Jordan's King Abdullah II, second right, looking on as his wife Queen Rania, left, holds their newborn granddaughter Iman. Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP
Jordan's King Abdullah II, second right, looking on as his wife Queen Rania, left, holds their newborn granddaughter Iman. Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP
Jordan's King Abdullah II, second right, looking on as his wife Queen Rania, left, holds their newborn granddaughter Iman. Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP
Jordan's King Abdullah II, second right, looking on as his wife Queen Rania, left, holds their newborn granddaughter Iman. Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP

'Cuteness in my arms': Queen Rania's new post about granddaughter Princess Iman


Evelyn Lau
  • English
  • Arabic

Queen Rania has shared a new photo of herself with her baby granddaughter.

The casual shot shows Queen Rania, dressed down in a white T-shirt, trousers and socks with her shoes off, and with her legs up on a stool as she cradles her granddaughter, Princess Iman bint Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, in her arms. King Abdullah sits across from them.

“So much cuteness in my arms,” she captions the photo.

The newest member of the Jordanian royal family was born on August 3. She is the daughter of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa and is Queen Rania and King Abdullah's first grandchild.

After the announcement of Princess Iman’s birth, King Abdullah posted a tribute to his granddaughter on social media. Translated from Arabic, the message reads: “I thank God for giving us our first granddaughter, Iman bint Hussein. I congratulate beloved Hussein and Rajwa for their newborn. We ask God to raise her well and protect her for her parents. You have lit up our family, Grandpa!”

Queen Rania also shared her best wishes, and said baby Iman has already “brightened” their lives. “Praise be to God for His greatest gifts … You have brightened our lives with our beloved granddaughter Iman. May God keep her with us. Congratulations to Hussein and Rajwa, and may God fill your lives with blessings and contentment,” she wrote.

Shortly after Iman’s arrival, the Royal Hashemite Court launched a website where Jordanians can wish the new parents well.

Meaning of the name Iman

Meaning faith or belief in Arabic, the name Iman symbolises a sense of conviction and belief in God, which is central to the Muslim faith.

Iman has been mentioned by the Prophet Mohammed in one his recorded sayings, also known as a hadith, where it is described as strength of faith manifested through “a knowledge in the heart, a voicing with the tongue, and an activity with the limbs”.

A derivative of its root word amn is mu'min, which is one of the names attributed to God in Islam. Iman is also used in Islamic theology as a name describing the six articles of faith, also known as arkan al iman, which lays the fundamental beliefs Muslims hold, such as the oneness of God.

Iman is also used in everyday circumstances when referring to someone's belief, trust, conviction and confidence. At the Paris Olympics, Arabic television commentary often used the word eman al fareeq in reference to a team's belief in victory.

Used mostly for females and widely in the Middle East and North Africa and Turkey, variants of the name include Imane, Eman and Emine. There’s already one Iman in the Jordan royal family: Prince Hussein’s sister.

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Director: Tim Miller

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis 

Rating: 3/5

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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

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She was held in her native country a year later.

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UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh

UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith

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Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD

* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10

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Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka

Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies

Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe

Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE

UAE fixtures

Saturday, January 18, v Canada

Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan

Saturday, January 25, v South Africa

UAE squad

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Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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Favourite food: Japanese

Favourite car: Lamborghini

Favourite hobby: Football

Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough

Favourite country: UAE

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World Cup qualifier

Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')

UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')

Specs

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Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

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The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
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Granta

Results

Female 49kg: Mayssa Bastos (BRA) bt Thamires Aquino (BRA); points 0-0 (advantage points points 1-0).

Female 55kg: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Amal Amjahid (BEL); points 4-2.

Female 62kg: Beatriz Mesquita (BRA) v Ffion Davies (GBR); 10-2.

Female 70kg: Thamara Silva (BRA) bt Alessandra Moss (AUS); submission.

Female 90kg: Gabreili Passanha (BRA) bt Claire-France Thevenon (FRA); submission.

Male 56kg: Hiago George (BRA) bt Carlos Alberto da Silva (BRA); 2-2 (2-0)

Male 62kg: Gabriel de Sousa (BRA) bt Joao Miyao (BRA); 2-2 (2-1)

Male 69kg: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Isaac Doederlein (USA); 2-2 (2-2) Ref decision.

Male 77kg: Tommy Langarkar (NOR) by Oliver Lovell (GBR); submission.

Male 85kg: Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2-2 (1-1) Ref decision.

Male 94kg: Kaynan Duarte (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL); submission.

Male 110kg: Joao Rocha (BRA) bt Yahia Mansoor Al Hammadi (UAE); submission.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

Updated: August 14, 2024, 5:36 AM