Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
Official name	City of Jeddah
Nickname	''The Bride of the Red Sea''
Native name	جدّة ''Jidda''
Settlement type	City
Flag link	Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia
Flag size	80px
Image shield	Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia.svg
Shield link	Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia
Shield size	40px
Map caption	Location of Jeddah
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Subdivision type1	Province
Subdivision name1	Makkah (Mecca)
Leader title	City Mayor
Leader name	Hani Abu Ras
Leader title1	City Governor
Leader name1	Mish'al Al-Saud
Leader title2	Provincial Governor
Leader name2	Khalid al Faisal
Established title	Established
Established date	From the 6th century BC
Established title2	Joint Saudi Arabia
Established date2	1925
Unit pref	Metric
Area km2	1570
Area metro km2	3000
Area urban km2	1500
Elevation m	12
Population note	Jeddah City estimate
Population as of	2008
Population total	3,234,000
Population density km2	2921
Population density sq mi	1826
Population urban	3,855,912
Population metro	4,500,000
Timezone	EAT
Utc offset	+3
Timezone dst	EAT
Utc offset dst	+3
Postal code type	Postal Code
Postal code	(5 digits)
Area code	+966-2
Website	Jeddah Municipality
Coordinates region	SA
Coordinates type	type:city
Coordinates display	inline,title }}

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda (, ''Jidda''; ) is a Saudi Arabian city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The population of the city currently stands at 3.2 million. It is an important commercial hub in Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, which able-bodied Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam.

Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, hosting expatriates from all over the world who have made Jeddah their home. Economically, Jeddah is focussing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was independently ranked 4th in the Africa / Mid-East region in terms of innovation in 2009 in the Innovation Cities Index.

Regionally, Jeddah is a primary resort city of the country. Jeddah was named a second-tier beta world city, according to Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC).

Historically (and up until today), Jeddah has been well known for its legendary money changers. The largest of said money changers at the time (the late Sheikh Salem Bin Mahfouz) eventually founded Saudi Arabia's first bank, the National Commercial Bank (NCB). Other notable trading families that have greatly impacted Saudi Arabia include the Ba-eshen, Bajubair, Bajammal, Bakhashab, Bakhashwain, Ali-Reda, Bin Zagr, Bin Mahfouz, Bin Laden, and Kamel families, respectively.

Etymology and spelling

There are at least two explanations for the etymology of the name ''Jeddah'', according to Jeddah Ibn Helwaan Al-Qudaa'iy, the chief of the Quda'a clan. The more common account has it that the name is derived from جده ''Jaddah'', the Arabic word for "grandmother". According to eastern folk belief, the tomb of Eve (), considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah. The Tomb was sealed with concrete by the religious authorities in 1975 as a result of some Muslims praying at the site.

Ibn Battuta(1304–1368), the Berber traveller, visited Jeddah during his world trip. He wrote the name of the city into his diary as "Juddah".

The British Foreign Office and other branches of the British government used to use the older spelling of "Jedda", contrary to other English-speaking usage, but in 2007 changed to the spelling "Jeddah".

T. E. Lawrence felt that any transcription of Arabic names into English was arbitrary. In his book ''Revolt in the Desert'', Jeddah is spelled three different ways on the first page alone.

On official Saudi maps and documents, the city name is transcribed "Jeddah", which is now the prevailing usage.

History

Pre-Islam

Excavations in the old city suggest that Jeddah was founded as a fishing hamlet in 500 BC by the Yemeni Quda'a tribe (بني قضاعة), who left central Yemen to settle in Makkah after the destruction of the Marib Dam in Yemen.

Other archaeological studies have shown that the area was settled earlier by people in the Stone Age, as some Thamudi scripts were excavated in Wadi Briman (وادي بريمان), west of the city, and Wadi Boweb (وادي بويب), northwest of the city. It was visited by Alexander The Great (356 BC - 323 BC).

Rashidun Caliphate

Jeddah first achieved prominence in 647 AD, when the third Muslim Caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan (عثمان بن عفان), turned it into a port for Muslim pilgrims making the required Hajj to Mecca.

Since then, Jeddah has been established as the main city of the historic Hejaz province and a historic port for pilgrims arriving by sea to perform their Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. The city's strategic location as the gates of the Holy City and a port on the Red Sea has caused it to be conquered many times throughout its history.

Fatimid Caliphate

In the 969 AD the Fatimids from Algeria took control in Egypt from the Ikhshidid dynasty and expanded their empire to the surrounding regions, including Hejaz and Jeddah. The Fatimids developed an extensive trade network in both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Their trade and diplomatic ties extended all the way to China and its Song Dynasty, which eventually determined the economic course of Hijaz during the High Middle Ages.

Ayyubid Empire

After Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem, in 1171 he proclaimed himself sultan of Egypt, after dissolving the Fatimid Caliphate upon the death of al-Adid, thus establishing the Ayyubid dynasty, which set conquests throughout the region. Hejaz—including Jeddah—became a part of the Ayyubid Empire in 1177 during the leadership of Sharif Ibn Abul-Hashim Al-Thalab (1094–1201). During their relatively short-lived tenure, the Ayyubids ushered in an era of economic prosperity in the lands they ruled and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world. This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in the region by constructing numerous ''madrasas'' (Islamic schools) in their major cities. Jeddah attracted Muslim sailors and merchants from Sindh, Southeast Asia and East Africa, and other distant regions.

