Neighbouring Saudi Arabia is providing the bulk of the funds, promising $3.25bn to help the goverment improve infrastructure and security.

Aid agencies have warned that Yemen is on the brink of  a food crisis.

At an international conference on Yemen, the Sanaa government is thought to have asked for some $10bn in help.

Yemen has been shaken by pro-democracy protests, communal unrest in the north and an Islamist conflict in the south.

Attending the “Friends of Yemen” conference in Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said the funds were aimed at achieving stability in Yemen.

State failure

“I assert one more time our support to Yemen to back all the phases of the political initiative to help achieve security, stability and prosperity in facing the threats of extremism and terrorism,” he told representatives from Western and Arab Gulf nations at the start of the gathering.

He said the money would go towards supporting “development projects”.

But when the BBC questioned a senior Saudi official on exactly what the money would be spent on, he said it would support Yemen’s currency, cover the deficit and strengthen the security forces.

Speaking after the coference, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirabi said: ”This [aid] confirms that the Yemeni-Saudi relationship is special and that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is fully aware that the stability of Yemen is a key element for the stability of the Kingdom.”

While the fragile government in Sanaa may welcome the extra funds, the money will not address the urgent humanitarian needs of those facing starvation outside the capital, says the BBC’s Emily Buchanan.

In February, the Yemen government reportedly said some $3bn aid pledged by the Friends of Yemen group in 2006 still had not been delivered.

On Tuesday, the UK government announced it would be providing aid for at least 250,000 of the most vulnerable in the country – including nutrition support, food aid and the provision of safe water.

Malnutrition rising

The UK Minister for International Development, Alan Duncan, said: “Without that support, the alternative is a slide towards state failure and an increased threat from international terrorism.”

In a joint warning on Tuesday, a group of seven charities said that 10 million Yemenis – 44% of the population – were currently undernourished, with five million requiring emergency aid.

The aid agencies say there is food available, but many Yemenis are unable to afford it

In their warning, the aid agencies – Care, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Mercy Corps, Oxfam and Save the Children – say malnutrition rates have doubled in the country since 2009, partly as a result of a surge in food and fuel prices.

The problem has been exacerbated by political instability and conflict, with nearly half a million people displaced from their homes by fighting.

Markets across much of Yemen have food available, but many Yemenis cannot afford to feed their families, the aid groups warned.

“Yemeni families are at the brink and have exhausted their ways of coping with this crisis,” Oxfam’s international director, Penny Lawrence, said.

“Mothers are taking their children out of school to beg on the streets to get money to survive.”

Unable to cope

Jerry Farrell, Save the Children’s country director for Yemen, said: “Unless urgent humanitarian action is taken, Yemen will be plunged into a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions.”

According to UN estimates, a third of Yemeni children are malnourished.

A UN humanitarian aid appeal for Yemen is facing a $262m (£166m) shortfall in funding contributions.

In February, President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in response to months of protests that paralysed Yemen’s political system.

Islamist militants have taken advantage of the upheaval to seize parts of the southern province of Abyan, now considered a stronghold of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula (AQAP).

In addition, the government is grappling with Shia Houthi rebels in the north of the country.

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Leicester, one of the most rapidly Islamizing cities in England, has elected its first-ever Muslim mayor.

Abdul Razak Osman, an Indian-origin Muslim who was born in Kenya and who immigrated to Britain in 1971, was sworn into office during an elaborate investiture ceremony at the Leicester City Hall on May 18.

Osman’s election reflects the growing influence of Muslims on local politics in Leicester. At his swearing-in ceremony, Osman declared: “I’m proud to be the first Muslim councillor to hold the position. We’ve had Christian, Hindu, and Sikh and now I’m able to bring the Islamic faith to the office, which is a great honor.”

