Saleh Abdulbaqi
Yemen Times

Before we proceed with the essence of the subject, we would like to present you some of the important aspects of his characteristic features. There are three distinctive features of Bin Ojayl; superstition, miracle, and legend. I would highlight some of the tales concerning some miracles about sheik Bin Ojayl. These legends and miracles were well known amongst people at that time. Some authors and historians have talked about this person in their writings (as Al-Shariqi, Al-Yaf'ei, and others).

Difference between Superstition and Miracle:
Superstition: What God sends down to Prophets and Messengers on the strength of which they can challenge those people who do not have faith in them.
Miracle: the appearance of supernatural aspects of God to some people who do not claim that they have miracles. These supernatural aspects are accompanied by faith in God. The person who has supernatural inspiration has to obey God's instructions. The explainers of 'Tahawia Dogma' says that miracle in Standard Arabic is an extraordinary thing. But some others say that miracle is for Prophets and superstition is for people as magicians.
Legend and Superstition:
The meaning of these two terms is a bit mysterious. There are some people who say that they have the same meaning, but others differentiate between them.

According to Ibn Mansour's version contained in his book titled "Lisan Al-Arab", legend is aspect without any system.
Legend is a distortion of historical events because it narrates false facts about religion, nationalism, and philosophy. Legend aims at arousing excitement in the public. It takes common aspect of traditional tales and add new events and riddles to them.

Author Abdullah Al-Baradoni differentiates between legend and myth. He says that there are differences between opinions concerning legend and myth. Some people believe that legend relates to goddesses as legends of Greece, but superstition is one of the supernatural things which refer to Jinn, human beings, and animals. So according to him the appropriate terms would be superstition because it carries strange pictures about human beings.

However, the late sheik Ahmed Bin Ojayl was a real legendary personality of that time. No doubt, he is the most honest jurist in the record history. He was a legendary individual in the tales and narrations circulated in Tihama. Ahmed Bin Ojayl was known as Ahmed Bin Alwan in Youfras city, Yahya Al-Hamza in Dhamar city, Arwa Bint Ahmed in Jiblah town, and Al-Jibri in Zabeed town. In the books of history, Ahmed Bin Ojayl is the jurist and the scientist who was distinguished by his sciences and worship. He devoted his life to science in order to help people and stand by them. According to sources circulated amongst people in Tihama, Bin Ojayl was not different from Ahmed Bin Alwan because he was the one who helped people and stood by them. His grave is still a sacred monument.

It is worth mentioning that there are a lot of tales and miracles surrounding Bin Ojayl, in the books of history. A researcher found manuscripts in the house of the jurist 'Saimona'. It has been noticed that some chapters of that writings related to the books which was called "Tuba'at Al-Khawas". The chapters of that book, I found, were related to Al-Yaf'ei edition, "Naher Al-Mamas". The author narrates a number of miracles about Bin Ojayl, and so there must be many other such tales are yet to come to light.

Mohammed S. Al-Mikhlafi,
Aden

Aden has been considered as one of Yemen's historical cities, famous for its commercial and economic activities for thousands of years. This city occupied an important position among other Arab cities and has maintained its fame as the city symbolizing the cradle of our civilization.
This city was known to play an important part in trading activities and in expanding cultural civilization among people in view of its strategic geographical location. It had a long tradition producing various handicrafts such as frankincense and Arab Gum. It was a safe international harbor for all ships passing through it from the East to the West. Thus, the present port of Aden, which is more than one hundred-years old enjoys more renown than most of other Arab ports, if not all.

Now, the present government of Yemen is giving its full attention and attitude to make Aden the commercial and economic capital as "Free Zone" because of its historical importance. For this purpose the political leadership represented by the president of there Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh has declared the city of Aden, the "Free Zone".
The view of Aden city on Yemen's tourist map has been captivating innumerable tourists who visit our country and enjoy the natural and beautiful scenes and historical places.

Aden has witnessed an ever-increasing number of tourists who have expressed immense satisfaction to see the historical places in and around Aden such as Tawela Tanks, Seira Castle and Aden Gate.
The bulk of tourists are impressed not only by its peace and tranquility achieved under the leadership of Aden Security Staff Brigadier, Mohammed Saleh Turaik. The largely peaceful environment prevailing in Aden enables tourists and visitors to see all the attractive and archaeological places there without anxiety or concern.

I had the pleasure to meet one of those visitors last February, 2000. His name was Jim, a British national of 51 years. He expressed his views about Aden in these words: " In the 10 years, I have traveled extensively in South America, Asia, South-East Asia, the West India, Australia, and the Philippines as a tourist. Though I have only just arrived in Yemen, I have already experienced the kindness and generosity of Yemeni people. I feel secure here and appreciate the efficiency of the police dealing with my travel permit and their plans to make my trip a happy and memorable one".