Mamluk Sultanate

In 1254, following events in Cairo and the dissolution of the Ayyubid Empire, Hejaz became a part of the Mamluk Sultanate. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, having found his way around the Cape and obtained pilots from the coast of Zanzibar in 1497 CE, pushed his way across the Indian Ocean to the shores of Malabar and Calicut, attacked the fleets that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the Red Sea, and struck terror into the potentates all around. The Princes of Gujarat and Yemen turned for help to Egypt. Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri accordingly fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels under his Admiral, Hussein the Kurd. Jeddah was soon fortified with forced labor as a harbor of refuge from the Portuguese, allowing Arabia and the Red Sea to be protected, parts of the city wall still survives today in the old city. Even though the Portuguese were successfully repelled from the city, the fleets in the Indian Ocean were at the mercy of the enemy. This was part of the Battle of Diu between the Portuguese and the Arab Mumluks. The Portuguese soldier's grave is still found within the old city today, and it is referred to as the Christian Graves.

Ottoman Empire

In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, during the reign of Selim I. As territories of the Mamluk Sultanate, the Hejaz, including the holy city of Mecca and Jeddah, passed into Ottoman possession. The Ottomans rebuilt the weak walls of Jeddah in 1525 following their victory over Lopo Soares de Albergaria's Armada in the Red Sea. The new Turkish wall included six watchtowers and six city gates. They were constructed to defend against the Portuguese attack. Of the six gates, the Gate of Mecca was the eastern gate and the Gate of Al-Magharibah, facing the port, the western one. The Gate of Sharif faced south. The other gates were the Gate of Al-Bunt, Gate of Al-Sham (also called Gate of Al-Sharaf) and Gate of Medina, facing north. The Turks also built The Qishla of Jeddah, a small castle for the city soldiers. In the 19th century these seven gates were minimized into four giant gates with four towers. These giant gates were the Gate of Sham from the north, the Gate of Mecca from the east, the Gate of Sharif from the south, and the Gate of Al-Magharibah on the sea side.

Ahmed Al-Jazzar, the Ottoman military man mainly known for his role in the Siege of Acre, spent the earlier part of his career at Jeddah—where in 1750 he killed some seventy rioting nomads in retaliation for the killing of his commander, Abdullah Beg. It was this act which reportedly earned him the nickname "Jezzar" (butcher), which he carried for the rest of his life.

First Saudi State and Ottoman-Saudi War

In 1802, Nejdi forces conquered both Mecca and Jeddah from the Ottomans. When Sharif Ghalib Efendi informed Sultan Mahmud II of this, the Sultan ordered his Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha to retake the city. Muhammad Ali successfully regained the city in the Battle of Jeddah in 1813.

World War I and The Kingdom of Hejaz

During World War I, Sharif Hussein bin Ali declared a revolt against the Ottoman Empire, seeking independence from the Ottoman Turks and the creation of a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.

King Hussein declared the Kingdom of Hejaz. Later, Hussein was involved in war with Ibn Saud, who was the Sultan of Nejd. Hussein resigned following the fall of Mecca, in December 1924, and his son Ali bin Hussein became the new king of the remaining soil of the Kingdom of Hejaz today.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A few months later, Ibn Saud, whose clan originated in the central Nejd province, conquered Medina and Jeddah via an agreement with Jeddans following the Second Battle of Jeddah. He deposed the Sharif of Hejaz, Ali bin Hussein, who fled to Baghdad, eventually settling in Amman, Jordan, where his descendants became part of its Hashemite royalty.

As a result, Jeddah came under the sway of the Al-Saud dynasty in December 1925. In 1926, Ibn Saud added the title King of Hejaz to his position of Sultan of Nejd. Today, Jeddah has lost its historical role in peninsular politics, since the historic Hejaz province along the west coast has been subdivided into smaller provinces, and Jeddah falls within the new province of Makkah, whose provincial capital is the city of Mecca.

From 1928 to 1932, the new Khuzam Palace was built as the new residence of King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah. The palace lies south of the old walled city and was constructed under the supervision of the engineer Muhammad bin Laden. After 1963 the palace was used as a royal guest house; since 1995 it has housed the Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography.

What was left of the walls and gates of the old city was taken down in 1947. A fire in 1982 destroyed some ancient buildings in the old town center, called Al-Balad, but much is still preserved despite the commercial interest to tear down old houses (Naseef House, Gabil House) and build modern high-rise buildings. A house-by-house survey of the old districts was made in 1979, showing that some 1000 traditional buildings still existed, though the number of structures with great historic value was far less. In 1990 a Jeddah Historical Area Preservation Department was founded.

The modern city has expanded wildly beyond its old boundaries. The built-up area expanded mainly to the north along the Red Sea coastline, reaching the new airport during the 1990s and since edging its way around it toward the Ob'hur Creek some 27 kilometers from the old city center.

