From seafarer to economist: Saeed Lootah, 97, winds up his earthly journey

coastaldigest.com news network
June 29, 2020

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Dubai, Jun 29: Saeed bin Ahmed Al Lootah, a pioneering Emirati businessman and the founder of the world's first Islamic bank, is no more. He breathed his last on June 28.

Born in 1923, Saeed was instrumental in setting up the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) in 1975 to provide the community with a Sharia-compliant alternative to conventional banking.

He established several companies, organisations and societies, including the Dubai Consumer Cooperative. He also established the Islamic Education School in 1983 and the Dubai Medical College for Girls in 1986.

In 1992, Haj Saeed established the first College of Pharmacology in Dubai. Later he launched the Dubai Centre for Environmental Research, the Dubai Specialised Medical Centre, and the Medical Research Labs for health control and research into medicinal herbs and Islamic (Nabawi) medicine. He also set up an orphanage.

Saeed bin Ahmed Al Lootah was a self-made businessman who progressed from being a seafarer and trader to an accomplished tutor, author, economist, banker, entrepreneur, businessman and visionary community leader.

According to details available on the S.S. Lootah Group website, his "fervent adherence to the core values of education, cooperation and economy" helped empower "people to excel at everything they do".

"He realised the need to build permanent houses and ventured into construction. His 'capital' at that time were his skills, knowledge and hard work," the website said.

He laid the foundation of S.S.Lootah Contracting Company as a joint venture with his brother Sultan in 1956. "With the enduring values of education, cooperation and economy set as the foundations of his work, Haj Saeed started a number of businesses as well as not-for-profit education and research ventures, with an aim to serve the people of the UAE.

"Thanks to his vision and leadership, our home grown ventures continue to demonstrate unique values that extend well beyond its functional benefits - creating greater economic, social and environmental benefits for people in UAE and beyond."

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took to Twitter on Sunday to offer his respects.

Sheikh Mohammed said: "He was a trader who started with nothing. His touch is visible in several aspects of the Dubai economy."

Calling the deceased a "wise and smart man", Sheikh Mohammed said: "May Allah bless his soul and grant his family the strength to endure and persevere."

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, also paid his respects. "He combined economic leadership with charitable work. He launched charitable educational institutions and sponsored many orphans. His memory will live on. May Allah have mercy on him and grant his family patience."

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News Network
March 10,2024

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At least five people have been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, according to first responders and local media, amid exchanges of near-daily fire between the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and Israel since the latter launched its assault on Gaza.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that a family of four, including a father, his pregnant wife and their two sons, and another individual, were killed in the Israeli strike on a house in the al-Ain neighborhood of Khirbet Selm village in southern Lebanon early on Sunday.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, were quoted as saying that Israeli fighter jets launched two air-to-surface missiles at the residential building, reducing it to rubble.

Ambulance crew and relief teams recovered the bodies from under the debris and transported them to the Tibnin Governmental Hospital morgue.

The Israeli air raid also resulted in the injury of nine other people and caused serious damage to several surrounding houses.

Israel has been striking Lebanon since the beginning of the regime’s hostilities in the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has prompted retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinians in the blockaded area. The Lebanese movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

Hezbollah fighters have recently targeted Israeli troops near the border with southern Lebanon and rained down rockets on Israeli military sites, including those in Ruwaisat al-Qarn, Zibdin, and Jabal Nader regions.

Also on Saturday, Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Zoun, destroying it. An Israeli drone fired a missile at an empty house in the border town of Blida as well.

In mid-February, an Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, killing seven members of the same family, including a child. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The occupying regime has also killed close to 31,000 Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, most of them women and children.

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News Network
March 8,2024

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As the world marks International Women's Day, the government media office in Gaza has mourned 8,900 Palestinian women killed by Israel since October amid the silence of the international community.

In a statement issued on Friday, the media office said Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which began in October, has so far killed 8,900 Palestinian women and injured more than 23,000 others, with 2,100 still missing.

“On March 8, the world celebrates International Women's Day, honoring women for their achievements and struggle. However, Palestinian women continue to pay a heavy price for freedom and dignity.”

The statement said Israel kills Palestinian women “in cold blood”, while “the world stands idly by, witnessing this grave violation against Palestinian women without lifting a finger.”

The office noted that Israel’s war has also left over half a million Palestinian women displaced and living under “extreme difficulties”, with no access to basic necessities such as food and medicine.

According to the statement, the war has also “made 60,000 pregnant women live a harsh and extremely difficult life, lacking the most basic healthcare and medical requirements”. The office said hundreds of them “have lost their sons, newborns, or unborn children due to bombing, fear, and ‘Israeli’ killing.”

The statement also referred to the plight of female Palestinian detainees, saying dozens are “facing physical and psychological torture, poor treatment, and humiliation.”

The media office hailed the “steadfastness” of Palestinian women, stressing that they are “in dire need to defend their rights and life requirements rather than being killed, shot at, detained, and forced into displacement and migration, as the occupation army has been doing for over five continuous months.”

The office also held the US, the international community, and all relevant international organizations “fully responsible” for the genocide in Gaza and the harsh conditions forced upon Palestinian women there, slamming those who take part in the war and those who remain silent on the Israeli crimes.

The statement also urged “all the countries of the free world and the international community” to work towards ending the ‘Israeli’ occupation, and to take action to save Palestinian women from the ongoing Israeli crimes, “including killing, shooting, arresting, humiliating, torturing, and forcing them to leave their homes, cities, and residential areas.”

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and injured over 72,000 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza.

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News Network
March 12,2024

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Congratulating the Muslim world on the occasion of Ramadan, Iran calls on Muslim countries to unite against the Israeli regime's ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip on the occasion of the arrival of the holy fasting month.

"I cordially congratulate the honorable Iranian nation, the entire Muslims of the world, and my counterparts in Muslim countries on the occasion of the emergence of the blessed month of Ramadan," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

"Gaza's developments showed that, as the common ideal of all Muslims, the issue of Palestine rests at the top of the Muslim world's [list of] priorities," he added.

The holy month, he added, can serve as a "premium opportunity" for Muslim countries "to effectively take the initiative, under the aegis of all-out unity and convergence, towards stopping the apartheid Zionist regime's genocide and war crimes in Gaza."

Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, expressed confidence that "the resistance and the Palestinian people are the main victors of this arena."

Israel launched the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on Gaza, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle. Earlier this month, the United Nations warned that in the absence of any changes in the regime’s ongoing genocidal war, the coastal sliver was on course to experience all-out famine.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed more than 31,112 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents.

Also on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the Israeli regime to honor the spirit of the holy month by "silencing the guns."

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