https://arab.news/ws2nj
RIYADH: Residents of the Kingdom can look forward to a more comfortable, cooler Ramadan this year, compared with the long hours of fasting in the hot and humid weather of the past decade.
The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle, with the start of each month determined by the sighting of the new moon. The effect of this is that Ramadan arrives about a week-and-a-half earlier in the Gregorian calendar each year compared with the year before.
“The month of Ramadan moves between the four seasons every 33 years because the Hijri calendar is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar,” said Abdulaziz Al-Hussaini, a Saudi weather and climate researcher.
“Ramadan this year is expected to have a higher rate of precipitation than normal in most regions, particularly during the first half of Ramadan. In the event of rainfall, the weather typically changes: The weather becomes cold, even during the day, with a cold breeze at night and in the early-morning hours.
“Since Ramadan falls in the spring season this year, some of the winter characteristics will be dominating the weather of Ramadan this year.”
After several years of marking Ramadan, and fasting, during the long, hot summer days, Saudis are looking forward to the more pleasant weather that is forecast for this year, and they reminisced about the years in which Ramadan fell during the winter.
“I always recall fasting during Ramadan in winter; the hours of fasting were short and we barely felt thirsty or hungry as the weather back then made fasting easier,” said Shamma Abdul Aziz, a retired history teacher from Riyadh.
Hadi Saud, a chemical engineer from Al Qassim, said: “I was 15 in 1997 and I remember breaking our fast outside, in the backyard, for the whole month. We rarely had our breakfast inside because of how good the weather was — we didn’t want to miss it.”
Al-Hussaini pointed out that Ramadan will once again be observed during the winter season “in about seven years from now.”
In fact, in 2030 Ramadan will take place twice, according to Khaled Al-Zaaq, a Saudi astronomer. This is a phenomenon that happens every 33 years, and the last time was in 1997.
In a message posted on Twitter, Al-Zaaq wrote: “In 2030, Ramadan is expected to begin on Jan. 5, 2030, and the second Ramadan of 2030 is expected to begin on Dec. 26, meaning we will fast 36 days in 2030.”
He added: “With Ramadan going around the four seasons every 33 years, in 2028 Ramadan is expected to occur at the height of winter, and in 2044 Ramadan is expected to occur at the height of summer.”
RIYADH: A team of Saudi surgeons on Thursday separated Syrian conjoined twins during a seven-hour operation carried out at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh.
Bassam and Ihsan, who are 32 months old and weigh around 19 kilograms, were said to be in a stable condition following the complicated surgical procedure.
The twins shared lower chest, abdomen, liver, and intestines, with Ihsan being the more dominant and Bassam missing urinary and reproductive systems including kidney, ureter, bladder, and male reproductive organs.
Separation surgery took place in five stages and involved a 26-member medical team comprised of consultant, specialists, technical, nursing, and support staff.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, adviser at the Royal Court and general supervisor of the Saudi aid agency KSrelief, led the operation undertaken on the directives of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The surgery was made all the more complex due to Ihsan having major congenital heart defects and cerebral development atrophy, reducing his chances of survival. Al-Rabeeah pointed out that to save Bassam’s life, the medical team decided to perform the operation to separate the twins.
He said: “The existence of conjoined organs that are important and sensitive makes a twin separation operation difficult, as well as the existence of congenital defects in some organs, such as the heart, urinary system, or the reproductive system and, at times, in the brain, makes the operation complex.
“Therefore, the difficulty lies in how the twins are conjoined, and to what degree exactly, and congenital defect generally makes the operation complex, performed in specific medical centers in the world.”
After the procedure, the twins were transferred to a children’s intensive care unit where they will remain under supervision.
The children’s parents thanked the king, crown prince, and medical team for their support.
Mahmud Salih, their father, said: “We communicated with the Saudi aid agency, and they got back to us, all thanks to them. All procedures were done in the best possible way, from the start until we arrived here.
“It was a critical case, and the separation operation was required. All praise to Allah. The benefactors connected with us, and we were eased by King Abdullah hospital, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, and the excellent medical staff.”
The surgery was the 58th operation to separate conjoined twins conducted under a Saudi program which has supervised 130 cases from 23 countries since 1990.
Majd Nafea, a nurse and member of the 26-strong multidisciplinary team, started working on the specialist operations in 2019.
She said: “The first operation I worked in was generally difficult for me, as I had never witnessed a twin separation operation. But after that, and with each operation, it has become a bit easier.”
Al-Rabeeah said: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has invested in its cadres, its citizens, and everyone has obtained a distinguished education in the most prestigious universities in the world.
“Now they are returning to prove that Saudi cadres are representative of the Kingdom, and one such example is the Saudi program for the separation of conjoined twins.”
The twins and their parents were flown from the Turkish capital Ankara to Saudi Arabia on May 22.
“It has been a month since we arrived, and there’s no better welcome than the one we received. May Allah reward them 1,000 times, and bless them,” Salih added.
RIYADH: The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques inaugurated a program titled “Hajj virtues for young visitors” on Wednesday.
The program aims to provide awareness, guiding and educating young visitors about the virtues of Hajj, and enriching their experience at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
The Hajj drew to a close last Friday after about 2 million Muslims from around the world performed their rites, ending with three days of Rami Al-Jamarat, or the stoning of the devil ritual, at the Jamarat complex in Mina.
The pilgrims then returned to the Grand Mosque and performed farewell Tawaf, the circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba.
