Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Gulf News
Liwa: A creative Emirati has fashioned a string of 99 prayer beads made out of date seeds, to celebrate the blessed tree.
The prayer beads made by Rashid Mubarak is displayed at best heritage display contest hall at the fifth Liwa date festival taking place in Al Gharbia (formerly the Western Region) and organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
The beads are used as part of prayers and worshipping and it is very popular among Emiratis and Muslims in general. Usually they are made out of many different materials, for example precious stones, certain types of wood and even plastic.
Creating the date beads took a long time and process, but the idea came from a single thought.
"During last Ramadan I was sitting with my mother with beads in my hand and she was eating dates and she said 'look at this small blessed seeds which gives greenery, food, shade. We can benefit from it a lot throughout our lives'; and I thought why not benefit from the seeds and make the beads," Mubarak told Gulf News.
In the beginning he made a 99-bead string from the whole seeds, then designed another out of half-seeds and later he made it to cut and shape smaller pieces of the seed.
"Firstly, seeds must be kept in water for three days to become soft and easier to cut and shape then. It took me one to three hours to shape each piece; to design a full prayer string it may take a month and a half," he said.
Also he invented a natural way to colour the seeds using soft drinks and Arabic coffee.
"I discovered that by accident, which inspired me," he said.
Mubarak participated in the best heritage display contest and hopes to win one of the 15 prizes which will be announced by the end of the festival tomorrow.
"At the moment some members of my family are helping me and once I get the support I plan to market my product not only to make beads but also different types of jewellery for women," he added.
By Eman Mohammed, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
Gulf News 2009. All rights reserved.