Mohammed N. Al-Hakimi,
Taiz

Our society has in recent years been witnessing unusual practices and modes of behaviors quite contrary to the norms of our society and our beliefs. Large segments of youth, especially teenagers, have become prone to many kinds of shameful behavior that is smearing the foundations of their deep-rooted civilization. This is partly due to the absence of good parental care, supervision and models of moral conduct. This phenomenon, which has become trendy and fashionable among adolescents (especially teenagers), requires only a single scrutinizing look at one of the capital's main streets, cinemas, hotels, clubs or public markets. The main concern of adolescents has grown to be the most up-to-date fashions, cinema productions and other different means leading to vile and corruption. By indulging in all these depraved actions, adolescents are trying to satisfy their baser instincts that their family, school and society did not allow. They are striving for being taken note of by the society and it does not matter whether they were off beat or if their behavior was conspicuous.

The total ignorance of problems facing today's teenagers would result in grave consequences for our society in future. Today's teenagers do not consider the value of education, work and struggle; instead, they worry about smoking cigarettes, trying the latest in fashion and teasing groups of the other sex. Their primary concern is the afternoon Qat sittings after lunch they go to the streets to harass girls or tease other passersby.

Bushra Al-Kholaydi said: "The main reason behind the deterioration of the scientific and social level of Yemeni young girls could be attributed to carelessness of the family and failure of educational institutions to give sufficient attention to educate them. The same criteria are applied to young males. The absence of appropriate guidance has made streets their main arena where they practice all sorts of useless pastime, like showing improper behavior towards girls and indulging in all other sorts of wicked acts. If not treated quickly and seriously, this matter would have serious consequences on individuals and on the society as a whole."

Ghadah Abdullah: "In regards to young girls' behavior in donning style and fashion and imitating them, in reality they are not doing this for a particular reason. It is rather more of a blind imitation. The reason of such behavior is the absence of a veritable model which they can admire."Mr. Abdul-Hakeem Al-Mojahid (English Language Teacher): "If we were to compare our society with its western counterparts, people would say that they have real democracy whereas our democracy does not convey the same meaning. Therefore, people would look at the western society as a model pattern. Our problem lies in the lack of a live model because, in reality all our religious and moral values are just contained in books but not practiced in reality. Therefore, as a result of this confusion people find themselves obliged to follow the European model. For example, our society speaks of social values, mercy and benevolence, social insurance and human rights where in practice only very few of these morals and values exist. Again, I would like to emphasize a point that what is needed is not thousand-page books where we can read the history and behavior of our ancestors. What we really need is a real tangible model. So, I wonder how can we prove to the world that we have values and principles if we do not put them into practice.

Siham Saeed: "The absence of guidance and supervision by the family plays the biggest role in the development of young people's bad conduct. Take for example what happens when called for the evening prayer; you would see crowds of adolescents of both sexes hanging round in streets' sidewalks. They have lost their interest in pursuing their education and planning for the future. The question here is how do we expect them to do so when they see the decaying conditions of the unemployed alumni and even of the employed persons. In addition, the majority of the society, including the educated, are still engaged in unacceptable behaviors. We lack the principled, civilized society which establishes and builds decent morals. I believe that decadence of adolescents' behaviors and values is attributable to the fact that the government did not draw up a practical plan to solve their problems. The government should found libraries and establish technical and industrial institutions for young women. In addition, they should encourage adolescents who fail in a certain major by pushing them in the right direction according to their attitude, abilities and talents. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the society to watch the young so they would grow with right, decent moral.

Sa'aeed Al-Himayari: "The reason behind the deterioration of adolescents conduct is the absence of guidance and criticism from the family and the society. The government has the lion's share in worsening this issue by issuing low advertisements, programs and education not to mention the corruptible programs that are adopted by some channels of television. Furthermore, we come across many adolescents who wear weird western-style clothes many of which have unusual foreign writings that contradict our society's values and morals."Mr. Qayed Ameen Ali: "The reasons behind these actions are numerous and they need to be studied thoroughly. One of these reasons is the Ministry of Culture, society, parties, organizations and unions. All these agencies should render help to their adolescents who are in dire need of their guidance. Each and every part of the society should join the effort to establish a veritable model of moral behavior so that we can effect a constructive change in our society.

I would like also to mention that in regards to this issue a seminar on Yemeni adolescents cases, organized by the Youth and Development Office was held on 29-30 January and several recommendations have been made during the course of the seminar."Finally, we say that this seminar was certainly a very positive step in regard to adolescents' issue and we all hope that more procedures would be taken to prevent our youth from further degeneration.

