIC, including:
• BIC’s industry-leading solar production facility: In its first year of operation the solar park at BIC produced over 5 million KWH of clean energy, enough renewable energy to cover all the usage for F1 with significant capacity to spare, the equivalent of offsetting 3,108 tonnes of carbon.
• Innovative energy saving measures: In 2023, BIC undertook a number of measures to reduce energy consumption. This has included a new building management system that efficiently monitors and manages light and air conditioning provision, an upgrade to more efficient air conditioning chillers and the replacement of all street and building lighting to LED lights. BIC’s combined energy saving measures saved over 30% in energy use over the year.
• Innovative technology in race control: In 2023, BIC installed a first of a kind system in the world that links flag digital panels on track to cameras in race control – with the specific camera automatically highlighting the relevant flagged area of the circuit. This saves officials in race control crucial time when looking into incidents.
• Digitalization: BIC introduced digitalized directional signage for fans coming into the circuit, enabling better proactive and efficient management of traffic, which reduced overall traffic queues and alleviated the need for printing materials for temporary signs.
Rahman was one of the first women to be paid to play football in Europe – and set a host of records!
Deena Rahman owns five Guinness World Records
She was one of the players who got contracts when Fulham became professional in 2000
Rahman represented Bahrain in 40 matches, and scored 23 goals
In 2000, almost a decade before the English Football Association awarded the first central contracts to women, Fulham Ladies, at the insistence of club chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, turned fully professional. It was a watershed moment in the history of women’s football. One of the 16 players paid to play professional football, a first in Europe, was Deena Rahman.
Deena Rahman’s career has since become one of football’s enduring legacies. She has played for the England women’s age group teams, then Bahrain national team. A midfielder during her playing days, the 39-year-old now works to promote gender equality in football while also creating a host of world records. The former Fulham midfielder currently holds five Guinness World Records!
Born to an Egyptian father, Deena Rahman rose through Fulham’s youth ranks, then joined the Arsenal Academy. But she returned to Fulham, and became a member of the team which completed a treble of Premier League National Division, FA Cup and League Cup in 2003. The club became semi-professional soon enough, after three years.
At 15, Rahman made her England U-18 debut. She also represented the country of her birth in two UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championships. However, she retired as a Bahraini player, having scored 23 goals in 40 matches after making her debut in 2011. She is regarded as one of the greatest to have played for the Reds, the nickname for the team from the small Western Asian kingdom.
In her journey – from Fulham to Manama with a brief stoppage in Cairo – Deena Rahman has witnessed a whole gamut of human experience. As a prodigious talent in England, she was a regular at the all-conquering Fulham. But injury and the disbandment of the Cottagers in 2006 forced her to move to Egypt, where she played for Wadi Degla for a brief spell. Another injury sidelined her, and she was back in England.
Then Bahrain came calling, thanks to her association with Arsenal. In 2010, Rahman arrived in the Gulf to work as a coach at Arsenal Soccer School at Soccer City in Janabiya. After five years there, she and her husband Paul Shipwright established their own academy, Tekkers Academy.
Meanwhile, Rahman was also busy creating her own legacy. In 2017, she, along with 32 women from 20 countries, set the Guinness World Record for the highest game of football ever played. And the setting was 18,760 feet above sea level, atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – the highest mountain in Africa.
The following year, Deena Rahman played her part in setting another Guinness World Record, this time for a game of football at the lowest point in the world, the Dead Sea in the Jordan Rift Valley, at 1,412 ft below sea level.
In 2019, Rahman clocked two more Guinness World Records by taking part in a match featuring 822 players during the biggest five-a-side game at Olympic Lyonnaise Training Academy in Meyzieu, Lyon. Then in an exhibition match on the sidelines of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, she got her fourth Guinness World Record as a part of the match with the most nationalities – 114 participants, representing 53 nationalities. In 2020, Rahman secured her fifth record by hammering 7,876 penalties in 24 hours at the Kick Off Academy in Saar.
The Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, Sheikh Dr Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh has approved the results and names of the winners in the 43rd edition of King Abdulaziz International Competition for Memorization, Recitation and Interpretation of the Holy Qur’an.
The competition, held at the Grand Mosque, witnessed the participation of 166 contestants representing 117 countries, competing in all five categories of the competition, with the total prize amount for this edition reaching SAR4,000,000.
