Hadhramaut and the Love of Perfumes

Oud

Is there any one who hates perfumes? Almost none.  People always love sweet scents and are attracted by it. On a woman, few things are as enchanting and as mesmerizing as perfumes. In Hadhramout, both men and women love perfumes. Hadhrami women, be they in Hadhramaut or out, love and greatly value perfumes. Especially the oud which are of many varieties and scents. The oud, which Hadhrami women are good connoisseur's in and of. Hadhramis traveled by land or sea, far and wide to other parts of the Middle East, Southern Asia and Eastern Africa, trading and in search of frankincense, myrrh, resin, agarwood and musk: these, which have provided and been the basis of many, if not most, perfumes. Since antiquity and throughout the Old World, the Hadharem, other Arabs and Muslims have contributed most to the perfecting of the making of perfumes and to the art of perfumery.

The Hadhrami Influence in the Horn of Africa

Any one who has been in Hadhramaut for long, knows of the very close ties that it has with the Horn of Africa. In Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea - Hadhrami communities have been there for generations, and despite ups-and-downs, internal conflicts and political changes in these countries - the Hadharem have thrived in all. In Hadhramout itself, where there are many of its citizens with mixed Hadrami-Somali blood, especially along the coast, in Mukalla in particular - it is very normal to find many Hadhramis with relatives or extended families in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia. It is also very normal to find many Hadhrami communities in all of the Horn of Africa countries.

Masjid: Mosques of Morocco

Morocco

Morocco. One of the most wonderful and most fascinating countries on Earth. A country with a long, extraordinary history. Morocco, in the 7th Century, is one of the earliest countries to have received Islam. It is Islam, for centuries, that has shaped the country's and its people's culture, customs, traditions and way of life. It is Islam that has played the leading role since its arrival to the country hundreds of years ago. And, it is Islam that still dominates this wonderful country. Today, almost all Moroccans are Muslims. In every part of Morocco, where there is a settlement, in: villages, towns and cities, there is a mosque. Most old. Some new.

SEKEM: most environmentally aware firm in Middle East

The World Economic Forum's: The New Sustainability Champions, showcases 16 emerging market companies, which provide inspiring examples on how to tackle challenges of performance, innovation, sustainability and growth. The mindset, practices and business models of these Champions offer critical insights for emerging market businesses, established multinationals and governments. They also serve as a starting point for redefining the future of growth: a robust growth that efficiently binds all elements of sustainability together – economic, environmental, and social. Of the 1,000 companies studied and analyzed in the developing world, only one of the 16 companies selected, is from the Middle East and the Arab world: SEKEM.

Located North-East of Cairo, is this unique, exceptional organization. Egypt, with the desert fast expanding, its many environmental problems, with its water problems and its agriculture being constrained by the Nile - needed some thing, an organization to come up with a solution. Egypt came up with the ingenious way of creating forests in its deserts by using waste water.  In the same sustainable, environmentally friendly and protective way, Egyptians created with: SEKEM. And now the firm is the first organic producer in the region and can be considered a pioneer in Egypt and the surrounding areas. Products range from health foods and natural medicine to dairy products, honey, fruits and vegetables, as well as organic cotton and textiles. While two-thirds of these products are sold locally, they are also exported to health food shops and supermarkets across Europe. Global success has been achieved for some product lines: the company commands a large percentage of the international herbal tea market, competing with global brands.

+ More about SEKEM from WEF

The Hadhrami Influence in Eastern Africa

East Africa. That very scenic, very breathtaking and most enchanting of lands. That's where my late father, as fate would have it, migrated to, to seek his fortunes. Through his wanderings and adventures across four East African countries, he didn't make much of a fortune except to marry for a second and third time, and sire nine children; and he did help in preaching and spreading Islam. The same can be said about the thousands of other Hadhrami migrants who went to East Africa in the last century: they didn't all become wealthy. Going to green, very rainy and abundant with food East Africa, whatever the outcome, was much better than the Hadhramaut they left behind. The Hadhramout they left behind, then, was impoverished, insecure and full of hunger. The Hadhramaut they left behind was a place most of them did not want to return to. And many, never did return to.

