AJMAN // The logical mind needed to be an engineer wouldn’t be one that you would also expect could produce works of poetry but that’s not the case for one UAE expat who masterfully combines both.
Jordanian mechanical engineer Ahmad Al Akhras has written more than 300 poems in the past 10 years and now more than 50 of them are to be published at the beginning of next year by Sharjah Department of Culture and Information.
The 23-year-old, who graduated from American University of Sharjah in July, has chosen the title The Features' Tree for this three chapters of poems.
“I chose a blurred title because I do not want readers to see what I see, just to see what they see,” Mr Al Akhras said.
“I want them to create their own image while reading it, and every single reader comes out with a different experience by reading the same book.
“The first chapter is about love and titled I Swear to the N, the second one titled Beyond the Metaphor and is about sentiment and subjectivity and the last chapter is philosophical and entitled What Spike did not Say.”
The poet, who enjoys a quite space with soft music when writing, has almost been published six times before but has always backed out.
“Since 2010, I was thinking about publication. But I kept postponing it because I want my first collection, when it is published under my name, to leave a very strong impression that makes readers want my second one,” he said.
“This time, I proposed my book for publication and it is expected to be published in the coming year.”
Mr Al Akhras, who wrote his first poem at the age of 14, is the only person in his family with a talent for writing.
“It started by having a passion for Arabic when I was in grade six. I started having an interest in Arabic grammar and started reading novels, poetry and stories,” he said.
“I participated in various competitions for Arabic language when I was in middle school. And in grade nine, when I saw a girl riding the school bus, I unconsciously wrote a poem about her beauty.
“From that time, I continued writing secretly for three years without showing anyone what I was writing.
“My family and close friends did not take my talent seriously until I participated in Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum Award in 2010 and wrote a poem consisting of 20 verses and got first place.
“After it, I participated in Writers Union and presented a poetry evening, which was the first time I read poetry in front of an audience.”
By 2011, Mr Al Akhras started getting noticed at the Poetry House in Sharjah, Sharjah International Book Fair and at the American University of Sharjah, where he still presents a poetry evening.
“After that, in 2013, I appeared for the first time on television on Abu Dhabi TV channel in the fifth season of Prince of Poets programme and I was the youngest participant among 20 poets at the age of 20,” he said.
“My participation in the programme has increased my reputation, which has expanded across the Arab world, as well as increased my followers on my Facebook account.”
He now boasts more than 1,700 followers.
roueiti@thenational.ae
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.
Business Insights
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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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
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Disposing of non-recycleable masks
Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home
Do not put them in a recycling bin
Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
- No need to bag the mask
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.”
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
