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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, visited Al Barakah Dates Factory, the world’s largest privately-owned dates factory located in Dubai Industrial City.
The facility spans over 800,000 square feet, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes, one of the market leaders for packaging and processing dates in the world.
During the visit, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for advanced food industries through innovation, stronger production chains, and boosting the competitiveness of national products. He noted that the dates industry is a successful example of turning the country’s agricultural heritage into a modern, high-value-added sector that supports the economy and enhances food security.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE continues to invest in key sectors that impact people’s lives, especially the food sector, and is developing its national industries to be more globally competitive through advanced technologies, higher production efficiency, and expanded access to international markets.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed added that the dates industry is part of the UAE’s identity and heritage, and its development reflects a vision of turning resources into sustainable opportunities.
He also said humanitarian initiatives in the sector, including efforts to combat malnutrition, reflect the UAE’s commitment to improving lives and addressing global food security challenges.
During the visit, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed, accompanied by Malek Al Malek, Chairman of TECOM Group, was briefed by the factory founder Saleem Mohammed and his son Yousuf Saleem Mohammed, Managing Director, on production lines, manufacturing and packaging stages, as well as the factory’s range of products.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed also reviewed the global reach of the factory’s products, which are exported to 97 countries, with the US, the UK, and EU among the key markets.
The factory is located in Dubai Industrial City, part of TECOM Group’s industrial parks, which was launched in 2004. The Dubai Industrial City hosts over 350 factories and more than 17,000 employees, and is strategically located near Jebel Ali Port, Al Maktoum International Airport, and Etihad Rail’s freight terminal, ensuring strong logistics connectivity. The factory reflects private sector success in the food industry, and was founded by businessman Saleem Mohammed, who began his career in Dubai in 1983 before moving into dates trading and processing in the 1990s.
Landmark study bridges history and modern scholarship
Project highlights Kingdom’s preservation of Islamic heritage
A new scholarly encyclopedia documenting the architectural evolution of the Prophet’s Mosque has emerged as a major reference work, charting the development of one of Islam’s most significant landmarks across centuries.
Published by the Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah Research and Studies Center, the project forms part of broader efforts to systematically record the mosque’s history and features through a rigorous academic framework enhanced by modern research tools, a review by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
The encyclopedia traces the mosque’s transformation from its foundation during the Prophetic era through successive expansions across Islamic history, culminating in large-scale Saudi-era developments that have expanded capacity while preserving its architectural and spiritual identity.
Beyond historical documentation, the work provides analytical insight into key structural elements — such as arcades, domes, and minarets — examining their functional and aesthetic evolution, alongside associated landmarks that underscore the mosque’s enduring religious and civilizational role.
The initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s continued commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and safeguarding Islamic heritage through specialized knowledge projects, the review said.
By preserving and systematizing the architectural memory of the Prophet’s Mosque, the encyclopedia is expected to fill a critical gap in scholarly research, offering a valuable resource for academics, students, and those interested in the cultural and human dimensions embedded in the mosque’s design,
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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General view of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. (SPA file photo)
The commission is headquartered in Beirut and brings together 21 member states across the Middle East and North Africa.
Rania Al-Mashat has been appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, following an announcement by Secretary-General António Guterres.
Al-Mashat brings more than 25 years of experience in macroeconomic policy, central banking and international development. Between 2018 and 2026, she served in Egypt’s government across multiple portfolios, including tourism, international cooperation, and planning and economic development, becoming the country’s first female minister of tourism.
Prior to her ministerial roles, she served as sub-governor for monetary policy at the Central Bank of Egypt and worked as an adviser to the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, headquartered in Beirut, is one of the UN’s five regional commissions, serving 21 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Its mandate includes supporting economic integration, policy coordination and sustainable development across the region.
Al-Mashat holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a BA in economics from the American University in Cairo. She has also completed executive programmes in leadership and public policy at Harvard and Oxford.
The 10th edition of the Aswan International Women Film Festival announced the winning films on 24 April, with the Saudi-led co-production Hijra taking the Best Film award, leading a diverse list of winners from across the globe.
Directed by Shahad Ameen, Hijra also earned Best Actor for Nawaf Al-Dhafiri.
Set against the vast desert landscape, Hijra follows a grandmother who embarks on a journey north in search of her missing teenage granddaughter, after the young girl disappears during a trip toward Mecca.
