Arabs & Arabian Records Aggregator. Chronicler. Milestones of the 25 Countries of the Arabic Speaking World (official / co-official). AGCC. MENA. Global. Ist's to Top 10's. Records. Read & Enjoy./ www.arabianrecords.org
Iraqi writer Abdul Rahman Majeed Al-Rubaie passes away at 83.
The news was confirmed by his friend and fellow writer, Waheed Al-Taweelah, who shared his condolences on Facebook.
Born in Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 1939, Al-Rubaie was considered one of Iraq’s most important contemporary writers.
He was known for his honest and emotionally rich depictions of the human condition in Iraq.
He authored several novels, short stories, plays, and poems that focused on themes of social justice, political commentary, and everyday struggles in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie was a versatile artist who practiced teaching, journalism, and diplomatic work in Lebanon and Tunisia.
He was also a member of the Iraqi Writers Union, the Journalists Syndicate in Iraq, and the Fine Artists Association in Iraq.
His acclaimed novel Al-Washm [The Tattoo], excerpted in Banipal No 17, has been reprinted six times in Morocco but was never published in Saddam’s Iraq.
Al-Rubaie’s contributions to Iraqi literature were widely acclaimed, and he received numerous awards and accolades throughout his life.
In addition to his acclaimed novels, such as “Tattoos” and “Rivers,” Al-Rubaie also wrote plays that were staged in Iraq and abroad.
His play “The City of Strangers” was performed in Baghdad in the 1970s and was later staged in Tunisia and Lebanon.
Another play, “The Game of Assassination,” was performed in Baghdad in 1985 and explored the dark side of Iraqi politics.
Al-Rubaie’s poetry was equally celebrated.
His collections such as “For Love and the Impossible” and “Shahryar Sailing” showcase his lyrical and reflective style.
His poetry often delved into themes of love, loss, and the beauty of the natural world.
Throughout his career, Al-Rubaie was a strong advocate for freedom of expression and the power of literature to promote social change.
He was vocal about the importance of writers and intellectuals in shaping public discourse, and he often used his writing to challenge prevailing attitudes and norms.
Al-Rubaie’s work has been translated into several languages and has received critical acclaim both in Iraq and abroad.
His contributions to Iraqi literature have left an indelible mark on the country’s cultural landscape.
The new annual celebration aims to celebrate the origins of Saudi Arabia.
Wednesday, February 22, marks Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day, a new annual holiday to commemorate the founding of the first Saudi state in Arabia.
The holiday was established with a royal decree issued by King Salman last year through the official Saudi Press Agency. It said the move is meant to commemorate the history of Saudi rule dating back hundreds of years.
It is a different event to Saudi National Day, which is marked on September 22.
What does Founding Day commemorate?
Saudi Arabia’s new annual holiday commemorates the ascendancy to power of Mohammed bin Saud, who founded the First Saudi State.
In February 1727, bin Saud inherited leadership over the central Arabian town of Diriyah, which had been established by his ancestors back in the 15th century.
He oversaw the expansion of Diriyah from a city-state to an emirate, conquering territories in central Arabia and uniting them under his family’s rule.
His dynasty became known as the Al Saud, named after his father, Saud bin Mohammed Al Muqrin, who had ruled Diriyah from 1720, the date often cited as the founding of the dynasty.
Founding Day commemorates these origins and aims to highlight the important part the Al Saud dynasty has played in the history of Arabia.
What was the First Saudi State?
Although Mohammed bin Saud came to power in Diriyah in 1727, the establishment of the First Saudi State is usually dated to 1744.
It was in this year that he allied with Mohammed bin Abdul Wahab, a religious scholar who led a movement that called for a return to the “true” version of Islam.
This alliance was at the heart of the First Saudi State, also known as the Emirate of Diriyah, the first of three Saudi states.
From Diriyah, the Al Saud dynasty quickly expanded to conquer much of the Arabian Peninsula, including the Hejaz region, home to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
This expansion was seen as a threat by the Ottoman Empire, the region’s major power, which sought to restore its influence in Arabia.
After a seven-year war, Ottoman-allied forces led by Egypt’s Ibrahim Pasha defeated the Al Saud and destroyed Diriyah, bringing an end to the First Saudi State in 1818.
From the First Saudi State to the modern kingdom
The Al Saud re-established their state six years later with a new capital at Riyadh, close to Diriyah.
Throughout the 19th century, they competed with the rival Al Rashid dynasty for supremacy over central Arabia. Internal conflicts and military defeats eventually weakened the Al Saud position, leading to the capture of Riyadh by the Al Rashid in 1891 and the end of the Second Saudi State.
Imam Abdulrahman Al Saud, who led the Al Saud at the time, sought refuge with the local Bedouin in the deserts of the Empty Quarter before taking his family to Kuwait.
His son, Abdulaziz, recaptured Riyadh in 1902 in a raid, laying the foundations for the expansion of Saudi rule across Arabia. In 1932, Abdulaziz formalised his reign by establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with himself as its first king.
His sons, including the current King Salman, have ruled the kingdom since.
How is Saudi Arabia’s National Day different from its Founding Day?
Saudi National Day is celebrated annually on September 23. It marks the 1932 decree, issued by King Abdulaziz, which renamed the Kingdom of Najd and the Hejaz as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The unification of the kingdom took place on the 21st of Jumada Al Awwal in 1351 H — which corresponds to September 23, 1932.
Today, National Day is celebrated through fireworks displays, ceremonies and parades.
What will happen on Founding Day? Events to show off traditional crafts, culture and heritage are planned across the kingdom.
Live music and dance performances are scheduled in cities including Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
Festivities are expected to last several days, with students given a long weekend until February 27.