There are still foreign pilgrims staying in the area — those who were staying in Makkah before the Hajj have moved on to Madinah, while those who stayed in Madinah prior to the pilgrimage, camping at the tent city of Mina, are now in Makkah until they depart the Kingdom.
The Director General of the General Administration of Social Services Saud Al-Zahrani said the administration is responsible for taking care of the children of pilgrims and visitors at the Grand Mosque through its young visitor services, which include educating them and enriching their experience in support of the General Presidency’s 2024 development plan.
Al-Zahrani added that the General Presidency provides smart bracelets for children at the main entrances of the mosque that include parents or companions’ contact information to help prevent them going missing.
The program also provides guidance to specific locations at the Grand Mosque and public facilities, educating them about the Hajj, prayer and ablution.
It also promotes social initiatives in service to visitors with awareness and guidance programs to ensure they have an enjoyable experience.
This year the authorities also opened the first day-care center for young children at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. Each year, thousands of pilgrims perform Hajj with their children in tow, making it a familiar experience for the youngest Muslims, but adding challenges for parents.
For some, leaving children behind is not an option, and for others, bringing their offspring along is an important step to include them in religious practices from an early age, and to provide a pivotal, formative memory and experience to share with them.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah on Wednesday announced the start of the Umrah season by beginning the issuance of electronic visas.
This allows worshippers to start arriving in the Kingdom on the first day of Muharram, July 19.
The ministry said that submitting applications for e-visa issuance could be done through the Nusuk platform.
TALLINN: Saudi Ambassador to Finland Nesreen Hamad Al-Shebel has presented her credentials as non-resident ambassador to Estonia to Alar Karis, president of the European country.
Al-Shebel conveyed the greetings of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the president.
The two parties then focused on ways to enhance relations between the countries.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Karis said he was “grateful for the exchange of ideas with” Al-Shebel.
“Estonia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have a strong relationship. We are eager to explore our trade and investment opportunities and our bilateral relations further,” the president said.
Al-Shebel, in turn, said she is “committed to enhancing and strengthening our bilateral relations, with the aim of achieving mutual prosperity and success.”
MADINAH: The number of pilgrims from around the world to arrive in Madinah up to Wednesday after performing the Hajj rituals has reached 142,588, state news agency SPA reported.
A total of 17,258 pilgrims arrived in Madinah on Wednesday, with 15,159 arriving at the Hijra Station through 395 flights, according to Hajj and Visit Committee statistics.
Meanwhile the Haramain high-speed railway station received 1,797 pilgrims who arrived on 395 trips.
Of these 36,963 pilgrims have already left to return to their home countries.
RIYADH: Nesma Al-Mulla, a Saudi mother, thought her life was over when her son Faris Kashmeeri was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five.
“When I found out my child’s condition in 2019, I encountered a horrible reality. I knew that this catastrophe will force me to reconfigure my life,” Al-Mulla told Arab News.
Al-Mulla chose to adopt a positive approach to the situation as she has always believed that hardship makes you stronger. As a mother attuned to her child’s needs, she also realized that she needed to be strong for Faris’ mental health.
Faris was too young to understand the nature of cancer and how it can spread. Al-Mulla explained that the disease needed a treatment called chemotherapy in order for him to become strong and recover.
Chemotherapy involves the use of powerful chemicals or drugs that destroy cancer cells, and it works by stopping or slowing the growth of the cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.
With the help of the Saudi health care system, Faris received free treatment at the Princess Noura Oncology Center at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah.
Al-Mulla would give Faris gifts after each chemotherapy session to motivate him. “(It) encouraged him to go to the hospital and complete his treatment,” she said.
“This method of motivating him had a wonderful effect on him, and he still loves the hospital and does not regard it as a painful experience. I tried to buy him brand-new toys so that he would look forward to them throughout each chemotherapy session.”
The single mother of three and provider for her family decided to document her son’s medical treatment on social media.
“My son’s name means ‘knight,’ so I nicknamed the account ‘leukemia knight.’ The account was rewarded by a local Jeddah hospital called National Guard Hospital. This journey through social media was a source of inspiration for many women who are going through the same thing,” she said.
Al-Mulla shared images of her son receiving therapy in the hospital on the Instagram account, documenting his journey using positive images. The posts attracted a lot of attention, especially from mothers with children with cancer.
“I had no idea that what I was doing was inspiring, other than from the responses I received from mothers. Many of them urged me to continue spreading the word about pediatric cancer since I had made the illness understandable to them and given them the motivation to carry on,” she said.
Doctors reassured Al-Mulla that there was a 95 percent chance of her son recovering, and in 2022 Faris was declared free from cancer.
Al-Mulla then made the decision to establish Nesma Community, an initiative to support mothers who have children with cancer and that helps them to improve their quality of life.
The center provides yoga and mental health classes, workshops on how to deal with pressure, recreational activities, and meetings with doctors to discuss cases.
The community initiative was approved by the Kingdom’s Quality of Life Program and listed on the Hawi portal, which provides support to community groups, organizations and interests.
Al-Mulla’s center hosts a range of events in Riyadh and Jeddah. Forthcoming events will discuss a variety of subjects in collaboration with experts and medical professionals. Topics include the impact of therapy on the lungs and breathing, yoga sessions, and leukemia awareness month.
Faris, who is now a healthy child enjoying all the activities of his age group, has a message for children battling cancer: “You’ll be fine.”