Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Saudi Arabia General Information



















The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers an estimated area of 865,000 square miles, occupies the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and is located in the southwest part of Asia. More than a quarter of the world¹s proven oil reserves lie beneath the sands and offshore waters of Saudi Arabia. Excessive heat and aridity are characteristic of most of Saudi Arabia. The average temperatures for the months of January and July in Riyadh are 14.4° C (58° F) and 42° C (108° F). The average annual precipitation in Riyadh and Jeddah is 3-5 inches. Because of the general aridity, Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes. On the other hand, humidity in the coastal regions may approach one hundred percent. The population of Saudi Arabia is primarily composed of Arabs whose ancestors have lived in the area for many centuries. The population of Saudi Arabia is about 17,615,310. There is a minority in Saudi Arabia of Pakistans, Egyptians, Philippines, Americans, Asians, Indians, British, and others who have immigrated to Saudi Arabia because of the outstanding economic opportunities the country has to offer. Most of the population today consist of urban Saudis who practice the Muslim religion and speak the Arabic language and English. Saudi Arabia's unit of currency is the riyal. One USA dollar is equivalent to 3.75 Saudi riyals.




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Monday, September 7, 2009

8 tips on preparing for Hajj NOW!


Any Muslim who can afford it and is in good health must perform Hajj. it's an obligation not an option.

This once-in-a-lifetime experience for most Muslims requires the utmost preparation and planning beforehand.

Below are some tips to help you start preparing today.

1. Ask Allah

Say Bismillah (In the Name of Allah) and make Dua (supplication) to Allah to help you find the resources and time to perform Hajj this coming year. Only He can make it happen.

2. Discuss vacation time

If you work or have other obligations, you must ensure you get the three weeks to one month off needed to perform Hajj. Check the exact dates of Hajj in the coming year, find out exactly what days you need off (once again, you can talk to your travel agent) and talk to your employer or anyone else who needs to be informed about your plans to give you time off.

3. Start saving up and shopping around

Hajj is an investment. You need to shop around to find a travel agent who can give you the best deal. This is where your meetings with others who have performed Hajj can help.

Look for a Hajj package through a travel agent who offers a wide selection of "packages" for Hajj and who can help you with other details relating to Hajj (i.e. immigration, leading a group through the Hajj, etc.).

4. Start asking about the legal requirements

You need a number of legal documents to perform Hajj.

You will need a visa to go to Saudi Arabia. Find out how long before you have to apply for this, what documents to prepare for it, etc. Make sure your passport has not expired. Be sure to get it, or any other paperwork relating to your residency in your country to be complete before you leave.

Start today by calling your local Saudi Arabian embassy to ask about the requirements and preparing the necessary paperwork. Or you can also ask your travel agent (some who offer Hajj packages also help arrange immigration matters for those customers taking their Hajj package).

5. Read about how to do it

There are a number of guidebooks on how to perform Hajj. One of them is A Handbook of Umra & Hajj by Sarwar Alam Raz (which is also available online).

Know the different rituals of Hajj, how and when they are performed, as well as the things to avoid and things that are recommended to do during Hajj.

6. Keep yourself physically fit

Hajj is one pillar of Islam that is physically demanding. Having to walk in the heat, running from Safa to Marwa, these are just some of the rituals someone performing Hajj will have to do.

Start watching what you eat and walking 30 minutes a day or getting involved in any other kind of Islamically permissible activity you enjoy to keep you physically ready for when you go to Hajj, if Allah wills it. Also, get a medical checkup.

7. Make an appointment with those who have made Hajj

Make a formal appointment by phone or in person with someone who has performed Hajj. If you are planning to meet them in person, ask them to bring their Ihram and other things they used during Hajj.

Use this meeting to get tips and practical advice from them which you won't find in most guidebooks.

8. Read the Diary of a person who has performed Hajj

If you know of no one who lives near you who has performed Hajj, read the diary of a Hajji by Ishaq Zahid (it's online and it's free!) to get the inside story on Hajj from someone who has performed it.

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thanks to soundvision.com


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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Mecca Madhina


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List of shopping malls in Saudi Arabia


This is a list of shopping malls in Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[hide]

Central

West Coast

East Coast

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Culture



Street view of Mecca
A recreation park in Riyadh
Arabian Oud an important instrument in the Country's Music tradition.

Saudi Arabian culture mainly revolves around the religion of Islam. Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, are located in the country. Five times every day, Muslims are called to prayer from the minarets of mosques which are scattered around the country. The weekend begins on Thursday due to Friday being the holiest day for Muslims. Most Muslim countries have a Thursday-Friday or Friday-Saturday weekend. The public practice of any religion other than Islam, including Christianity and Judaism, the presence of churches, and possession of non-Islamic religious materials is not allowed except in Aramco compounds in which many expatriates attend church services. Arabia's cultural heritage is celebrated at the annual Jenadriyah cultural festival.

However, secret negotiations are rumored to be taking place between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia regarding authorization to build Catholic Churches in the Kingdom.

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History of Saudi Arabia


The founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz, converses with U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on board a ship returning from the Yalta Conference in 1945

Although the region in which the country stands today has an ancient history, the emergence of the Saudi dynasty began in central Arabia in 1744. That year, Muhammad ibn Saud, the ruler of the town of Ad-Dir'iyyah near Riyadh, joined forces with a cleric, Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, to create a new political entity. This alliance formed in the 18th century and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. Over the next 150 years, the fortunes of the Saud family rose and fell several times as Saudi rulers contended with Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and other Arabian families for control on the peninsula (see First Saudi State and Second Saudi State). The third and current Saudi state was founded in the early 20th century by King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud (known internationally as Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud).

In 1902, at the age of only 22, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud re-captured Riyadh, the Al-Saud dynasty's ancestral capital, from the rival Al Rashid family. Continuing his conquests, Abdul Aziz subdued Al-Hasa, Al-Qatif, the rest of Nejd, and Hejaz between 1913 and 1926. On January 8, 1926, Abdul Aziz bin Saud became the King of Hejaz. On January 29, 1927, he took the title King of Nejd (his previous Nejdi title was Sultan). By the Treaty of Jeddah, signed on May 20, 1927, the United Kingdom recognized the independence of Abdul Aziz's realm, then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. In 1932, the principal regions of Al-Hasa, Qatif, Nejd and Hejaz were unified to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Aziz's military and political successes were not mirrored economically until vast reserves of oil were discovered in March 1938. Development programmes, which were delayed due to the onset of the Second World War in 1939, began in earnest in 1946 and by 1949 production was in full swing. Oil has provided Saudi Arabia with economic prosperity and a great deal of leverage in the international community.

Prior to his death in 1953, Abdul Aziz, aware of the difficulties facing other regional absolute rulers reliant on extended family networks, attempted to regulate the succession.

Saud succeeded to the throne on his father's death in 1953. However, by the early 1960s the Kingdom was in jeopardy due to Saud's economic mismanagement and failure to deal effectively with a regional challenge from Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. As a consequence, Saud was deposed in favour of Faisal in 1964.

Intra-family rivalry was one of the factors that led to the assassination of Faisal by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musa'id, in 1975. He was succeeded by King Khalid until 1982 and then by King Fahd. When Fahd died in 2005, his half-brother, Abdullah, ascended to the throne.

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We will Coming shortly......

Hi to all,,,

Thank you for visiting... we will coming shortly with updates about saudia culture and nature.. hope it will help those who are visiting saudi arbia

Thanks and regards

Ranjith

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