Blending elements of a road movie with a character-driven drama, Hijra explores themes of family, loss, and resilience, while offering a nuanced portrait of women’s lives across different generations in Saudi society.
The Jury Prize went to the Dutch film Treat Her Like a Lady written and directed by Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito, while The Condor Daughter (Bolivia/Peru/Uruguay) written and directed by Alvaro Olmos Torrico won Best Director.
Spain featured among the winners, with The Portuguese House (Una quinta portuguesa) by Avelina Prat receiving the Best Screenplay award.
In the short film competition, the French film We Had a Good Time won Best Short Film, while Randa Maroufi’s Al-Mina (Morocco/Italy/France/Qatar) also received the short film top award. Prior to its AIWFF success, Al-Mina scored Leitz Cine Discovery Prize at Cannes Film Festival.
Italian film The Kinepali Model took the Jury Prize, and Tunisian film Dunia scored the European Union Award.
Across parallel sections, An Unfinished Journey won Best Collective Film in the workshops competition, while A Lullaby After Sleep by Abdel Rahman Barakat took Best Film in the Films with Impact category. In the South Films competition, Distances by Liza Kamal secured first place.
Held from 20 to 25 in Aswan, the festival showcased 73 films from 34 countries, reaffirming its position as a key platform for cinema centered on women’s stories and perspectives.
Forbes also ranks Lasry among the world’s billionaires, placing him at 1,913.
Moroccan-American billionaire Marc Lasry is among the Forbes 250 Greatest Self-Made Americans, another list featuring businessmen and celebrities who made a name for themselves in their respective fields.
Forbes released the list earlier this month, distinguishing the US, where the “American dream” could reportedly be achieved by any ordinary child, compared to Europe, “where one’s prospects were often determined at birth.”
The report then cites what it describes as heroes, including Alexander Hamilton, the “orphaned immigrant who crafted America’s first financial system.”
Oprah Winfrey tops the list of the Forbes selectees, and is followed by Harold Hamm, David Steward, Thomas Peterffy, alongside LeBron James, and Jan Koum.
Among the celebrities, Morocco’s Lasry found his name alongside other celebrities like Dr Dre, Eminem and the iconic Cher, as well as other prominent businessmen and women.
Forbes identified Lasry as number 154 in its ranking, describing him as a child who lived in a tiny apartment before founding Avenue Capital.
Lasry is also on Forbes’ billionaires list, where he is ranked 1913 with a real-time net worth of $2.2 billion as of April 22.
A brief biography of him on Forbes says he and his sister Sonia founded Avenue Capital Group in 1995, with $7 million in funding from friends and family.
He moved to the US at the age of 7 with his family from Morocco, “sharing a bedroom with his 2 siblingings for a decade.”
Lasry is also known as a major supporter of the Democratic Party, raising funds for former President Obama as well as candidate Hilary Clinton.
Iconic Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al Fahad, widely known as the “Lady of the Gulf Screen”, has died at the age of 78 after a prolonged illness, in a loss that has reverberated across the Arab artistic community.
The announcement was made on Tuesday via the official account of the Al Fahad Artistic Production Foundation, which paid tribute to her as a towering figure in Gulf drama whose legacy will endure for generations.
Al Fahad had faced recurring health complications in recent months, which kept her away from the screen. Sources close to the family said her condition deteriorated sharply in recent days, leading to her admission to intensive care before her death.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Al Fahad was not only an actress but also a writer and producer, known for works that explored Gulf society with depth and candour.
Born in Kuwait in 1948, Al Fahad is regarded as one of the Arab world’s most influential television and stage figures. Her career spans acting, broadcasting, writing, and producing, with celebrated credits including the beloved television series Khalti Qumasha, Ruqiya wa Sabika, Jarh Al Zaman, and ‘Ndama Tu’Gany Al Zuho.
Despite advancing age, she remained active in Ramadan productions until her later years, delivering performances marked by experience and enduring passion.
Her death marks the end of a defining chapter in Gulf television, though her work will continue to resonate across the Arab world.
Khazna Data Centres, a global leader in critical AI infrastructure, today announced that its DXB8 facility in Dubai has been awarded the Zero Waste Certification by SCS Global Services, one of the world’s leading third-party sustainability certification bodies. DXB8 is the first data center globally to achieve this certification.
