World’s biggest Quran? This Egyptian artist hopes so

GHARBIA, EGYPT // An Egyptian artist who educated himself after dropping out of school has spent three years creating what he hopes is the world’s biggest Quran.

Saad Mohammed, who has hand-painted Islamic motifs on the walls and ceilings of his home in Gharbia, a town north of Cairo, has reproduced the holy book on a 700-metre-long paper scroll.

He displays the intricately decorated manuscript in a large wooden box with rollers at each end.

“This Quran is 700 metres long, and of course that’s a large amount of paper,” he said. “I have self-funded this project for the past three years – and I’m an average person. I don’t have assets or anything.”

Mr Mohammed wants to submit his Quran for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records. Guinness has said that while there is a record for the world’s biggest printed Quran, there is so far no record holder for the largest handwritten version.

Mr Mohammed said he is hoping for help with the costs of applying to Guinness from the government or any other interested party.

Meanwhile in Cairo, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a nearly 4,000 year old model garden outside a tomb in the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes.

The antiquities ministry said a Spanish team made the find in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis across the Nile from the modern-day city of Luxor. Measuring three metres by two metres, the garden consists of 30cm square plots in an open courtyard outside a Middle Kingdom (2050 to 1800BC) tomb.

“The like has never been found in ancient Thebes,” said Jose Galan, head of the Spanish team. It is thought the garden played a role in funerary rites.

The ministry’s head of ancient Egyptian antiquities, Mahmoud Afifi, said the tiny square plots seem to have each contained different species of plants and flowers, with the preserved root and trunk of a 4,000-year-old tree in one corner and next to it, a bowl containing dates and other fruits, which could have been offerings.

In ancient Egypt, the dead were traditionally surrounded by objects they enjoyed in life, so they could continue to enjoy them in the afterlife.

* Reuters and Agence France-Presse

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”