Abu Al Qasim Al Shabbi is known as the "poet of life" for generations of Tunisians who were taught to recite his verses from a very young age.
When the time came for designer Honayda Serafi to choose heartfelt words that would illustrate Jordan’s royal couple's love, she chose Al Shabbi’s verses.
Embroidered in gold, the Arabic verse translates to read: "When I see you, life becomes more beautiful" — adding a personal touch to Rajwa Al Saif's henna celebration gown.
“I was actually searching with my team to find something that can deliver and explain this eternal love between her and Prince Hussein,” Serafi tells The National.
“They are role models and they are setting a new love story for everyone to look up to; they are inspiring the young generation to have this kind of honest and pure and strong love between them.”
Born in Tozeur, southwest Tunisia in 1909, Al Shabbi was known for his desire to create change and revolutionise minds through his poetry. He wrote about the future, art, his homeland, nature and the desire to fully immerse in the pleasure of living.
He believed in change and rebirth, and for that reason, he was nicknamed "the poet of life".
Despite suffering from a heart disease, which eventually led to his death at the young age of 25 in 1934, Al Shabbi made sure to remind young people that the desire to live must conquer all momentary whims.
He chose life in most of his poems, and most importantly, chose the love for his country as the highest form of love — a passion he passed on to future generations of Arabic poetry readers.
Similar to all his poems, the Arabic lettering verses that are seen on Jordan’s future royal bride are another illustration of the divine love he sought to spread.
if you go
The flights
Emirates fly direct from Dubai to Houston, Texas, where United have direct flights to Managua. Alternatively, from October, Iberia will offer connections from Madrid, which can be reached by both Etihad from Abu Dhabi and Emirates from Dubai.
The trip
Geodyssey’s (Geodyssey.co.uk) 15-night Nicaragua Odyssey visits the colonial cities of Leon and Granada, lively country villages, the lake island of Ometepe and a stunning array of landscapes, with wildlife, history, creative crafts and more. From Dh18,500 per person, based on two sharing, including transfers and tours but excluding international flights. For more information, visit visitnicaragua.us.
Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
The%20specs
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Habtoor interview
More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
Key developments
- Singapore summit: Trump and Kim launch charm offensive as meetings begin
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un shake hands ahead of one-on-one discussion
- US and North Korean teams sit down for bilateral summit
- Kim: “I believe this is a good prelude for peace."
- Trump: “We will solve it, we will be successful.”
All times UTC 4
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD%204
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Cagliari v AC Milan (6pm)
Lazio v Napoli (9pm)
Inter Milan v Atalanta (11.45pm)
Sunday
Udinese v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Sampdoria v Brescia (6pm)
Fiorentina v SPAL (6pm)
Torino v Bologna (6pm)
Verona v Genoa (9pm)
Roma V Juventus (11.45pm)
Parma v Lecce (11.45pm)
Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
Plastic tipping points
%E2%80%98White%20Elephant%E2%80%99
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
more from Janine di Giovanni
The%20specs
Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