Geography

Most of Saudi Arabia is desert. The central region consists of an eroded plateau, mostly arid and hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The western region is mountainous except on the coastal plain bordering the Red Sea, which includes the Jeddah area.

Jeddah borders the Red Sea from the west and the Al-Sarawat Mountains from the east. It has no rivers or valleys but it includes Sharm Ob'hur, which connects the Red Sea to the other end of the city. The Sharm of Salman (also called the Gulf of Salman) borders the city from north.

Climate

Jeddah features an arid climate under Koppen's climate classification. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Jeddah retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from at midnight to in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are very hot, often breaking the mark in the afternoon and dropping to in the evening. Rainfall in Jeddah is generally sparse, and usually occurs in small amounts in December. There have also been several notable incidents of hail. Heavy thunderstorms are common in winter. The thunderstorm of December 2008 was the largest in recent memory, with rain reaching around . The lowest temperature ever recorded in Jeddah was in the winter of 1995.

Some unusual events often happen during the year, such as dust storms in summer and sometimes in winter, coming from the Arabian Peninsula's deserts or from North Africa.

Pollution and environment

Air pollution is an issue for Jeddah, particularly on hot summer days. The city has experienced bush fires, landfill fires, and pollution from the two industrial zones in the north and the south of Jeddah.

The water treatment factory and the seaport contribute to water pollution. However, the coast of the city can be considered safe and of relatively clean quality.

Economy

Historically, and due to its proximity to the Red Sea, Jeddah functioned as a port city. Even before being designated port city for Mecca, the city of Jeddah had rooted itself in the local economy as an integral trading hub for the region. In the 19th century goods such as mother-of-pearl, tortoise shells, frankincense and various other spices and items were routinely exported from the city. Apart from this, many imports into the city were destined for further export to the Suez, Africa, or the European continent. As a result of this "re-export" of goods, many items exported from Jeddah were things that could not even be found in the city or even in Arabia.

The city's geographical location places it at the heart of the region covered by the Middle East and North Africa, with all their capitals within two hours flying distance, defining Jeddah as the second commercial center of the Middle East after Dubai.

Also, Jeddah's industrial district is the fourth largest industrial city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jubail and Yanbu.

King Abdullah Street

King Abdullah Street is one of the most important streets in Jeddah that starts at King Fahd road by the waterfront in the west of Jeddah and ends all the way at the eastern end of the city. It is famous for hosting numerous corporate offices and commercial developments. Due to the economic boom in this region, there is a central business district planned, which would be one of the biggest CBDs in the Middle East.

Tahlia Street

Tahlia Street is an important fashion and shopping street in the mid-town of Jeddah. It contains many upscale department shops and boutiques, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Massimo Dutti, Tod's, and many more. It has been renamed to " Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Road".

Major organizations headquartered in Jeddah

The city serves as headquarters for several global and major organizations, including:

Saudi Geological Survey

Saudi Arabian Airlines

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

Islamic Development Bank

Jeddah Economic Forum

Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Organization

Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Jeddah Marketing Board

International Association of Islamic Banks

International Islamic News Agency

Islamic Shipowners Association

Islamic States Broadcasting Organization

The National Commercial Bank

Demographics

Popular Saudi and foreign opinion regards Jeddah as the most liberal and cosmopolitan of Saudi cities due to its historic role as port and gateway to the holy city of Mecca. For over one thousand years, Jeddah has received millions of pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa, Central Asia, Russia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, some of whom remained and became residents of the city. As a result, Jeddah is much more ethnically diverse than most Saudi cities and its culture more eclectic in nature (in contrast with the more geographically isolated and religiously strict capital, Riyadh). In comparison with other cities of Saudi Arabia, women have greater freedom of movement here; they are not required to wear a veil in public, and religious police are less active here. The oil boom of the past 50 years has brought hundreds of thousands of working immigrants and foreign workers from non-Muslim countries, including a significant number from South Asia, adding to the city's ethnic diversity.

Districts

There are in total 135 districts comprising metropolitan Jeddah which, transliterated from Arabic, are listed below in alphabetical order:

:1. Al-Murjan :2. Al-Basateen :3. Al-Mohamadiya :4. Ash-Shati :5. An-Nahda :6. An-Naeem :7. An-Nozha :8. Az-Zahraa :9. As-Salamah :10. Al-Bawadi :11. Ar-Rabwa :12. As-Safa :13. Al-Khalidiya :14. Ar-Rawdha :15. Al-Faysaliya :16. Al-Andalus :17. Al-Aziziya :18. Ar-Rihab :19. Al-Hamraa :20. Al-Mosharafa :21. Ar-Roweis :22. Ash-Sharafiya :23. Bani Malik :24. Al-Woroud :25. An-Naseem :26. Al-Baghdadiya Ash-Sharqiya :27. Al-Amariya :28. Al-Hindawiya :29. As-Saheifa :30. Al-Kandra :31. As-Sulaimaniya :32. Al-Thaalba :33. As-Sabeel :34. Al-Qurayat :35. Gholail :36. An-Nozla Al-Yamaniya :37. Al-Nozla Ash-Sharqiya :38. Al-Taghr :39. Al-Jamaa :40. Madayin Al-Fahad :41. Ar-Rawabi :42. Al-Wazeeriya :43. Petromin :44. Al-Mahjar :45. Prince Abdel Majeed :46. Obhour Al-Janobiya :47. Al-Marwa :48. AL-Fayhaa :49. King Abdul Al-Aziz University :50. Al-Baghdadiya Al-Gharbiya :51. Al-Balad :52. Al-Ajwad :53. Al-Manar :54. As-Samer :55. Abruq Ar-Roghama :56. Madinat As-Sultan :57. Um Hablain :58. Al-Hamdaniya :59. Al-Salhiya :60. Mokhatat Al-Aziziya :61. Mokhatat Shamal Al-Matar :62. Mokhatat Ar-Riyadh :63. Mokhatat Al-Huda :64. Braiman :65. Al-Salam :66. Al-Mostawdaat :67. Al-Montazahat :68. Kilo 14 :69. Al-Harazat :70. Um As-Salam :71. Mokhtat Zahrat Ash-Shamal :72. Al-Majid :73. Gowieza :74. Al-Gozain :75. Al-Kuwait :76. Al-Mahrogat :77. Al-Masfa :78. Al-Matar Al-Gadeem (old airport) :79. Al-Bokhariya :80. An-Nour :81. Bab Shareif :82. Bab Makkah :83. Bahra :84. Al-Amir Fawaz :85. Wadi Fatma :86. Obhour Shamaliya :87. At-Tarhil (deportation) :88. Al-Iskan Al-janoubi :89. At-Tawfeeq :90. Al-Goaid :91. Al-Jawhara :92. Al-Jamoum :93. Al-Khumra :94. Ad-Difaa Al-Jawi (Air Defense) :95. Ad-Dageeg :96. Ar-Robou :97. Ar-Rabie :98. Ar-Rehaily :99. As-Salmiya :100. As-Sanabil :101. As-Sinaiya (Bawadi) :102. Industrial City (Mahjar) :103. Al-Adl :104. Al-Olayia :105. Al-Faihaa :106. Al-Karanteena :107. Al-Ajaweed :108. Al-Ahmadiya :109. Al-Mosadiya :110. East Al-Khat As-Sarei :111. Kilo 10 :112. King Faisal Navy Base :113. Kilo 7 :114. Kilo 3 :115. King Faisal Guard City :116. Kilo 11 :117. Thowal :118. Kilo 13 :119. Al-Makarona :120. Al-Layth :121. Al-Gonfoda :122. Rabegh :123. Kilo 8 :124. Kilo 5 :125. Kilo 2 :126. Al-Mokhwa :127. National Guard Residence :128. As-Showag :129. Air Defense Residence :130. Al-Morsalat :131. Ash-Shoola :132. Al-Corniche :133. Al-Waha :134. Mokhatat Al-Haramain :135. Kholais

Culture

Religious significance

All citizens are Muslim, with most Saudi citizens are Sunni Muslims. The Government, Courts, Civil and Criminal law enforce a moral code established by the conservative Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam. A minority of Saudi citizens are Shia Muslims, and there is also a large foreign workforce who must follow their non-Islamic religion in a private manner.

The city has over 1,300 mosques, and the law does not allow for other religions to erect faith based buildings or to express their faith publicly. Religious books, icons and other materials not of the Islam faith are also banned. However, private religious observance, which does not involve Muslims or offend public order or morality are sometimes tolerated.

Since the 7th century, Jeddah has hosted millions of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world on their way to Hajj. This merge with pilgrims has a major impact on the society, religion, and economy of Jeddah. It also brings an annual risk of illness, known by locals as the 'hajji disease', a general term for various viral maladies.

In keeping with traditional Sharia) law, any involvement with alcohol, pork products or any illegal drugs, especially narcotics, is punished severely. Dating and public displays of affection are culturally taboo and all sexual activity outside of a lawful marriage, such as adultery, fornication, cross-dressing and homosexuality, are prohibited. Men and women must wear appropriate clothing that is not too risque or revealing.

All business activities and markets are closed five times a day, during prayer time, which lasts for about 20 minutes. Seating in restaurants and other public buildings is segregated, with one area for single men and another section for single women and families.

Cultural projects and foundations with a branch in Jeddah

Encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah

Saqifat al-Safa Trust

Cuisine

Jeddah residents are a mix of several different ethnicities and nationalities. This mixture of races has had a major impact on Jeddah's traditional cuisine and Jeddah restaurants.

As in other Saudi cities, the Nejdi dish Kabsa is popular among the people of Jeddah, often made with chicken instead of lamb meat. The Yemeni dish Mandi is also popular as a lunch meal. Hijazi cuisine is popular as well and dishes like Mabshoor, Mitabbak, Foul, Areika, Hareisa, Kabab Meiroo, Shorabah Hareira (Hareira soup), Migalgal, Madhbi (chicken grilled on stone), Madfun (literally meaning "buried"), Magloobah, Kibdah, Manzalah (usually eaten at Eid ul-Fitr), Ma'asoob, Magliya (a Hijazi version of falafel), Saleeig (a Hijazi dish made of milk rice), hummus, Biryani, Ruz Kabli, Ruz Bukhari, and Saiyadyia can be acquired in many traditional restaurants around the city, such as Althamrat, Abo-Zaid, Al-Quarmooshi, Ayaz, and Hejaziyat.