Leicester, an industrial city some 70 minutes north of London, is often promoted as Britain’s quintessential multicultural success story. Immigrants currently make up nearly one-half the city’s total population of 280,000, and Leicester is on the fast-track to become the first non-white majority city in British history. Many of the immigrants are of South Asian origin; and Leicester — once known as a center for manufacturing shoes and textiles — is now known for its many Hindu, Sikh and Muslim places of worship.

But a sharp rise in Muslim immigration in recent years is upsetting the city’s ethnic balance, and is casting doubt upon the city’s multicultural future.

After Christians and Hindus, Muslims are the third-largest faith group in Leicester. The city’s Muslim population is estimated to be between 11% and 14% (or somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 Muslims), which is well above the percentage (4.6) of Muslims in Britain as a whole.

The Muslim population in Leicester is made up mainly of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, as well as Turks, Somalis, Kenyans and Ugandans. According to the Ummah Forum, “you’d really like Leicester if you want to be around a large population of Muslims.”

Muslim immigration has led to the proliferation of mosques in Leicester, which now has more than 200 mosques and madrassas [Islamic religious schools] and hundreds of informal Islamic prayer rooms located in basements, garages and warehouses.

Leicester is also home to several mega-mosques. The Leicester Central Mosque complex has a capacity for nearly 3,000 worshippers. It also has a school, a community hall, a residence hall for imams, a mortuary and a guest house. The huge Masjid Umar mosque has four towering minarets and a grand dome that displays Arabic calligraphy from the Koran.

The most influential Muslim in Leicester is Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh-ul-Haq, a hardline Muslim cleric who runs theAl Kawthar Academy, a well-known Islamic school in the city. Ul-Haq, 41, is also the leader of a new generation of “home-grown” British Islamists who loathe Western values, support armed Jihad and preach contempt for Christians, Jews and Hindus.

Ul-Haq, who preaches in mosques across Britain, outlaws television and music, and says football is “a cancer that has infected our youth.” He is appalled by young women who want to get educated and go to university. He regularly praises the work of the Taliban and their attacks against British troops in Afghanistan.

In a typical sermon, entitled “Imitating the Disbelievers,” ul-Haq warns British Muslims of the danger of being corrupted by the “evil influence” of Western culture. He also heaps scorn on Muslims who say they are “proud to be British,” and argues that friendship with a Christian or a Jew makes “a mockery of Allah’s religion.”

In another sermon called “Jewish Fundamentalism,” Ul-Haq says: “They’re all the same. The Jews don’t have to be in Israel to be like this. It doesn’t matter whether they’re in New York, Houston, St Louis, London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester. They’re all the same. They’ve monopolized everything: the Holocaust, God, money, interest, usury, the world economy, the media, political institutions […] they monopolized tyranny and oppression as well. And injustice.”

Ul-Haq’s sermons are broadcast to thousands of listeners on Radio Ramadhan Leicester in Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Somali, Arabic and English.

According to American diplomatic cables that were obtained and published by the website Wikileaks, Leicester is home to the most conservative Islamic population anywhere in Europe.

A leaked diplomatic cable recounts the October 2007 visit to Leicester by Farah Pandith, the U.S. State Department’s Senior Advisor for Muslim Engagement. The stated purpose of the visit was for the U.S. government to find ways to help Britain “update and improve” its approach to stopping “home-grown” Islamic extremists. The document says Pandith found the lack of integration of the Muslim community in Leicester to be “striking.”

Among other observations, the cable states that Pandith was shocked to find “girls as young as four years old were completely covered.” The document continues: “At a local book store, texts… seemed designed to segregate Muslims from their wider community, urging women to cover themselves and remain in their homes, playing up the differences between Islam and other religions, seeking to isolate Muslims from community, and feeding hate of Jews to the young.”

The cable also recounts a discussion Pandith had with religious and community leaders at an Ahmadiyya (an Asian Islamic sect) mosque: “Yaqub Khan, General Secretary of a local organization called the Pakistan Association, insisted that he had to teach young people in Urdu. When Pandith challenged him as to why he would use Urdu with children who were growing up with English as their first language, Khan insisted that there were no good books on the Koran in English.”