The Dead Sea is indeed an extraordinary Wonder

In a country with many wonders - the Dead Sea, Bahr-al-Mayyit, is indeed an extraordinary Wonder. Like all extraordinary things, it is mainly by knowing or seeing or experiencing it that you really come to appreciate it. It was only during and after my first visit to the extraordinary Sea, entering it and experiencing it, that I could truly understand and appreciate the Sea's incredible uniqueness and greatness. After my first visit there in 2009, I wrote:

The Dead Sea, or Bahr-al-Mayyit, is literally dying. Experts say: in another thirty years or so, the Sea of mysteries, legends and miracles - might be no more. Famous and popular for its mud's healing and rejuvenating powers, the Sea is undoubtedly the largest natural spa in the World. Facts about the Dead Sea are incredible and phenomenal. Religion, legendary Prophets and the Dead Sea Scrolls aside, the Dead Sea is: 33% salt and 430 meters or so below sea level; over 50 hot mineral springs lying at a depth closest to the Earth's minerals at about 1,500 meters deep, brings the salt to the Sea's surface; and hot and sunny, the Sea creates an incredible atmospheric filter that eliminates much of the burning rays of the heat and the Sun - that you can never get sunburn here but you can only get tanned.

Facts about the Dead Sea are mind boggling. It has been and is called not only a wonder but a miracle too. It has many reasons: its history, its geography, its features and its health benefits - for it to be one of the world's greatest natural phenomenons. At the rate the Dead Sea is reducing and diminishing in size, it could completely disappear. You can help in reversing this. You can help in making the countries that the Sea sits on: Jordan, Palestine and Israel - take more care of it. And the world be more aware of it. Now, the amazing Sea has reached the 28 finalist of the New7Wonders of Nature. Please vote for it here or go here and click 'HOW TO VOTE' and follow the instructions on how to vote by phone call.

+ Visit Jordan
+ More on the Dead Sea
+ The Sea
+ Marine Knowledge
+ Other extraordinary wonders to visit in Jordan: Petra, Jerash

Yemen: is there an end to the bleeding?

Yemen. A country, with a people so simple, so welcoming and friendly that you may mistake it for weakness. And yet: Yemenis, a very conservative people, can be most brave when required and are a people who are always full of pride. The continuing bleeding and enormous hardship now in the country, might lead only to more blood and more misery. To die, is normal. To be killed, is abnormal and sad. But, to be killed by your own is most abnormal and tragic. That's what is happening in Yemen now. The killing of one Yemeni by another.

“We ordained ...that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.” ~ Al Maed a ~ 5:32

"Whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom." ~ Al-An`am ~ 6:151

The senseless taking of any life, plant or animal, for no good reason, is completely prohibited in Islam. Let alone, human life. Killing any person without a just cause is as big a sin as killing the whole humanity and saving the life of one person is as good a deed as saving the whole humanity. We can only pray and hope that the bleeding will soon stop. That: mercy and wisdom will soon prevail.

Khartoum, Sudan: the Beauty by the Nile

Khartoum Map - click to enlarge

Khartoum. An enchanting, mesmerizing, exotic name. Mention Khartoum and many people think of the Charlton Heston/Laurence Olivier movie. Or the expensive, racehorse in the Godfather. Probably due to it being on the strip of land between the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, the name might have been derived from the Arabic word khortoum - because the city's location looks like 'an elephant trunk'. Khartoum (Arabic: الخرطوم‎ Al Kharṭūm) is the largest metropolis and national capital city of Sudan. Khartoum is where all tribes of Sudan converge to and meet. It is where, truly, Arabia meets Africa. Any time of day or night, very safe it is. Vibrant, it is. Crowded, it is. Commercial, it is. Beautiful, it is. Beautiful, but very rarely praised.

The Hadhrami and Irish migrations.......

It is hard to decide, let alone move from one house to another or one suburb to another. It is even harder moving from one town or city to another. And, it is hardest moving from one country to another. But, imagine deciding to move, to migrate, from the country you are in now to another that is utterly different from the one you are in; different in climate, in people, in culture and completely alien. How very hard that must be. Imagine moving to that new country, with nothing except the basic of necessities; leaving behind you, your ancestral homeland, your family and relatives, and many times - even your wife and children. Imagine moving to that new place using the most hazardous and most difficult of means. What kind of desperation would lead one to this? That's what the Hadharem, from Hadhramaut, did when they migrated to alien, foreign lands years ago. And that's what the Irish did in more or less the same ways. Both the Hadharem and the Irish moved to foreign lands, liked or hated there, most settled in those foreign lands. And both, have been very influential in their new homelands.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Can cold-water, salmon fish be fished in Yemen? Can they be farmed in Yemen? There are no salmon fish in Yemen, as for being farmed - if Dubai can have an Olympic size ice-rink, with some advanced technology, salmon farming can be done in Yemen, but it will be very expensive. That aside, the book: SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN by Paul Torday, is about salmon 'fishing' in Yemen, but in a rather satirical, hilarious way. Read it for fun, for the satire and the humor; or, read it and interpret it in as many ways as you want.