The certification verifies that the DXB8 facility (excluding IT waste from data halls) has achieved 99.55% waste diversion from landfill over a 12‑month audited period, reflecting rigorous operational controls, disciplined waste segregation, and responsible end‑of‑life management across the site.
The independent, third-party audit confirms that the vast majority of waste generated at the facility is diverted through recycling, bottle reuse programs with vendors, resale, and composting, as well as other approved recovery pathways for residual materials, in line with recognized waste-hierarchy best practice.
“This certification is an important milestone in our sustainability journey,” said Elisabetta Baronio, Director – ESG, Khazna Data Centres. “Achieving Zero Waste status is not about a single initiative. It is the result of consistent operational discipline, strong partnerships across our supply chain, and a culture that prioritizes environmental responsibility alongside performance and reliability.”
The certification to the SCS Standard for Zero Waste (SCS-110) was awarded following a comprehensive assessment that reviewed all waste generated by the facility excluding tenant IT waste in data halls (white space). It demonstrates not only the quantity of waste diverted from landfill, but also the strength of the underlying systems, governance, disciplined workplace culture, and continuous improvement processes that drive sustained, long-term waste reduction. For mission‑critical infrastructure such as data centers, where scale, uptime, and complexity present unique sustainability challenges, this level of performance is both rare and meaningful.
The achievement at DXB8 reflects Khazna’s broader ESG strategy, which integrates sustainability into the design, construction, and operation of its facilities worldwide. From resource‑efficient construction and advanced cooling technologies to responsible materials management and operational excellence, Khazna continues to embed environmental stewardship into the core of its growth.
As demand for digital and AI‑ready infrastructure accelerates, Khazna remains committed to enabling the digital economy responsibly by delivering resilient, sovereign-ready data centers, while reducing environmental impact and supporting national and global sustainability objectives.
source/content: wam.ae (headline edited)
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___________________________ DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Leo XIV’s upcoming visit will honour Saint Augustine’s roots and a small Catholic community that shared the nation’s suffering.
For the first time in Catholic history, a pope will make an official visit to Algeria.
From 13 to 15 April, Pope Leo XIV will begin an African tour in the Maghreb country, which will then take him to Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
His trip to Algeria will include two stops: the capital, Algiers, and Annaba, the city of Saint Augustine. The fourth century thinker is a key figure in the pope’s life and in the meaning given to this unprecedented visit.
“I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint Augustine, who once said: ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop’,” Leo said in his first address as Pope to the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square in Rome in May last year to celebrate his election.
These words sparked enthusiasm in the Algerian media, which emphasised the new Pope’s attachment to the cleric and theologian born in 354 in Thagaste, an Amazigh-Roman city known today as Souk Ahras, in northeastern Algeria.
As bishop of Hippo, the ancient name for the city of Annaba, he profoundly influenced Christian thought.
“Saint Augustine is important to the Pope because he entered the Augustinian Order at a very young age,” Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers, told Middle East Eye.
“From the age of 13, Leo attended a school in the United States [where he was born] run by the Augustinians,” he added.
After studying mathematics and philosophy in Philadelphia, the man then known as Robert Francis Prevost joined the Augustinian order at the age of 22 and rose through the ranks to become prior general of the order.
It was in this capacity that he made his first visit to Algeria, in 2001, to participate in the first international symposium on Saint Augustine at the University of Annaba.
Cardinal Vesco says he convinced the new Pope to visit Algeria in the early days of his pontificate.
On the agenda for his upcoming visit is a public address at the Martyrs’ Monument, erected on the heights of the capital in memory of those killed during the Algerian war of independence, followed by a meeting with the country’s highest authorities at the conference centre of the Great Mosque.
Augustine ‘was born here’
The Algerian authorities are attaching particular importance to this visit, the preparations for which are being personally overseen by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Annaba, in particular, has been transformed into a vast construction site, with asphalting, painting and cleaning of the streets along the road leading to the Basilica of Saint Augustine, which is also undergoing maintenance work.
‘Augustine is a figure rooted in North African geography and culture. Yet, this essential dimension has long been obscured’
– Abdenasser Smail, historian
For historian Abdenasser Smail, who recently published Saint-Augustin, un Nord-Africain universel (Saint Augustine, a Universal North African), the Pope is visiting Algeria and Annaba to pay homage to the philosopher of antiquity but also “because Augustine is not just a Christian figure.