Leicester is also notorious for having the fourth-highest rate of unemployment in Britain. Moreover, the city has very high rates of illiteracy, and ranks as one of the worst five municipalities in England for education.

A recent survey, entitled “Muslims in Leicester,” says that Muslims in the city are especially prone to underachievement and unemployment. The report says the inner city Spinney Hills neighborhood, which has the highest percentage of Muslims in Leicester, is also the ward with the lowest rate of full-time employment, the highest rate of unemployment, the highest level of economic inactivity, the highest percentage of “no qualifications” for work and the highest level of social housing.

Muslims are now demanding political power within the Leicester city council, as well as the freedom to wear their religious dress at work and to have halal food in the city hospitals. They are also seeking their own faith-based schools.

One such school, the Leicester Islamic Academy – where female students wear the full-length dress and head-covering and the boys wear black robes and skullcaps — has been accused by the British government of promoting Islamic separatism. Another state-run Islamic school in Leicester, the Madani High School, has run afoul of government regulators for reneging on its promise that 10% of its pupils would be non-Muslim.

The British government has tried — unsuccessfully — to reverse the tide of Islamic separatism in Leicester. In June 2008, for example, the city hosted the first in a series of road shows designed to tackle the problem of honor-based violence. Leicester has been plagued by forced marriages, kidnappings, physical and mental abuse of women, and other honor-based crimes against those who have not, according to family and local community members, conformed to religious or cultural expectations.

Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, has warned that Britain is “sleepwalking to segregation.” In a speech in Manchester, he said: “Segregation is now so extreme in some schools that there is not much farther it can go. It does not help to prepare children in these schools for the real world.” Phillips also described cities like Leicester as “literal black holes into which nobody goes without fear and trepidation and from which nobody ever escapes undamaged.”

Alluding to the transformation of cities like Leicester, Michael Nazir-Ali, a former bishop of the Church of England, has lamented that Islamic extremists have turned parts of Britain into no-go areas for non-Muslims. Lashing out at the spread of religious separatism and the damage caused by the doctrine of multiculturalism, Nazir-Ali has also warned against the acceptance of Islamic Sharia law in Britain, and has criticized amplified calls to prayer from mosques, which he says are imposing an Islamic character on many British towns and cities.

Leicester’s motto is Semper Eadem: “Always the Same.” But Osman’s promotion to city mayor implies that life in Leicester is fast changing.

Soeren Kern is Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios

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These predictions have led to a growth in the number of hotel rooms to be built in the Makkah region. Many hotel development companies are announcing their projects – including Abdul Latif Jameel Real Estate Investment Company – which is investing US$ 3.2 billion, making it a major hospitality development project in Makkah expected to provide 8,500 rooms.[2]

The Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit, themed ‘harnessing a thriving future for the Saudi hospitality industry’ and being organised by leading French business information firm naseba, commences tomorrow in Riyadh to address the Kingdom’s increasing tourism requirements.

The summit discusses the role of Saudi Arabia as an important regional hub for hospitality development and hosts international experts and speakers from the sector. It addresses issues including hospitality as a foundation for economic growth, energy management, and food and beverage trends. Its timeliness was confirmed by Christophe Landais, Managing Director at Accor Middle East, who noted his pleasure at attending the event for the second year running, highlighting that it is “the perfect platform to showcase Accor Middle East’s growing hotel portfolio in the Kingdom.”

Several hospitality solution providers including IDIS, Schneider Electric and Philips are delivering keynote presentations on innovative and upcoming products. Tomorrow’s first session discusses the hospitality industry outlook with an opening panel discussion on how hospitality can act as a foundation for economic growth and how businesses are embracing this change. The discussion involves detailed viewpoints from the perspectives of government, owner and operator.