Grilled meat dishes such as shawarma, kofta and kebab have a good market in Jeddah. During Ramadan, sambousak and ful are the most popular meals during dusk. These meals are found in Lebanese, Syrian, and Turkish restaurants.

International food is popular in the city. American chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's Pizza and KFC are widely distributed in Jeddah, as are more upscale chains like Fuddruckers and Chili's. Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian foods are also popular. Italian, French, and other European restaurants are found throughout the city. India gate is a popular Indian restaurant

The local fast food chain Al Baik remains the pioneer though. It has served the population of Jeddah and the neighbouring cities of Makkah, Madinah and Yanbu for a couple of decades now and nobody in the market has been able to compete with it. Their main cuisine is fried chicken, commonly known by Jeddans as Brost, and a variety of seafood. Another popular fast-food chain is Hot and Crispy, an Arabic franchise. They are most popular for their amazingly spiced curly fries.

Other local fast food restaurants have sprung up, like Al Tazaj, which serves seasoned grilled chicken (called Farooj) and a side of Tahina with onion and spices. Foulameez serves Foul and Tameez as fast food; Kudu and Herfy serve Western fast food; Halawani serves local variants of Shawerma; and Shawermatak has pioneered drive-through sales of Shawerma.

Open-air art

During the oil boom in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a focused civic effort to bring art to Jeddah's public areas. As a result, Jeddah contains a large number of modern open-air sculptures and works of art, typically situated in roundabouts, making the city one of the largest open-air art galleries in the world. Sculptures include works by a variety of artists, ranging from the obscure to international stars such as Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró and Victor Vasarely. They often depict elements of traditional Saudi culture: coffee pots, incense burners, palm trees, etc. The fact that Islamic tradition prohibits the depiction of living creatures, notably the human form, has made for some very creative modern art, ranging from the tasteful to the bizarre and downright hideous. These include a mounted defunct propeller plane, a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of concrete with several cars protruding from it at odd angles.

Museums and collections

There may be about a dozen museums or collections in Jeddah, with a wide variety of educational aim and professionalism. Some of these are the Jeddah Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography run by the Deputy Ministry of Antiquities and Museums, the Jeddah Municipal Museum, the Naseef House, the private Abdul Rauf Hasan Khalil Museum and the private Arts Heritage Museum.

Media

Jeddah is served by four major Arabic-language newspapers, ''Asharq Al-Awsat'', ''Al-Madina'', ''Okaz'', and ''Al-Bilad'', as well as two major English-language newspapers, the ''Saudi Gazette'' and ''Arab News''. ''Okaz'' and ''Al-Madina'' are the primary newspapers of Jeddah and some other Saudi cities, with over a million readers; they focus mainly on issues that affect the city.

''Destination Jeddah'' is a monthly magazine directed at locals, new residents, incoming visitors, religious tourists, and the developing tourism business sector. The magazine serves as a guide to the city's sights and attractions, restaurants, shopping and entertainment.

Jeddah represents the largest radio and television market in Saudi Arabia. Television stations serving the city area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al Ekhbariya, the ART channels network and hundreds of cable, satellite and other specialty television providers.

The Jeddah TV Tower is a high television tower with an observation deck. The tower started construction in 2006 and was finished in 2007; it is a part of the Ministry of Information in Jeddah.

Sport

Jeddah hosts the oldest sport clubs in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad was the first club in the country, established in 1927.

Football is the most popular sport in Jeddah. Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli are well-known football clubs. They are major competitors in both the Saudi Premier League and the AFC Champions League. Al-Ittihad won the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.

There are several public football stadiums in Jeddah:

Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium

Prince Sultan bin Fahd Stadium

KAU Stadium

Air-Defense Forces Stadium

Schools League Stadium

King Abdullah Stadium (under construction)

Jeddah Also is home to Saudi Arabia's leading Rugby club started and developed since 1979 mainly run by a group of expat mambers of the local community over the years. The club has taken part in both regional and international matches and incites players from Jeddah to come and play. The last five years has shown a heavier interest from Saudi nationals who have also begun to bring rise to some local talents that could one day be the champions of the middle East. Get more information from www.ksarugby.com is the official Saudi Arabian rugby website and home to the Saudi rugby Center who are a cornerstone the future of Saudi Arabian rugby.

Accent

The Jeddah City area has a distinctive regional speech pattern called the Hejazi dialect, alternatively known as Meccan or Makkawi. It is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within the Arabic language.

Pronunciations in Hejazi differ from other Gulf dialects in some respects. The Classical Arabic qaaf (ق) is pronounced as in "get". Hijazi Arabic is also conservative with respect to the sound of the pronunciation of the letter ğim (ج), which is very close to the two sounds considered, by specialists, to be the best candidates for the way it was pronounced in Classical Arabic—namely, and . This stands in contrast with many dialects in the region, which use or for ğim instead. Some speakers replace the with or .