Yasser M. Ahmed,
Yemen Times

The capital city of Sana'a recently witnessed a major literary event. A week long short story festival was organized by story club in collaboration with Yemeni Authors Union, Sana'a branch, from 8 to 12 of April, 2000.
There were a number of stimulating sessions in the cultural week for story in which authors dilated upon the history and important landmarks of the Yemeni short story tradition as well as the problems faced by authors.

The short story writer Zeid Motea'a Damaj, Shafegha Zughari, and Ahmed Mahfouz Omar were honored along with some budding talented children.
A number of short story writers as Arwa Abdo Othman, Huda Al-Attas, Mahasin Al-Hawati, Entisar Al-Harith, Bushra Al-Maktari, Nadia Al- Kawkabani, Riya Ahmed, Nora Zeila, Naseem Al-Surmi, and Dina Al-Jabali discussed a number of stories that reflect their experiments with this popular genre. The focus of these stories the contemporary social ethos. All the speakers highlighted the role of the new generation of Yemeni story writers.

Dr. Amna Yosief and Mr. Abdulbari Taher presented a critical analysis on some stories mention may be made about the story of Mahfoz Omar. Yemeni singers participation enlivened the element of the event.
An important sidelight of the event was the inclusion of a special section on the children's stories. Many talented children delivered their creation in the narration evening. Narrator Abdulrahman Abdulkhaliq presented a brilliant review of short stories about children.

In a brief discussion with Yemen Times in the story club, the chairman of the preparation committee, Mr. Mohammed Al-Azi Amran said: "I am opposite those who say that the story as a literary form is declining. On the contrary, it is witnessing development. During the 1950s and the 1960s, story was traditional classical, but now it is new because there are a number of talented young writers who are interested in exploring new horizons in poetry and short stories.

Regarding the criticisms against the new generation, it may be pointed out that, poetry and story are two different literary genres. The problem here is how to distinguish them. Some young people have started to write stories which border on close to poetry. There is no ambiguity regarding the short story because it is a popular genre.
I do not distinguish between the literature written by women or that of men. It is a mistake to make this difference. The aim of the reader is to communicate with the foreign newspapers to make all people well aware of the contemporary Yemeni literature".

Story writer Ahmed Mahfouz Omar: "I can not adequately articulate how overwhelmed I feel to be honored here. All I can say is to thank all the participants and those who bestowed on me this honor. From the bottom of my heart I thank the preparation committee of the club. I am, indeed very grateful to them for this honor. I am sure the new generation will make a distinctive contribution to the annals of our literature. When life develops, everything will develop. I hope to see many literary authors bosom in future".

Imad Al-Saqqaf
Taiz Bureau Chief

As a mark of indebtedness, I feel honored to write about the Haiel Saeed family one of the most respected families in Yemen. They are well-known for their hospitality, generosity, charity, and creativity. They often provide Yemen with fruitful enterprises which cover many sectors which many Yemenis make use.

This family has been nurtured with in education of highest human values members of this family learn as a family tradition to the environment properly. They are be well-bred, ambitious, good-natured, active, modest and helpful. The title children of the family should learn first the Holy Qur'an. They are among the first to graduate from Qur'an schools. Not only this, but they work in tandem towards philanthropic ideals, helping the poor, constructing schools, hospitals, mosques and granting scholarship to promising students to pursue higher studies studying outside the country.
What a kind family and what nice people! Among the Yemeni people, this family is regarded as a unique example. In fact, all Yemenis adore them hold them in highest esteem.

Such remarkable people have gained this height of excellence because they sincerely swear allegiance to Allah and then to their country.
The group of companies floated by them are distinctive because they grant good salaries to their employees. No words can adequately express the height of glory which this family enjoys. And we cannot forget here the late Haiel Saeed (the grandfather), who was the first to establish and run the group of companies and the first to nourish in them such sterling values.
Another great enterprise which is worth mentioning here is that Al-Saeed Foundation for Sciences and Culture. It is the first ever institution in Yemen. Mr. Faisal Saeed Fare'a, General Manager of the Foundation rightly terms it as sowing seed for scientific researches. He expects that there will be a lot of scientific and cultural success through this foundation. It was established at the end of the nineties. He added, " the foundation will adopt the many-faceted arena of science and arts, according to the adherence of the founders to this path which they have drawn for themselves."
This foundation aims at encouraging pundits and scholars to make researches or develop scientific experimentation in all the fields of science and arts. The organization has instituted a prestigious gain the prize which is awarded of approximately (YR 1000,000) are also granted scholarships to pursue higher studies in their respective fields promoting scholars.
Such remarkable achievements can only be accomplished by men of vision like Haiel Saeed. I wish them all success and tremendous progress in their present at future enterprises. Let's act together towards achieving the common goals which Yemen can be proud of.