Many hoteliers, including Hilton and Nobu hospitality, are expected to announce the details of their upcoming projects in several press conferences being organised in conjunction with this initiative. Christophe Landais added “we have five committed properties in the pipeline: ibis Riyadh Olaya Street (2012), ibis Yanbu (2013), ibis Jeddah Malik Road (2014), Adagio Jeddah Malik Road (2014) and Novotel Jizan (2015). The Saudi market continues to be an important market … and we are fully supportive of Saudi Arabia’s travel, tourism and hospitality industry”.

Fabien Faure, naseba’s Managing Director, added “our hospitality summits are increasingly becoming the preferred platform among major hoteliers to announce upcoming projects as well as source global suppliers. We are looking at over 300 hoteliers, developers and executive chefs attending the summit making it one of the most popular gatherings for decision makers in the Middle East.”

The two-day summit will take place on May 26^thand 27^that the InterContinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For media information, please call Ardaman Sidhu on +9714 367 1383 or email ardamans@naseba.com

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VOLYS STAR started producing Premium Halal Poultry Products for the French market some 30 years ago.

The company’s Halal experience was rewarded with leadership positions in other Halal markets in, amongst others, Asia and the Middle East.

Teaming up with AYTAC FOODS, VOLYS STAR products, which are available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Dubai, are now also available at Tesco’s in the UK. They will be starting with their Sliced Smoked Turkey Rashers. A must for anyone who wants to have a Halal BLT!

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Products ranging from Aberdeen-Angus steaks to roast-beef flavoured potato crisps will soon be available in UAE restaurants and on supermarket shelves.

UK Trade and Investment, working closely with the Ministry of Environment and Water in the UAE and the Department of Food and Rural Affairs in the UK, were instrumental in getting the ban lifted.

Director of UK Trade and Investment in Dubai, Ian Gibbons, said: “The UAE is an important market for the UK and there is already a very healthy demand for British food products. I have recently arrived in the UAE and am impressed by the incredible range of international products available, which is testament to the nature of the country as a true international hub. UK products are more widely available than in many other countries. The lifting of the British beef ban is significant as it means greater opportunity for UK suppliers.”

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New Halal Legislation is being planned for implementation in the UK by January 2013 and is currently undergoing ‘consultation’. This follows amendments to the European Legislation Law 1099 issued earlier this year. These new laws pose some of the biggest threats to the continuance of Halal in a generation. It is time for the Muslim community to sit up and pay attention.

Week after week, articles are being published calling for the ban of religious slaughter or restricting the production of religious slaughter (both kosher and Halal). These are being voiced by various groups including, Animal Welfare lobbies, Christian far right, veterinarians, secularist groups and the tabloid press.Watch carefully as story after story is released often carrying mis-information aimed at demonising the Halal brand and the religious needs of the 3 million+ Muslims in this country. Biased views and the threat of Islam are being used to justify the indefensible.

HMC says it is time to wake up to this threat and be counted.

The latest attack came from a leading vet Bill Reilly who criticised religious slaughter on Saturday 5th May and the timing seems very deliberate as the Government prepares its consultation papers on the new EU Legislation 1099, due at the end of this month.

HMC, which has been at the forefront of protecting Halal and the prophetic method of religious slaughter calls upon the Muslim community to unite and defend the prophetic method of slaughter and be prepared to respond to the consultation paper due out at the end of the May.

The Legislation draft we expect, will undoubtedly carry unbalanced laws aimed at making religious slaughter more difficult, possibly limiting its production and increasing costs for the Halal industry. They are promoted under the banner of animal welfare, but they are purely there to carry the biased views being promoted by various groups telling Muslims how we should produce and eat Halal!

