“Mahloul she’s...she’s....”
I told Hamad to give it to me straight.
“She’s not a racer,” he said.
Mahloul, my starlet, my beauty, was, in fact, none-of-the-above in the eyes of those who know race camels. She was born at the end of the season and small for her age group.
I had to look for another camel.
I scanned the race track for other prospects. I wanted a camel to cheer for until the end of the season, a nobody who’d shock everybody with a win at Al Wathbah’s season finals in Abu Dhabi.
Early in the season, everybody was a nobody.
In the weeks before the big winter races, camels raced incognito. If they lost, the world and their owner’s pride was none the wiser. If they won, they earned the honour of wearing their owner’s colours. The colour of a race camel’s blanket and bridle identify its owner.
There were men like Omar sharif, who kept his camel anonymous with a plain green blanket over its hump.
“Omar Sharif, like the actor,” he introduce himself.
His camel, unlike his namesake, was unknown and he planned to keep it that way. It was not just his pride that is at risk but the camel’s resale value. We followed her around the track as Omar sharif rummaged around his back seat.
“Have you eaten?” He pulled out a ziplock bag. “Sandwiches. My wife makes them for me.”
There are two types of men in Ras Al Khaimah. There are the men who are quick to ask women if they’re married. And there are men who are quick and proud to say, “I have one wife. Because I love my wife.”
Omar Sharif was in the last category. “I haven’t said a bad word to my wife for 14 years,” he said.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Sorry, but no.”
His camel finished near the end of the pack. Omar Sharif was unfazed. He had others. He toured us round his ezba, listing which camel was a gift from which sheikh, which ones were retired, which ones were studs. Then he opened a covered pen and showed us his prize, a dusky yellow camel who looked, to my untrained eye, to be about two years old. One of her parents was from a prominent RAK royal.
“So many offers for her. Half million,” said Omar Sharif. She was his secret weapon. He did not even bother to enter her in the early season races.
At the track, it’s not just camels who remain anonymous. Some families do not reveal the name of female relatives or the number of sisters or daughters in their families.
While Omar Sharif raced in secret, Matar flaunted the colours on his camels from the season’s first race.
Matar is the self-proclaimed “yellow man” and former manager of Al Wasl football club who had bought into the camel world with wealth made from the football. When we met, Matar and his camels were trimmed in banana yellow. His leather sandals, jeweled ring, sunglasses, his Lexus 4x4 and even, he told us, his house at Dubai’s Marmoun track were all the hue of his football club.
“Everywhere I go, they call me the yellow man,” he said.
Matar was in Ras Al Khaimah for a friend and, he later confessed, because his camels were not ready for Marmoun. They would build their experience at the RAK Suan track before racing them in Dubai.
“That one’s mine, the yellow one,” he said pointing at a camel whose blanket matched his accessories. “His name is Inzar.”
“Inzar? I don’t know this word,” I said.
“Like when you get a yellow card in football and the ref holds up his hand.”
Warning.
His pride was Wasali, a six-year old named for his club.
A few weeks later, Inzar was out of the race (“khalas, cancelled,” said Matar) but Wasali raced on, competing at Marmoun and training for Abu Dhabi season finals.
Hamed called me a few weeks after he broke the news about Mahloul. “Don’t worry,” he said.
“I have three others. This year we will do well.”
Victory, after all, does not rest on one camel alone.
azacharias@thenational.ae
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Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
