Flashes from the Muslim World

Olive oil, the green elixir and a staple in Saudi households, is getting a production boost as farmers in the northern Jouf region – the food basket of the Kingdom, adopt high-tech methods to get the most out of their traditional olive groves.

Cultivated even before the invention of written language, distinctive olive tree varieties spread to Iran, Syria and Palestine, and throughout the Mediterranean region. With its fertile soil and moderate climate, the Jouf region has become Saudi Arabia’s biggest producer of olive oil, and is home to vast orchards holding millions of trees.

Jordan has become a top destination for skilled garment workers from Bangladesh, officials in Dhaka say, as hundreds of Bangladeshi women find employment in the Kingdom’s clothing sector every week.

Bangladesh started exporting skilled garment workers to Jordan in 2010 through a government agreement. Jordan’s garment industry has expanded rapidly in the past few years, and two-thirds of Bangladeshi female workers in the kingdom now find employment at its clothing factories.

According to data from the Bangladeshi Embassy in Amman, the Jordanian garment sector currently employs 40,000 Bangladeshi women.

The Damascus bookshops and publishing houses that once stood as beacons of Syria’s intellectual life are being replaced with shoe-shops and money-changers as culture falls casualty to crisis.

Syria is home to some of the Arab world’s literary giants, and Damascus boasted an abundance of busy bookshops and publishing houses printing and distributing original and translated works, but the city’s literary flare has faded.

A decade-old civil war, a chronic economic crisis and a creative brain-drain that has deprived Syria of some of its best writers and many of their readers have compounded worldwide problems facing the industry.

The Al-Yaqza bookshop, founded in 1939, shut seven years ago, with a shoe-store now taking its place. A money exchange office has replaced the Maysalun bookshop which was open for four decades. The Al-Nouri bookstore, founded in 1930, is at risk of meeting the same fate.

Muslim convert and Manchester United football star, Paul Pogba, has revealed the reason why he holds the late boxer, Muhammad Ali, up as one of his heroes – and it is not because of his legendary record in the ring.

The French national team star was responding to a question from Sky Sports asking who his hero was as a child. The 28-year-old midfielder said: ‘Muhammad Ali. He was someone that I think kind of saved lives. A hero is somebody that saves lives, that helps people; and I think that is what he did.’

Ali, similar to Pogba, converted to Islam during his sporting career. The footballer’s mother was a practicing Muslim, but he revealed in 2019 that he was not raised as a Muslim. He later reconnected with the faith after speaking and praying with his Muslim friends. Islam had made him a better person, he added.

The School of Oriental and African Studies in London appointed award-winning broadcaster and journalist, Zainab Badawi, as the University’s newest President. Badawi is a Sudanese-British television and radio journalist who is best known for hosting BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ and various other notable programs across the network, like ‘The World’ on BBC Four.

Born in Sudan, Badawi moved to England when she was two years old. She recounted how, despite moving at a very young age, speaking Arabic in the house with her parents when she was growing up helped her stay connected to her Arab and African roots.

The first forum of the Makkah Charter to promote the concept of one social family with common values has been held in Washington. The Forum titled ‘Makkah Charter for Promoting Global Unity and Coexistence: Interfaith Cooperation for Security, Health and Development’ was organized between major Islamic and non-Muslim religious institutions from various American states.

The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League and Chariman of the Muslim Scholars Association, Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim al-Issa, participated in the Forum. Al-Issa pointed out that the Makkah Charter emphasized the importance of respecting diversity, which means respecting the will of God to have pluralism among humans.

[COMPILED BY: SYED NEHAL ZAHEER]