Stunning is being promoted, yet many methods of stunning which were promoted as best welfare for animals over the past 20 years are now being phased out due to being cruel. In fact some stunning methods that are described as cruel by The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and have been recommended to be phased out have been ignored by the European Commission citing economic reasons! “Recommendations to phase out the use of carbon dioxide for pigs and the use of waterbath stunners for poultry are not included in this Regulation because the impact assessment revealed that such recommendations were not economically viable at present in the EU”.

The prophetic method remains the most humane method of slaughter and for the majority of Muslims an absolute requirement for the observance of their faith. Many Western countries including the United States recognise this method as humane in statute. Muslims and Jews believe that their method of slaughter when done properly with good standards is better than any other method available.

Labelling non-stunned meat and poultry

There are also strong calls from many quarters to label un-stunned meat and poultry. Although, HMC is in favour of labelling in principle, we feel the current calls are bias towards demonising un-stunned slaughter, rather than being in the interests of consumers.

Of course, every consumer has a right to know what they are eating, and therefore HMC calls on fair and impartial labelling, through the labelling of all meat and poultry and not only un-stunned. Let us label meat that has been shot with a captive bolt gun, gassed, electrocuted, drowned or mis-stunned, and then we can also label un-stunned, giving real information to consumers.

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Homegrown brands like CavinKare, Daawat, Bikano, Goldwinner oil, Vadilal ice cream,Amrutanjan Health Care and Gujarat Ambuja Exports are embracing halal-certification to get a better foothold in markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.

CavinKare has got a halal certification from Halal India, an apex body for halal certification , for three of its products – Fairever, Nyle herbal shampoo and Ruchi pickle – to expand its footprint in Singapore, Malaysia and GCC. “The certification is a reason-to-belief for customers on quality parameters. The certification will also give an edge over our competitors,” said R S Vijay Kumar, GM of international business at Cavin-Kare , a Chennai-based personal care company.

Nyle shampoo, for instance, cornered a 26.7% share in the Singapore halal-compliant market and 22% in Malaysia for the same segment last fiscal, he added. The Rs 1,100-crore company expects its international business to touch the Rs 100-crore mark in the current fiscal from Rs 70 crore earlier.

Bikano, the sweet and the namkeen brand from Bikanervala Foods, has seen a 30% jump in soan papdi and cookies sales in Malaysian market in the last one year, partly due to the halalcertification that gave a higher visibility on retail shelves there. “Halal signifies highest standards of quality and hygiene in ingredients, processes and products,” said Sachin Anand, head (international business), Bikanervala Foods.

Amrutanjan has obtained a halal certificate for all its pain balm products exported to Singapore , Malaysia, West Indies and a few African markets. “Islam in many ways is a way of life. To that extent, Islamic branding is all about using brands as good deeds. What starts with halal foods, can move on to halal practice in every industry, be it the pharmaceutical or the cosmetic industry . Islamic branding can embrace broader pastures that cover business practices too,” said Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults.

“With many brands embracing halal, Indian brands may look at an export market opportunity of about $200 billion in the next ten years,” said Mohamed Jinna, CEO of Halal India. The halal stamp can be extended to those brands tuned into the principles of Shariah in faith, good practice and spirit . Globally, the halal market is worth a staggering $2.1 trillion a year, says a report by brand consultancy firm Ogilvy Noor.

The market opportunity for halal products is still untapped in India, but brand consultants are not dismissing its potential in a country with 160 million Muslims. Paul Temporal, founder and MD of Temporal Brand Consulting, feels that there is a lot more room for brand managers to adapt these values for different markets and cultures, whether Islamic or not.

“If you look at Islamic values , most of them are emotional and this makes for good branding and marketing. A more careful look reveals that a lot of these values do not just suit Islamic audiences, but are of a universally appealing nature . The issue or challenge is to find where these people are and to reach them with suitable products,” he added.

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By Rushdi Siddiqui

The New York Stock Exchange – Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and informed non-Muslim colleagues understand basic tenets of Islam.