New York-based Columbia university announced on Wednesday that Egyptian-born figure Minouche Shafik would become its first-woman president next summer.
“Nemat {Minouche} Shafik, a leading economist whose career has focused on public policy and academia, will become the next president of Columbia University on July 1, 2023.” Columbia University said adding that her election by the board of trustees as the University’s 20th president concluded a wide-ranging and intensive search launched after the University’s Current President Lee C. Bollinger announced that he would step down at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Shafik will become the 20th president of the famous American educational institution.
Minouche Shafik was appointed director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in September 2017.
She also served as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England prior to her appointment as LSE Director in 2017.
She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honours list in 2015, and in July 2020 was created a baroness, becoming a crossbench peer in the UK’s House of Lords.
Shafik’s successful portfolio includes leading roles such as Vice President of the World Bank, where she became the youngest VP in the history of the bank, and Permanent Secretary of the UK Department for International Development and Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Born in Alexandriam her childhood in Egypt was brief though, as she left the country for the US when she was four. She later returned to the country briefly as a teenager, according to interviews.
She holds a BSc in economics and politics from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and an MSc in economics at LSE before completing a PhD in economics at St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.
Her doctorate thesis was on the role of the private sector and the public sector in Egypt.
Published on January 11, 1944, the Independence Proclamation laid the groundwork for generations of Moroccan nationalist claims against French and Spanish occupation.
Every January 11, Moroccans celebrate Morocco’s Independence Proclamation or the Independence Manifesto, commemorating the bravery of Moroccans who signed a manifesto to urge colonists to leave their Moroccan lands.
On January 11, 1944, dozens of Moroccan nationalists signed the manifesto that called for the country’s full independence and sovereignty over its territories occupied by foreign powers.
A turning point for Moroccan nationalism
Seen as a turning point in Morocco’s history, the proclamation was signed in consultations with the late Sultan Mohammed V, the grandfather of King Mohammed VI, to demand Morocco’s full-throated independence from French and Spanish colonizers.
Following the Sultan’s review, the document was presented to colonial authorities and to the representations of three countries: the US, UK, and the former Soviet Union.
The manifesto documented Morocco’s eagerness to continue its fight against colonizers, stressing the importance of the country’s right to exercise national sovereignty and self-determination.
It also shed light on the strong ties between the throne and the Moroccan people, a sizable majority of whom were ready and eager to sacrifice their lives for their homeland, causing panic among French colonial authorities and troops.
Demonization and oppression campaign
Following the publication of the manifesto, French authorities tried to pressure Sultan Mohammed V into condemning the proclamation. Having failed in their bid to get the Sultan to disown the leaders of Moroccan nationalism, the colonial authorities resorted to organizing a purge and demonization campaign, accusing Moroccan nationalists and intellectuals of spying for Nazi Germany.
Withstanding this campaign of oppression and intimidation from colonial forces, both the Sultan and Moroccan nationalists continued their fierce struggle to defend the country’s legitimate right to independence and self-determination.
In response, French authorities forced the Sultan into exile to Corsica along with his family members on the eve of Eid al-Adha, in August 1953, and then to Madagascar in 1954.
The goal was to shatter Morocco’s dreams of independence, but forcefully exiling their legitimate Sultan only intensified Moroccans’ eagerness for national sovereignty and resilience against colonial oppression.
The decision to send the Sultan to exile was thus greeted with more nationwide uproar and frustration, with waves of nationalist protests demanding the return of the Sultan and his family amid the continued struggle for national independence.
The pressure was strong enough to force French colonizers into agreeing to the return of Sultan Mohammed V to Morocco on November 16.
A few days after his return, the Moroccan delivered a speech announcing the end of the trusteeship and protectorate system and “the advent of freedom of independence.”
The speech was excitedly celebrated across Morocco, laying the groundwork for Moroccan independence from France on March 2, 1956.
That same year, Morocco recovered Tangier and other parts of the northern regions from Spanish rule.
The following years, especially in 1959, 1969, and 1975, Morocco further reclaimed its territorial integrity with the withdrawal of Spain from the Tarfaya, Sidi Ifni, and Saqia al Hamra, and Oued Eddahab regions in the country’s southern provinces.
Continued Struggle
Seven decades after gaining independence from France and nearly five decades after reclaiming its southern provinces from Spanish rule, Morocco’s struggle for independence is still ongoing in the face of separatist challenges in the southern provinces known as Western Sahara.
After Mohammed V passed away, his son, the late King Hassan II, continued the fight for full-fledged territorial integrity. The King famously organized and oversaw the resounding success of one of the most famed milestones of Moroccan nationalism: Al Massira El Khadrae or the Green March in November 1975.
The Green March contributed to the full withdrawal of Spain from southern Morocco after the late monarch made a televised speech calling on Moroccans to mobilize to liberate the Moroccan Sahara.
“We have to do one thing, dear people, and that is to undertake a peaceful march from the north to the east, and from the west to the south. It behooves us to act as one man in order to join the Sahara,” King Hassan II said in his speech. Thousands of Moroccans were galvanized by the speech and participated in the Green March.
As Morocco celebrated the 47th anniversary of the Green March last year, King Mohammed VI highlighted the importance of the March’s legacy and the critical need for Morocco to fully reclaim its southern provinces.
In his speech on the occasion, King Mohammed VI called on Moroccans of all walks of life to continue to be “faithful to the spirit of the Green March and to its everlasting oath.”
As Moroccan sovereignty continues to be challenged by the Polisario Front, a separatist group financed and armed by Algeria, Moroccans have to remain mobilized and vigilant in order to “defend Morocco’s unity and achieve greater progress,” the monarch stressed.