Life

Life in Jeddah is different from many cities in Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is a cosmopolitan city, more so than any other city in the country; it has many people coming from all over the world, who share their cultures. It also has many historical buildings with traditional designs, and it has numerous buildings near the beach. The city has very nice beaches and a corniche where people like to spend time and relax. Jeddah has the highest fountain in the world, named King Fahd's Fountain. During the annual Jeddah Festival, many games and activities are held in the city. There are shopping sprees, water skiing competitions, art exhibitions, and music festivals. Jeddah markets are known for their reasonable prices. One of the most famous shopping districts in Jeddah is Tahlia Street.

Cityscape

Old Jeddah

The Old City with its traditional multistory buildings and merchant houses has lost ground to more modern developments. Nonetheless, the Old City continues to shape the identity of the Saudi culture, preserving such areas as the old heritage buildings

Resorts

The city has many popular resorts, including Durrat Al-Arus, Al-Nawras Movenpick resort at the Red Sea Corniche, Crystal Resort, The Signature Al Murjan Beach Resort, Al Nakheel Village, Sands, and Sheraton Abhur. Many are renowned for their preserved Red Sea marine life and offshore coral reefs.

Hotels

The increasing occupancy rates of hotels every year depends on the number of tourists and hajj pilgrims. In the last few years, Jeddah received more than 2.5 millions pilgrims per year.

Consulates

One of three consulates of the United States of America in Saudi Arabia is located in Jeddah, along with consulates for 67 other countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Italy, Russia and People's Republic of China, as well as countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League states.

Landmarks

King Fahd's Fountain Jeddah's King Fahd's Fountain is a major landmark built in the 1980s and listed by the Guinness World Records organization as the highest water jet in the world at . It can be seen from a great distance. The fountain was donated to the City of Jeddah by the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, after whom it was named.

NCB Tower Built in 1983 and believed to be the highest tower in Saudi Arabia during the 1980s, with a height of over , the National Commercial Bank was Saudi Arabia's first bank.

IDB Tower The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development financing institution. It was founded by the first conference of Finance Ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), convened 18 December 1973. The bank officially began its activities on 20 October 1975.

Jeddah Municipality Tower This is the headquarters of the metropolitan area of Jeddah. The new building of the Municipality is one of Jeddah's highest towers.

Mile-High Tower A proposed tower to be built in Jeddah by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is the Mile-High Tower, or Kingdom Tower, that will stand into the air. Upon its completion, this would make this skyscraper the tallest in the world and yet another addition to Jeddah's many landmarks.

Education

, Jeddah had 849 public and private schools for male students and another 1,179 public and private schools for female students. The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is typically Arabic, with emphasis on English as a second language. However, some private schools administered by foreign entities use the English language as the medium of instruction.

For higher education, the city has several universities and colleges, including the following:

King Abdulaziz University

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Arab Open University

Dar Al-Hekma College

Effat University

College of Business Administration (CBA)

Teacher's College

Jeddah College of Technology

Jeddah Private College

College of Health Care

College of Telecom & Electronics

College of Community

Private College of Business

Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies

Batterjee Medical College

Prince Sultan College of Tourism

Prince Sultan Aviation Academy

Islamic Fiqh Academy

Jeddah Institute for Speech and Hearing

Saudi German Institute for Nursing

Health Manpower Training Institutes Group

Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute

Transport

Airport

Jeddah is served by King Abdulaziz International Airport. The airport has four passenger terminals. One is the Hajj Terminal, a special outdoor terminal covered by enormous white tents, which was constructed to handle the more than two million pilgrims who pass through the airport during the Hajj season. The Southern Terminal is used for Saudi Airlines flights, while the Northern Terminal serves foreign and other national airlines. A new plan for the extension of airport is being laid. The Royal Terminal is a special terminal reserved for VIPs, foreign kings and presidents, and the Saudi Royal Family. A portion of the airport was used by Coalition B-52 heavy bombers during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Seaport

The Jeddah Seaport is the 32nd busiest seaport in the world . It handles the majority of Saudi Arabia's commercial movement.

Roads and rails

Jeddah does not have any rapid transit system, but a rail system connecting the city to Riyadh is now under construction. The Haramain High Speed Rail Project will provide a high-speed rail connection to Mecca and Medina.

Modern streets connect the different areas of the city to each other. Jeddah's main highways run parallel to each other.

Issues and challenges

Today, the city faces many challenges and issues, such as weak sewage systems, heavy traffic, epidemics, water shortage, and pollution issues.

Traffic While the congested traffic is cause for concern in Jeddah, the Saudi Gazette reports that there is a plan in the works to tackle the traffic issue. A reported 3 billion Saudi Riyals will be put into constructing flyovers and underpasses in an effort to reduce traffic. The plan is scheduled to take about five years from its start to finish.

Sewage Prior to the construction of a waste treatment plant, Jeddah's waste water was disposed of by either discharge into the sea or via absorption into deep underground pits. As the city grew a proper waste management plant was created and the built up part of the city was connected with a sewer system by the 1970s. However, even with the ever increasing population, there has not been much development to this original sewer system. The original plant cannot cope amount of waste inundating it daily. As a result, some untreated sewage is discharged directly into the sea and the entire northern part of the city remains unconnected to the sewage system at all, instead relying on septic tanks.

