New Pearl Museum in RAK

Our ancestors told us stories about the precious pearl. There are two names for this pearl, Bint Almtar, attributed to the rain and the other name is Bint Alqamar attributed to the moon. Those interested in anything about the pearls and their trade can look in the New Pearl Museum in RAK. The capital of pearl trading was RAK or as what it was known in the past as Julfar. When the Japanese invented the cultured pearls in the early of 1930’s the pearling industry collapsed in the Gulf. But regardless of the negative impact on the pearl industry in the Gulf still women’s names were linked with the pearl types such as Hessa and Dana. The owner of that museum which is one of a kind in the region is RAK Pearls Holding, a company that has been farming cultured pearls since 2005, and it opened two months ago. This museum which is located exactly on RAK Corniche has everything to illustrate how the process of diving for pearls and the tools. The museum also contains some of the distinctive and most famous pearls such as RAK's 12mm pearl which also Known as Miracle of Arabia.

The hajj

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every Muslim who is fit and financially able must perform the hajj at least once in his life. The pilgrimage starts on the 8^th day of 12^th month of the Islamic year and ends after 6 days. We should dress in white robes called the ihram. All steps of the hajj we must do in Mecca which is known as the capital of all the Islamic world and there is a unique mosque in Mecca and it’s name is Alhram. In Alhram there is Alk’aba; it’s a direction for all Muslims to face when they pray five times each day.

The hajj starts with a stop in a place named Meqat before Mecca and people wear the special dress for the hajj. For men it’s a white robe of two pieces and for women it’s any long simple dress but there is one condition; after they dress they can’t cut hair or nail until they take it off. The next step they should do is Tawaf and sa’i. On the first official day you should to mina and stay the night there. On the next day you should go to Arafat and stay till sunset then go to camp all night at Muzdalifah. On the 3^rd day you should go to Mina to do two things. The first thing is you should throw the stones on jamraat then slaughter a cheep ; then you should go back to Mecca to do Tawaf and sa’i. The next thing to do on the hajj is stay the next three days in Mina , Finally go to Mecca to do Tawaf.