A key element of Augustine’s thought was how he radically internalised the relationship with God in the depths of the self, what he calls the “inner trinity”: memory, intelligence and will.
“He is one of the major thinkers in the history of humanity. Europe embraced him. The Vatican drew inspiration from him. But he was born here,” Smail told MEE.
The pope’s visit, he added, is not only religious: “It is about historical memory.”
According to him, the tribute Leo is paying to Saint Augustine is a way of righting a historical wrong that has long obscured the theologian’s true origins.
“Augustine is a figure rooted in North African geography and culture. Yet, this essential dimension has long been obscured, both in Western representations and in contemporary Algerian national narratives,” Smail said.
In a country with an overwhelming Muslim majority, “an Algerian Muslim can be proud of this,” he added.
“Because being proud of one’s history doesn’t mean adopting another faith. It means recognising that this land has produced multiple great figures. To deny this is not to defend Islam. It is to impoverish our own memory,” he said.
An Algerian Church
Beyond the very symbolism of Saint Augustine, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria is also a tribute to, and support for, the Algerian Church, “a very small Church in a Muslim world”, as Vesco described it.
“This is the church of that people, the Algerians,” added the archbishop of Algiers, who has lived in the country for nearly 20 years and was naturalised as an Algerian citizen in 2023.
The Catholic Church in Algeria is one of the smallest in the world: barely 4,200 faithful spread across four dioceses – Algiers, Oran, Constantine and Laghouat – out of a population of 46 million.
It has about 60 priests and 100 nuns and monks, primarily from Europe, Africa and Latin America. Its most striking characteristic is its composition: the faithful are overwhelmingly foreign and of sub-Saharan origin, a reality now visible in every parish.
Native Algerian Catholics number only a few hundred; no official figures are available. The number of faithful plummeted dramatically with Algeria’s independence in 1962 and the mass exodus of Europeans from the country.
“Of course, the Church returned to Algeria with [French] colonisation, because it had practically disappeared [after the Arab-Islamic conquest of North Africa in the 7th century],” Vesco said.
However, this Church has become Algerian, he explained, emphasising the essential role of the archbishop of Algiers from 1954 to 1988, Leon-Etienne Duval, in the process.
As early as 1955, a year after the start of the War of Independence that pitted Algerians against the French occupiers, Duval denounced the socio-economic injustices of the colonial system and the torture and massacres of Algerians committed by the French army, while supporting their self-determination.
Naturalised Algerian in 1964 and promoted to cardinal, Duval succeeded in transforming the church in Algeria from a colonial institution into a church officially recognised and supported by a newly independent state where Islam was proclaimed the state religion.
“Our church remains marked by Cardinal Duval’s appeal in 1962 to priests to stay in Algeria [at the end of the war],” Cardinal Vesco said.
‘It is a church that truly serves Algerian society’
– Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers
“This is how we kept schools, dispensaries, etc open from independence onward, because it is a church that truly serves Algerian society.”
The position defended by Duval, inherited from decades of struggle by liberal Catholics in Algeria, was supported by the Vatican and contributed to the Catholic Church’s dialogue with the Muslim world.
“By bringing the problems of the ‘Third World’ to the forefront, the Algerian experience also contributed to a profound shift in the Church’s theological and political stance toward Islam,” writes researcher Uriel Gadessaud in the journal Outre-Mers.
“It was during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) that the Holy See underwent a true aggiornamento, under the influence of the Algerian War,” he added, referring to the Vatican’s new opening to the world and other religions.
In addition to aspirations for independence, members of the Catholic Church in Algeria shared with local Muslims the sufferings of the “black decade”, the civil war that ravaged the country between 1992 and 2002.
Triggered by the army’s halt to the electoral process in January 1992 after the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the first round of parliamentary elections, the conflict between armed Islamist groups and security forces killed an estimated 200,000 people.
Among them were 19 Christian religious figures killed between 1994 and 1996, including the Bishop of Oran, Pierre Claverie, and the seven monks of Tibhirine, whose abduction and murder in 1996 remain shrouded in mystery.
Declared martyrs by former Pope Francis, they were beatified in December 2018 in Oran – the first beatification ceremony held in a Muslim country. During his upcoming visit to Algiers, Pope Leo is scheduled to pray in the chapel of these 19 “martyrs of Algeria”.