You can interpret it as a book and a novel about: Yemen or about attempting and doing the impossible or for the politics, particularly British politics in relation to the Middle East. Or read it for the unusual style that Torday uses to write it: a mix of diary entries, debate papers, emails, minutes etc.. For an almost 60 year old man to write such a very difficult book, with a most strange setting and make it as absorbing and interesting as the novel is, is quite an achievement. I wonder what made Torday think of such a complicated story, set it in such a most improper of places; and wove it around such interesting characters. And at the same time, be so hilarious that you will be laughing all the way to the end. And now, there is a film (filmed in Morocco, Scotland and England) adapted from the book. Can it be as interesting, absorbing and comical as the book?

+ Goodreads for reviews of the book
+ Collider for review of the film
+ More here

Do you want to blog easily?

I believe the best way to use the Internet, and computers for that matter, is to read and increase one's knowledge. The information and knowledge on the Net is so vast and so varied that in one's whole adult life time, you can only read a fraction of it. The second best way of using the Web, is to write. To write and share. And what other easier way is there to do this, than blogging. Many people think of blogging but do not know how to begin. Many would like to share their ideas or knowledge or thoughts or perspectives with others or would like to speak out but do not know how to start. It is easy. As long as you have the very basic knowledge of how to use a computer and the Internet, you can blog. You can easily blog. Wherever you are as long as you have an Internet connection.

Go to Blogger, sign up or sign in, and - voila! - you can easily start writing and posting your thoughts, photos and videos. Or, take a tour first and get some info and tips. No other blogging service, is as seamlessly easy and friendly to use as Blogger. It has an array and a variety of features, tools and is so versatile and flexible that any beginner can easily use it. Along the way, as you blog, the Blogger team, apart from keeping you updated with Blogger Buzz and the Blogger In Draft Blog, is always there to assist, help and guide you through. And how much does Blogger charge for all this superb service? It is ALL free. All the services and features are offered to all users absolutely free-of-charge.

Yemen's Dire Economic State

Middle East GCI Rankings: 2011-2012

According to the World Economic Forum, Yemen's economic condition is so bad that it ranks right at the bottom, at 138th out of the 142 countries in the list. It ranks so bad, that out of the Middle Eastern countries it is 40 ranks below the second last one: Syria - another very unstable country right now - which is at 98.

Yemenis very much agree with this result: according to a Gallup survey at the beginning of this year, most Yemenis polled, believe that the economic condition is getting worst. With the present, ongoing political instability and insecurity continuing, and with no end in sight, the situation might get worst before it improves.

Sights from Souk JARA, Amman

Without visiting Jabal Amman, you have not visited this very scenic and pleasant of cities: Amman. In Jabal Amman, it is not only the First Circle and Rainbow Street or the many variety of shops that are the main attractions; there is, also, Souq JARA (سوق جارا). It is an outdoor, open market that offers a variety of items for sale. Though not large, it is one of the most pleasant places to shop in, in the city. And with some of the most welcoming, most pleasant and most charming of vendors you would meet in Amman.

Heavy Rains in Hadhramaut

After the sweltering heat and humidity of the last few weeks, it is reported that in several parts of Hadhramaut - for the last ten or so days, there have been heavy rains; sometimes with thunderstorms. With the rains, temperatures cool; and Bedouins and many rural farmers celebrate the plentiful of water for their crops and animals. But with the blessings of the rains, there are many flooded areas too. These floods, flash floods in particular, can be very dangerous and at times - fatal. Very few in Hadhramout can forget the destructive and deadly rains and storm of 2008. Floods have been reported near Mukalla, in Wady Do'an, in Wadi Sa'ah, near Wadi Al'Ain, near Sa'um and near Ghail Bin Yumain.

Which one: Diaspora* or Google+?

For those who like social net-working, there are now two more new services competing for your attention. You can join either only by being 'invited'. There is Google's, Google Plus (released to the public to millions, about a month ago - and still growing fast) and there is the open source Diaspora Alpha (released to the public to a very few, about seven months ago - but they have taken rather too long sending out 'invites' and they still have very few people using it.). Both, in response to the many complaints against Facebook, are very particular and focused on 'privacy'. Especially, Diaspora.

Islam, Ecology and the Environment

IFEES

Islam is Green. It preaches Green. But, many Muslims, if not most, are not consciously or in practice: Green. The protection of the environment and wildlife is not of importance to most Muslims. Few people here on Earth, have been as careless and destructive to their wildlife and environment as here in the Middle East. Today, most countries in the Middle East and North Africa are some of the worst performers when it comes to environmental rankings. And, even more disappointing - it is very hard to find Islamic or Muslim managed websites dedicated to Greenness.  Try searching over the Web for one, and you will hardly find any.