In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, echoes of war still resonate, but an academic has taken a unique approach to healing: a mobile library that rolls through the streets offering a gift of knowledge and hope in a city that is slowly rebuilding its soul.
“Everything we went through, and the people who were swept away by it in Mosul and other parts of Iraq was caused by ignorance,” Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar Sultan, who heads the department of business management at the Catholic University, told The National.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, was the first to fall into the hands of ISIS during their takeover of 2014-2017. It was the crown jewel of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed "caliphate” in parts of Iraq and Syria.
Prof Sultan blamed "fanaticism and the groups that planted harmful and destructive ideas among us," for the rise of extremism and militant factions after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
He believes that education and access to knowledge are essential for postwar recovery and to avoid a repetition of the events of 2014 to 2017. “Today, an educated person is difficult to manipulate or control by any group,” Prof Sultan said.
The initiative, launched in November, focuses on schools and universities where students can borrow or read books during the bus's five-day stays in each stop. It will take the bus beyond Mosul and into other parts of Iraq.
The library has titles on culture, philosophy, social, science and literature. “We set aside religious and political books because it’s not the right time for them [for students] and we keep them only for researchers,” Prof Sultan said.
On the bus, about 1,000 books are neatly organised in wooden shelves inspired by walls dating to the Assyrian Empire and arches from the Abbasid Caliphate. The architecture and monuments belong to the Golden Age of Islam, when Baghdad was a centre of economics and politics, attracting students, poets, scientists and merchants from all over the world.
The sky blue-and-white bus is fitted with solar panels. It provides free internet and computers that allow readers access to millions of books online.
“Nineveh and Baghdad were beacons of knowledge during the Assyrian Empire and the Abbasid era, and for this reason, we strive to make the bus a mobile beacon of knowledge,” said Prof Sultan. Mosul is the provincial capital of Nineveh province.
In October 2016, Iraqi security forces backed by a US-led international coalition launched what was known as the world’s biggest urban battle since the Second World War. They announced the end of combat operations in mid-2017 when they recaptured Mosul. It took six more months to claw back the surrounding areas and announce that ISIS was defeated across Iraq as an effective fighting and political force.
These extremist groups aim to destroy knowledge and culture, the goal is not just to destroy a university or a church but rather to destroy the mind
Professor Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar Sultan,
Head of Business Management at the Catholic University
But the price of victory came with a heavy toll. Tens of thousands died, millions were displaced, and entire towns and neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble during the ISIS ascendancy. The conflict not only left buildings in ruins, but it also disrupted access to education and knowledge by destroying libraries and thousands of books and ancient manuscripts from public libraries and places of worship.
In early 2018, the UN’s cultural agency launched its flagship Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative, a few months after the declaration of victory over ISIS. The UAE donated $50 million to restore the Al Nouri mosque complex with its distinctive minaret, as well as two nearby churches, Al Saa’a and Al Tahera, which were all vandalised by the extremists.
“It’s not just the destruction of stone; it’s the destruction of minds,” said Prof Sultan. “These extremist groups aim to destroy knowledge and culture, the goal is not just to destroy a university or a church but, rather, to destroy the mind.”
His frequent visits to Germany as a member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin inspired the idea of the mobile library. He was impressed by the culture of reading there from a young age, which extends beyond school hours.
However, establishing the mobile library was not easy. He recalls the initial hurdles he had to overcome: the lack of funding, finding donors of books and fighting the bureaucracy that prevented importing a bus from Germany – a gift of the academy.
After two years of attempts to find supporters, he managed to raise $30,000, plus $10,000 came from the academy and the rest was provided by other supporters to buy the second-hand 40-passenger bus from a seller on outskirts of Mosul. He then set to work and remodelled it as a library.
So far, the response from the community has been very positive. "I didn't expect people's reaction to the initiative. School principles are requesting we visits and we now have a group of reading enthusiasts who follow us wherever we go," said Prof Sultan.
“When you build a society that is educated scientifically, culturally, and socially, neither politicians, religious figures, nor tribal leaders will be able to deceive or manipulate it,” he said.
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
The years Ramadan fell in May
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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