In the first category, Ayoub bin Abdulaziz Al-Wahibi from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia secured first place and received a prize of SAR500,000. Saad bin Saadi Sleim from Algeria came in second place, earning SAR450,000, while Abu Al-Hasan Hassan Najm from Chad achieved the third position, receiving a prize of SAR400,000.
In the second category, Ammar bin Salem Al-Shahri from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia claimed the first position and was awarded a prize of SAR300,000. Mohammed bin Adnan Al-Omari from Bahrain secured second place, receiving a prize of SAR275,000. The third position went to Abdulaziz bin Malik Atli from Syria, who received a prize of SAR250,000.
In the third category, the winners include Mohammed bin Ibrahim Mohammed from Somalia, who clinched first place and received a prize of SAR200,000. Second place went to Shuaib bin Mohammed Hassan from Sweden, who was awarded SAR190,000 while Faisal Ahmed from Bangladesh secured the third position, earning SAR180,000 Saudi Riyals, and Mohammed Mufid Al-Azza from Indonesia claimed the fourth spot and received SAR170,000. Siraj Al-Din Muammar Kandi from Libya rounded off the top five, receiving a prize of SAR160,000.
Regarding the fourth category, the winners are as follows: Mohammed Ghai from Senegal secured the top position, earning a prize of SAR150,000. Hatem Abdulhamid Falah from Libya claimed the second spot, receiving an award of SAR140,000 and Yassin Abdulrahman from Uganda achieved the third position, with a prize of SAR130,000. Mashfiqur Rahman from Bangladesh attained the fourth position and was granted SAR120,000 while rounding off the top five, Abdulkader Yousef Mohammed from Somalia received a prize of SAR110,000.
As for the fifth category, Elias Abdou from the country of Larionion secured the first position, earning a prize of SAR65,000 while the second place went to Ibrahim Shahbandari from India who was awarded SAR60,000. Marwan bin Shalal from the Netherlands achieved the third position, receiving SAR55,000 and Mustafa Sinnanovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina attained the fourth position and received SAR50,000. Lastly, Hassib Amrullah from North Macedonia took fifth place, earning a prize of SAR45,000.
In yet another historic achievement for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Bahrain-based cybersecurity technology provider, CTM360, received Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Award for Enabling Technology Leadership in the global Digital Risk Protection (DRP) industry.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognized CTM360 for commercialization success, application diversity, commitment to creativity and customer service experience.
As a leading research and consulting firm, Frost & Sullivan has conducted extensive industry research and analysis to highlight the top companies excelling in Digital Risk Protection (DRP), as well as analysis on companies that combine comprehensive Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), Digital Risk Protection (DRP), and External Attack Surface Management (EASM) capabilities into a centralized External Risk Mitigation and Management (ERMM) system. Bahrain-based CTM360 is among the few that originated an integrated approach to consolidate these three technology verticals, now collectively termed ERMM.
Commenting on Frost & Sullivan’s award recognizing CTM360’s leadership in cybersecurity, Mirza Asrar Baig, Chief Executive Officer of CTM360 stated “We are proud to receive Frost & Sullivan’s award which acknowledges our commitment to a consolidated DRP strategy, making CTM360 the first company in the Arab World to be recognized at a global level.
“This Award reflects the efforts and devotion of CTM360’s team in creating and building a world class technology focusing on high data quality and relevance. Making this global mark is a testament to their remarkable design thinking, dedication and agility.” He added.
Mirza lauded Bahrain’s innovation-driven economy founded on Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, and the unparalleled extensive focus of the Government of Bahrain on developing and advancing the technology sector, with cyber security as one of the pillars of the Business Friendly Bahrain strategy.
He also commended the tremendous support extended by Bahrain’s various public entities and government agencies, underscoring that “CTM360 has become a technology leader through its consolidated technology platform that allows organizations to do more within one centralized environment and in an extremely cost-effective manner”
Martin Naydenov, Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, observed, “CTM360 empowers organizations to focus on what they do best: their business. With CTM360’s fully managed services and unlimited takedowns, organizations can save significant time and cost by automating the detection and takedowns of fraudulent sites; this is an advantage that few cybersecurity vendors can replicate.”
