Riyadh: As pilgrims started arriving from all over the world for the annual Haj which is due in the first week of November, authorities and agencies concerned are fully geared to extend them the best services. The authorities are making use of the latest means of technology to streamline the process of receiving and dispatching [...]

Municipality of Riyadh, in collaboration with a number of official and non-official bodies, offers a laudable celebration program for Eid Al Fitr this year. This comes as a gesture of sharing joy with residents of our precious capital, on this blessed occasion, through a number of festive and recreational events and activities. Eid Al Fitre [...]

Riyadh July 24, 2011: To celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, Yahoo! Maktoob has created the ultimate Ramadan site, designed as a one stop destination that provides access to a host of rich spiritual, lifestyle, and entertainment content. The dedicated site (maktoob.ramadan.yahoo.com) brings together premium content relevant to Ramadan, pulled from multiple leading Yahoo! Maktoob [...]

JEDDAH – A total of 4.6 million Umrah visas have been issued until the middle of Shaban, an increase of 1.1 million visas compared to the same period in 2010, according to a statistical report released by the Umrah and Haj Agency at the Ministry of Haj. Umrah and Haj experts have attributed this 10-year [...]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon announced they would celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, on Friday. In Saudi Arabia, seen as the beacon of Sunni Islam, the supreme court ruled that Thursday would be the final day of fasting, before the [...]

huffingtonpost – But they can be built in the other 56 Muslim-majority countries in the world! As Americans, do we want to compare ourselves to the single exception to the rule of interfaith tolerance? After all, we pride ourselves on our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom of expression… freedoms that are [...]

Vanity Fair’s Maureen Dowd traveled to Saudi Arabia to experience first-hand the Arab kingdom’s newly declared commitment to tourism. But apparently she didn’t get the memo—that promise seems to only apply to men. Saudi Arabia! Just the vacation spot for a headstrong, adventure-loving, cocktail-imbibing, fashion-conscious chick. Long averse to non-Muslim curiosity seekers, the Kingdom is [...]

(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on books written by its ailing labour minister whose liberal tone provoked both the official clerical establishment and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, government officials said on Sunday. Ghazi Algosaibi, 70, is a former ambassador to London and a confidant of King Abdullah whose push for [...]

A man who ripped a veil from a Muslim woman’s face as she walked though Glasgow has been jailed for two years. William Baikie, 26, admitted racially assaulting 26-year-old Anwar Alqahtani by forcibly removing her niqab in the city’s Hope Street on 27 April. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how Baikie, who has previous convictions for [...]

Dreaming of an advanced degree? Try a doctorate in dreams, something which could soon become a reality in a new Saudi academy offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. Yusuf al-Harthy, a well-known Saudi dream interpreter, plans to start up an institute offering bachelors and masters degrees as well as even a PhD in explaining dreams and [...]