2009 Jeddah floods

On 25 November 2009, heavy floods affected the city and other areas of Makkah Province. The floods were described by civil defence officials as the worst in 27 years. , 77 people were reported to have been killed, and more than 350 were missing. Some roads were under a metre (three feet) of water on 26 November, and many of the victims were believed to have drowned in their cars. At least 3,000 vehicles were swept away or damaged. The death toll was expected to rise as flood waters receded, allowing rescuers to reach stranded vehicles.

2011 Jeddah floods

On 26 January 2011, heavy floods affected the city and other areas of Makkah Province. The cumulative rainfall exceeded the 90 mm recorded in four hours during the 25 November 2009 flash floods. Streets including Palestine Street, Madinah Road and Wali Al-Ahad Street were either flooded or jammed with traffic. Cars were seen floating in some places. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told local newspaper ''Arab News'' that East Jeddah was swamped and floodwater was rushing west towards the Red Sea, turning streets into rivers once again.

Sister cities

Jeddah has 25 sister cities (aka "twin towns") which are selected based on economic, cultural and political criteria.

Jakarta, Surabaya, Indonesia Johor Bahru, Malaysia Kuching, Malaysia Karachi, Pakistan Kazan, Russia Marbella, Spain Mary, Turkmenistan Odessa, Ukraine Osh, Kyrgyzstan Plovdiv, Bulgaria Shimonoseki, Japan Saint Petersburg, Russia Strasbourg, France Stuttgart, Germany Taipei, Taiwan Xi'an, People's Republic of China Oran, Algeria

See also

List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia

List of deep-water ports

Notes

References

Farsi, Hani M.S. (Mohamed Said). ''Jeddah: city of art: the sculptures and monuments.'' London: Stacey International, 1991. ISBN 0-905743-66-0

Facey, William & Grant, Gillian. ''Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers''. ISBN 0-905743-74-1

Tarabulsi, Mohammed Yosuf. ''Jeddah: A Story of a City''. Riyadh: King Fahd National Library, 2006. ISBN 9960-52-413-2

John F. Keane. ''Six months in the Hijaz : journeys to Makkah and Madinah 1877-1989''. Manchester: Barzan Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-9549701-1-X

Al-Khaldi, Ibrahim. ''The Bedouin Photographer'' - ''Al-Mosawwir Al-Badawi''. Kuwait, 2004.

Badr El-Hage. ''Saudi Arabia : caught in time 1861-1939''. Published by Garnet, Reading, 1997. ISBN 1-85964-090-7

Captain G. S. Froster. ''A trip Across the Peninsula - Rehla Abr Al-Jazeera''. Mombai, India, 1866.

''From Bullard to Mr Chamberlain''. Jeddah, 1925 Feb. (No.# secrets) - Archived Post.

Al-Rehani. ''Nejd and Its Followers''.

Al-Turki, Thuraya. ''Jeddah: Um Al-Rakha wal Sheddah''. Published by Dar Al-Shrooq.

Al-Harbi, Dalal. ''King Abdulaziz and his Strategies to deal with events : Events of Jeddah''. King Abdulaziz National Library, 2003. ISBN 9960-624-88-9

Didier, Charles. ''Séjour Chez Le Grand-Cherif De La Mekke''. Librairie De L. Hachette et, Rue Pierre.

Didier, Charles. ''Rehla Ela Al-Hejaz: A trip to Hejaz''. Translated from "Séjour Chez Le Grand-Cherif De La Mekke" into Arabic. Paris, 1854. ISBN 9960-677-14-1

External links

Municipality of Jeddah Official municipality website (in Arabic)

Principality of Jeddah Official Jeddah principality website (in Arabic)

City of Jeddah Official website (in English)

Interactive Jeddah Map from Jeddah Municipality (Official)

Category:Cities in the Ottoman Empire Category:Geography of Saudi Arabia Category:Populated coastal places in Saudi Arabia Category:Populated places established in the 6th century BC Category:Populated places in Makkah Province Category:Populated places in Saudi Arabia Category:Port cities in the Arabian Peninsula Category:Port cities and towns in Saudi Arabia Category:Red Sea Category:Underwater diving sites

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Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
name	Imran Khan Niazi
birth date	November 25, 1952
birth place	Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
party	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
spouse	Jemima Khan (1995 - 2004)
children	2 (Sulaiman Isa and Kasim)
residence	Lahore
occupation	Politician, philanthropist
religion	Islam
website	http://www.insaf.pk/ }}

