Queen Camilla 'thrilled' to be given gift of Quran on visit

Britain's Queen Camilla has been given a Quran by the founder of a group dedicated to promoting understanding between faiths.

John Mustafa was pictured handing the specially bound copy to the Queen, during her visit to Shrewsbury.

He told The National she was “thrilled” to receive the gift.

Mr Mustafa, 66, is one of the founders of the Interfaith Forum and said the presentation was a symbolic gesture.

“She was thrilled and said ‘that’s absolutely brilliant', and I was really, really pleased not only for me but for all the Muslims who live in the town,” he said.

The retired restaurateur, who is originally from Bangladesh but has lived in Shrewsbury for 40 years, was at a display at the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings outlining the work of the forum when the queen dropped by.

Mr Mustafa said he was “very excited” after being told his proposal to hand over the Quran had been approved.

“I want to show the Muslim community that the queen is with us and she has taken something that we love to read,” he said.

“The Quran is in our heart and seeing her taking it from me as a gift is a gesture of solidarity towards the Muslim community and means a lot to me personally.”

Mr Mustafa said he was supposed to meet King Charles but said he wished the monarch and Catherine, Princess of Wales, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, a quick recovery, for which Camilla thanked him.

But he did reveal that he previously met King Charles, at the time prince of Wales, when he visited his restaurant while on a trip to a local Royal Air Force base.

Queen Camilla meets members of local volunteer groups during a visit to the recently restored Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings. Getty

Mr Mustafa said he and a local Anglican clergyman founded the Interfaith Forum in the wake of a backlash against the Muslim community across England, after the 2005 bomb attacks on London.

“One of my friends, who us a minister of the church, sat down with a few other friends and said we ought to do something about it,” he said.

“Up to now it’s getting stronger and stronger, and several hundred people come to our events. We try to learn from each other’s religions and to understand each other.”

King Charles has temporarily postponed public appearances as he undergoes treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.

He recently spoke about how he was “moved to tears” by public support he received following his diagnosis.

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.”

Queen Camilla 'thrilled' to be given gift of Quran on visit

Holy book was presented by a Midlands Muslim man who leads a group dedicated to promoting understanding between faiths