ABU DHABI // Worshippers were told to respond to Israel's attacks on Gaza with charity and wisdom at the midday sermon at mosques across the country on Friday.
"It is the duty of each one of us to become involved in this drive in accordance with our position and nature of work, as God does not ask a soul to deliver more than it is able," the Government-issued sermon said.
"Our actions must be within the limits of sharia law so as to achieve benefit and bring no harm unto anyone. Our experience has taught us that in times like these we can expect a rise in new interpretations of Islamic law, and of calls and speeches that sometimes lead to actions that bring neither benefit to the troubled nations nor good service to their cause.
"It is that which we must avoid, and our duty is to work with wisdom and deliberation. And wisdom means to pull together our efforts to stand by and support the Palestinian people, not least of which providing them with necessary goods and services like food and medicine through charity organisations in our country, especially the Red Crescent."
The sermon said Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the President of the UAE, has ordered emergency aid to Gaza.
The UAE prides itself on spreading what it calls a moderate, middle way of Islam. The Government issues the Friday sermon every week and expects mosques to adhere to the topic, although imams can make it cater to the specific needs of their congregation.
The UAE has joined Arab nations in condemning the Israeli offensive and has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The sermon also stressed Muslim unity in times of adversity: "Muslims are like one body. If one of its organs is suffering, then the entire body ... commiserates and lays awake with fever.
"If one suffers, then all the rest feel the pain and therefore come forward to relieve the ailment. When tyranny befalls one of them, it is as if it has befallen all.
"In these days Muslims feel the pain of the Palestinian people in Gaza and their suffering from oppression and injustice, and all the attacks and hostility they are enduring, which have caused the death of hundreds ... Even mosques have not been spared."
relass@thenational.ae
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Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
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Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950