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
CTM360 is a unified external security platform that integrates External Attack Surface Management, Digital Risk Protection, Cyber Threat Intelligence, Brand Protection & Anti-phishing, Surface, Deep & Dark Web Monitoring, Security Ratings, Third Party Risk Management and Unlimited Takedowns. Seamless and turn-key, CTM360 requires no configurations, installations or inputs from the end-user, with all data pre-populated and specific to your organization. All aspects are managed by CTM360.
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.”
Bahrain’s GHF Financial Group has acquired a second US medical clinics portfolio at $400 million, as the firm continues its US expansion.
According to a press release, the newly acquired portfolio comprises 11 assets spread across four states: California, Texas, Maryland and Louisiana.
The new investment capitalizes on GFH’s joint venture partnership with Big Sky Medical, an asset management firm focused on medical assets.
Over the past six months, GFH, along with Big Sky Medical, has acquired assets worth $500 million.
To date, GFH has built a portfolio of assets in the US medical office building sector valued at $1 billion.
“We are pleased to announce the acquisition of this prime, income-yielding medical clinic portfolio as part of GFH’s ongoing expansion in the medical office building sector in fast-growing cities across the US,” said Nael Mustafa ,co-chief investment officer for real estate at GFH.
He added: “We believe strongly in the long-term fundamentals in the health care sector and the dynamics that are supporting an increase in demand for high-quality medical office space.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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To date, GFH has built a portfolio of assets in the US medical office building sector valued at $1 billion. (Shutterstock)
Massimo Bottura, Niko Romito, Yannick Alleno, Heston Blumenthal, Clare Smyth and Anne-Sophie Pic are the big culinary names she’s ranked alongside on the top 100 list for this year’s The Best Chef Awards.
“The people on this list are actual living legends in the culinary field, so for me to be on it at all is amazing,” she tells The National.
“What I’m currently doing is trying to put Middle Eastern cuisine on a global scale, so for me to be the only Arab on this list means I’m taking one step forward to doing that and to give our cuisine its moment in the spotlight and its culinary renaissance.”
Not only is Bashmi the only Arab, she’s also one of only 18 women who have made it on to this list of 100 culinary talents across the globe.
She ranked 93rd, but says the number didn’t “really matter” to her. “Going into this, I had no idea if I was going to make this list,” she says. “I’m from a small island that doesn’t get much exposure, so for me to get this is amazing.”
At the event, which was held at the Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles, in Spain’s capital, she met some of her all-time heroes. This includes Andoni Luis Aduriz, a Spanish chef who ranked number five and picked up the award for The Best Science Chef Award. Bashmi describes him as “humble, down to earth and very focused on what matters in this industry rather than distractions around, which I really admire”.
Spain’s Dabiz Munoz picked up the top accolade of The Best Chef for a second consecutive year for his work at DiverXO restaurant in Madrid. Noma’s Rene Redzepi came second, while Spain’s Joan Roca i Fontane rounded out the top three.
Bashmi, who heads The Gulf Hotel Bahrain’s well-regarded restaurant Fusions by Tala, is no stranger to culinary accolades, having picked up her award for Best Female Chef in the region in Abu Dhabi this February. Her restaurant also ranked 39th on the first list of Mena’s 50 Best Restaurants.
She inherited an interest in cuisine and cultural identity from her father through his in-depth knowledge of the ingredients used. She then used this interest to launch Baked by T, before joining the Culinary Arts Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Staying in the central European country, she had roles at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel and the Michelin-starred restaurant Prisma in Vitznau, where she learnt more about restaurant operations, as well as working in fast-paced kitchen environments.
Since returning to the Mena region, Bashmi has competed on MBC’s Top Chef Middle East television show in 2020, where she reached the finals.
In 2017, she took over the helm at Fusions by Tala, where she makes modern interpretations of Bahraini dishes, including the standout bamia, a traditional okra and meat stew, for which she uses Wagyu beef cheek, crispy okra glass and tomato broth rice.
“I try to appeal to every audience from every country, in a sense of bringing them back to a state of nostalgia,” she has previously said of her approach. Bashmi might do this through any of our senses, such as when she adds a campfire aroma to the Saudi-Bahraini dessert aseeda to evoke memories of camping, whether in the desert or the forest.
“I feel like this is still the beginning for me,” she says of her latest achievement. “People haven’t seen what came before, what led to today, so every time something is achieved, it’s a new beginning and opens new doors to opportunities I hadn’t even thought of.