Calls to address human rights
Today, the small Catholic community lives in harmony with a predominantly Muslim Algerian society, and the faith is officially protected and recognised by the authorities, even if non-Muslim religious practices remain confined to specific spaces.
“I live my faith discreetly, as required by the fact that I live in a Muslim society, but I have never received a single derogatory remark,” Simon, an Ivorian student who has been living in Algiers for three years, told MEE.
Every Sunday, he attends mass at the Diocesan Centre in Hydra, an upscale neighbourhood of the capital.
‘I live my faith discreetly, as required by the fact that I live in a Muslim society, but I have never received a single derogatory remark’
– Simon, Ivorian student in Algiers
“Beyond prayer and communion, we meet to organise charitable activities, classes for disadvantaged Algerian children and book clubs,” added Simon, who said he is “proud and happy about the Pope’s visit”.
“It’s a gift, a grace, for our little flock here in Algeria.”
However, the Christian presence in Algeria also has a dark side: the restrictions targeting Protestant worship and its evangelical branch, although freedom of worship is enshrined in the constitution.
Since 2006, a decree “establishing the conditions and rules for the practice of religions other than Islam” requires authorisation for the creation of religious associations, their practices and their use of buildings.
While the Catholic Church in Algeria enjoys the status of an approved association, and its sermons are even broadcast on public radio, this is not the case for the Protestant Church of Algeria, officially recognised since 2011 but whose activities are only authorised within its main headquarters in Algiers.
There are no longer any legally open Protestant places of worship in the country. The authorities closed them because they suspect evangelicals of conducting conversions, which is prohibited by Algerian law. Some pastors are even facing legal action.
Several Christians contacted by MEE declined to express themselves for fear that the authorities would suspect them of being converted evangelicals.
This situation is regularly denounced in the US State Department’s report on religious freedom and by human rights groups.
On Tuesday, three international NGOs urged Pope Leo XIV to raise issues of human rights and religious freedom with the Algerian authorities during his visit to Algeria.
“We ask you to call on the authorities to end discrimination against religious minorities and to respect their right to freedom of religion or belief, including the right to practice their religion freely,” EuroMed Rights, Human Rights Watch and MENA Rights Group said in a letter addressed to the pontiff.
According to the groups, religious minorities “face discriminatory legal and administrative restrictions that limit their ability to practice, organise and express their faith openly”.
In addition to Protestants, they cite Ahmadis, followers of a faith originating in India who consider themselves Muslim but are regarded as heretics by the Sunni majority in Algeria.
The NGOs also urged the Pope to call on Algerian authorities to “release those arbitrarily detained for exercising their human rights”.
“Hundreds of protesters, activists, journalists and human rights defenders have been arbitrarily detained, unjustly prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” they said.
A picture taken on October 19, 2013 shows a statue of Saint-Augustin in front of the Saint-Augustin basilica after its reopening in the Algeria’s eastern city of Annaba. The basilica, built in 1909 during the colonial period, fell into disrepair before being reopened after major restoration works. AFP PHOTO / FAROUK BATICHE (Photo by FAROUK BATICHE / AFP)
It is now nearly seven years since uprisings brought down authoritarian rulers across the Arab world, but only in Tunisia have there been significant achievements in consolidating a new democracy. There are two contradictory conclusions to draw from this. Either the Tunisian political process offers vital insights that might be applicable in other Arab countries, or the transition relies on unique characteristics that make it unlikely to be imitated elsewhere.
SafwanMasri has written a book revealing his deep affection for Tunisia and its history, but ultimately his Tunisia : An Arab Anomaly argues that these political successes are so particular that they cannot be replicated. It is a surprisingly pessimistic conclusion for a book so admiring of the Tunisian experience.
Masri’s argument is that Tunisia’s democratic achievements are not simply down to well-rehearsed observations like the fact that the population is small and homogenous, that it lacks the curse of petroleum resources, or that it has benefitted from having a small, apolitical military. What has been most important, he argues, is a ‘remarkable culture of reform’ rooted in a progressive and adaptive brand of Islam. This has produced a distinct Tunisian identity, drawn from an amalgam of civilizational experiences, and which is demonstrated by historic achievements in terms of education, women’s rights, religious reform, and civil society. These ingredients made the country ‘predisposed to democracy’, he writes, and reveal what is lacking elsewhere in the Arab world.