The New York Times recently interviewed several American Muslims, including me, working in the financial arena for the article, “Muslims on Wall Street, Bridging Two Traditions.” It explored two ‘conflicts’: Muslims working in conventional finance may encounter ‘interest’ against their faith, and challenges of abiding by Islamic ‘traditions’ in a secular workplace.

Today, it seems to an outsider, the burning issues for Muslims on Wall Street include prayer breaks, fasting and productivity, bonding after-office drinks, shaking a woman’s hand wearing a hijab, and structuring instruments dealing with (the prohibited) interest.

This cannot be what Muslims are about. Also, more credit must be given to working non-Muslim colleagues on understanding Muslim sensitivities.

Common Shared Values

Muslims, like other people with strong beliefs, do not see themselves exclusively focused on or defined by such  issues. Islam has spread throughout the world because of its dynamic nature, where it influences local customs and is ‘influenced’ by the older local culture.

Religion is a private matter and it’s looked upon as foundation for building inner discipline and external strength to address challenging situations. People of faith, like their secular colleagues, want to climb the corporate ladder and break the glass ceiling to get to the executive floor, if not the corner office. Muslims have been on Wall Street and High Street for many years, if not decades, and it’s only now they are being noticed. The difference between then and now is there are more Muslims in the financial sector and non-Muslim colleagues know more about Islam because of a combination of internet, 24-7 news, 9/11, documentaries, Dubai’s accomplishments, Islamic finance and personalities like His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

It should be noted that many Muslims were involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement because of common shared values. In the New York Times article there are two quotes that best summarise how Muslims, residing in
a non-Muslim country such as the US, should think about and approach a place of work and perception of fellow workers. “I think Muslim professionals are too sensitive and underestimate our co-workers,” comments a consultant in the article.

“Seek the opportunities and firms that speak to their set of values, expertise and passion,” said Mohammad Al Arian, CEO of Pimco.

Just as an employer interviews a potential employee, the latter also needs to interview the former.

I have worked at two multinational companies in the US, heading their Islamic finance business, in New York. First at Dow Jones Indexes for 10 years and now at Thomson Reuters.

A common denominator for international companies is their diverse employee base due to extensive international presence, including many Muslim countries. The corporate culture in these companies reflects common shared values formalised in codes of ethics. Thus, these companies understand ‘sensitivities’, and have high expectations of all employees.

As Muslims working in the West we do have a tendency to initially “underestimate our co-workers” in understanding our rituals (prayers, fasting, etc.), and our prohibitions (alcohol). While it could be attributed to many things, such as prejudices, with time there is a mutual understanding and respect.

The New York Times article used examples of Muslims finding places for praying during working hours or Friday prayers, and fasting during Ramadan. The article should have taken this one step further, and asked the Muslim worker about non-Muslim colleagues fasting or visiting a mosque.

Most, if not all, of us have non-Muslim colleagues who have fasted, some partially (till lunch time) and others until sunset. One of the great attributes of Americans is they like challenges, and will push the envelope of endurance. Others have visited mosques, and made observations such as “nothing fancy inside”, “where are the stained glass windows, pews, gold crescent and star?”

Maybe the article should have interviewed non-Muslims working in senior positions in Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Malaysia on drinking alcohol, shaking hands with conservative women, breaking meetings for prayer time and so on. As senior executives, they are deemed ambassadors of the Islamic financial institution, and it does imply abiding by a certain level of Islamic code of conduct in public places.

Bottomline

The bottomline is that there is understanding and respect for rituals as long as teamwork, quality and deliverables are not compromised.

Muslims working in non-Muslim countries do understand work is for work, even in Islamic finance, and informed non-Muslim colleagues understand basic tenets of Islam. Muslims need to continue taking a pragmatic,
over dogmatic, approach to finding the balance between faith and finance.

This article was originally published in Gulf News. Siddique is the Global Head of Islamic Finance and OIC Countries at Thomson Reuters.

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