In the first third of the book, Masri gives an account of the run-up to the revolution of 2010–11 and the political process that followed. The author draws from interviews he conducted in Tunisia, mostly with political elites, as well as news reports and secondary sources. The book is written as a quest to understand the Tunisian experience rather than as an academic work, and it is very readable. The second section of the book narrates Tunisian history from Dido of Carthage to independence in 1956. Masri identifies what he calls the ‘roots’ of Tunisian identity as the political and intellectual reformist movement which began in the mid-nineteenth century. He argues this moment laid the foundations for the reforms of the newly-independent Tunisian state and, later, of its transition to democracy.
The final third of the book appraises the legacy of Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia’s independence leader and first president. Masri acknowledges that Bourguiba was arrogant, ruthless, and dictatorial, but he considers his reforms essential to explaining the country’s trajectory after 2011. He argues that Bourguiba dealt with religion ‘masterfully’, using Islamic justification for his reforms while also subjugating religion as a domain of the state. He pays detailed attention to reforms in education and the resulting rise in school enrolment. These education policies also constructed a particular Tunisian identity: ‘Toleration and acceptance became deeply rooted in the Tunisian psyche enabling the enlightened progression of the country toward democratization and freedoms not experienced elsewhere in the region.’
One of the most interesting chapters explores how the education system stumbled in the years after Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali seized power in 1987. Though he widened access to school and university, Ben Ali also presided over a sharp decline in educational standards. Universities produced more graduates but failed to equip them for the job market, spreading a sense of worthlessness among young people.
The book provokes interesting questions. Is the Tunisian experience really so different from the rest of the region? After the French protectorate, Tunisia was ruled for decades by a single, mass-party regime. The regime was hit by the economic crisis of the mid-1980s and tried to escape it through a brief, ill-fated political opening. Then Ben Ali reverted to authoritarianism, repressing political opponents and offering a corrupt economic liberalisation in lieu of political change, while clinging to a hollow mantra of ‘reformism’. This is a recent history familiar to many other Arab nations.
Was the Tunisian transition towards democracy quite so pre-ordained? A different version of the proportional representation system chosen in 2011 would probably have produced an outright Islamist majority. Would al-Nahda then have been so ready to compromise its positions? In April 2014, deputies in the assembly defeated by just a single vote a proposal to exclude former ruling party figures from political life. If that vote had gone the other way, would it have still enabled the elite compromise that now characterizes the political process? And how much will the unresolved economic and social crisis erode the country’s political achievements?
For Masri, Tunisia’s key advantage lies in education. Bourguiba’s encouragement of critical analysis in schools, he argues, has avoided the ‘intellectual despotism’ which he sees as typifying other Arab education systems and which makes the region ‘ill prepared for democracy’. But much scholarly work has been done to demonstrate that factors other than a lack of preparation mitigate against democratic transitions. And, as he himself demonstrates, the Tunisian education system has been facing serious problems for at least two decades. Perhaps Tunisia at least offers some guidance as to how political actors elsewhere in the region might negotiate their own paths away from authoritarianism and how the challenges they confront could yet be overcome.
Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa also signs 7 pacts on official visit to Asia nation.
The head of the Muslim World League and chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars inaugurated a new body, the Global Council for Scientific Miracles in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah, on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur.
MWL Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa took part in the event as part of an official visit to Malaysia, the organization announced on social media.
During his trip, he also presided over the closing ceremony of the Science and Faith program and competition.
Both events were attended by international scholars, government ministers, and senior university figures.
Malaysia hosted the two international initiatives as a part of its partnership with the MWL in supporting Islamic and education programs.
This cooperation was further strengthened through the signing of seven agreements between the MWL and several Malaysian government and private institutions, including universities, research centers, and academic bodies.
The newly established council is intended to advance scholarly engagement with the Qur’an and Sunnah, while the Science and Faith program aims to promote research and intellectual exchange.
The closing ceremony featured a visual presentation outlining the program’s activities and objectives, alongside the announcement of the MWL’s international awards.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The head of the Muslim World League and chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars inaugurated the Global Council for Scientific Miracles in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah on Sunday. (Supplied)