playername	Imran Khan
country	Pakistan
fullname	Imran Khan Niazi
living	true
dayofbirth	25
monthofbirth	11
yearofbirth	1952
placeofbirth	Lahore, Punjab
countryofbirth	Pakistan
batting	Right-handed
bowling	Right-arm fast
role	All-rounder
international	true
testdebutdate	3 June
testdebutyear	1971
testdebutagainst	England
testcap	65
lasttestdate	7 January
lasttestyear	1992
lasttestagainst	Sri Lanka
odidebutdate	31 August
odidebutyear	1974
odidebutagainst	England
odicap	12
lastodidate	25 March
lastodiyear	1992
lastodiagainst	England
club1	Sussex
year1	1977 – 1988
club2	New South Wales
year2	1984/85
club3	PIA
year3	1975 – 1981
club4	Worcestershire
year4	1971 – 1976
club5	Oxford University
year5	1973 – 1975
club6	Lahore
year6	1969 – 1971
columns	4
column1	Test
matches1	88
runs1	3807
bat avg1	37.69
100s/50s1	6/18
top score1	136
deliveries1	19458
wickets1	362
bowl avg1	22.81
fivefor1	23
tenfor1	6
best bowling1	8/58
catches/stumpings1	28/–
column2	ODI
matches2	175
runs2	3709
bat avg2	33.41
100s/50s2	1/19
top score2	102*
deliveries2	7461
wickets2	182
bowl avg2	26.61
fivefor2	1
tenfor2	n/a
best bowling2	6/14
catches/stumpings2	36/–
column3	FC
matches3	382
runs3	17771
bat avg3	36.79
100s/50s3	30/93
top score3	170
deliveries3	65224
wickets3	1287
bowl avg3	22.32
fivefor3	70
tenfor3	13
best bowling3	8/34
catches/stumpings3	117/–
column4	LA
matches4	425
runs4	10100
bat avg4	33.22
100s/50s4	5/66
top score4	114*
deliveries4	19122
wickets4	507
bowl avg4	22.31
fivefor4	6
tenfor4	n/a
best bowling4	6/14
catches/stumpings4	84/–
date	26 June
year	2008
source	http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1383/1383.html CricketArchive }}

Imran Khan Niazi (Punjabi, Pashto, }}) (born 25 November 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and being a politician since the mid-1990s. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator and Chancellor of the University of Bradford.

Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982-1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches. On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of a political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice). He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007. Khan, through worldwide fundraising, helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali's Namal College in 2008.

Family, education, and personal life

Imran Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum (Burki) and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in a middle-class Niazi Pathan family with four sisters. Settled in Punjab, Khan's father descended from the Pashtun (Pathan) Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali in Punjab. Imran's Mother Shaukat Khanum (Burki's) family includes successful hockey players and cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.

Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith

On 16 May 1995, Khan married English socialite Jemima Goldsmith, a convert to Islam, in an Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey. The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan, produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999). As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan" .The marriage ended amicably. Imran has regular access to his children and his relationship with his ex-wife is friendly. Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.

Cricket career

Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71). Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973-75 seasons. At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980-81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.

In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976-77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia. Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.

As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. In 9 Tests, he got 62 wickets at 13.29 each, the lowest average of any bowler in Test history with at least 50 wickets in a calendar year. In January 1983, playing against India, he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (ICC player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.

Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order. He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia. He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so. In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs.

Captaincy

At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistani cricket team from Javed Miandad. Recalling his initial discomfort with this new role, he later said, "When I became the cricket captain, I couldn’t speak to the team directly I was so shy. I had to tell the manager, I said listen can you talk to them, this is what I want to convey to the team. I mean early team meetings I use to be so shy and embarrassed I couldn’t talk to the team." As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.

In the team's second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's. Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981-82. He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982-83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.

This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984-85 season.

In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first ever Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England the same year. During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team. Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well". He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests.

Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself.

Post-retirement

In 1994, Khan had admitted that, during Test matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot." In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, ''India Today''. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago. Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10-2 majority decision by the jury.

Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's ''Outlook'' magazine, the ''Guardian'', the ''Independent'', and the ''Telegraph''. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network. In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports' special live show, Straight Drive, while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for BBC during the 1999 World Cup.

In November 2009 Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine.

Social work

For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994. Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations. Princess of Wales Lady Diana also visited Lahore in 1996 in order to raise funds for the Cancer hospital.

During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF's Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

On 27 April 2008, Khan's brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College, was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005. Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi, using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.

Political work

Khan entered electoral politics after few years after the end of his professional cricketing career. Since then, his most significant political work has been to bring awareness towards the lack of justice in Pakistan. This movement to bring justice was coupled with awareness in media and harassment of judiciary by President Pervez Musharaf. The public, with the help of lawyers, NGOs and other major political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, fought a battle on the roads, getting judiciary eventually restored in its much improved (impartial)form . Initially, Imran Khan's politics were not taken seriously in Pakistan. However, his popularity has sharply risen, especially among women and the youth of Pakistan, after the repeated bad governance by the government and interference by US. Recently, Imran Khan has been the only politician who has responded to terrorism allegations on Pakistan. While Khan is viewed as a fundamentalist by some political circles, he has suggested solutions for helping US and NATO forces to fight terrorism while at the same time, not creating more terrorists in Pakistan. Imran Khan is sometimes viewed as a stubborn politician who does not involve others in decision making. However, Imran Khan has openly denied this allegation and claimed that the level of democracy in the executive committee meeting of his party (PTI) is unmatched by any other political party in Pakistan. While many people seem hopeless about Imran's political victory in Pakistan, he has known to someone possessing high level of determination and perseverance, as demonstrated by his cricket and philanthropic career. His political popularity is rising quickly in Pakistan and although the party has only one seat in 2002 elections and kept out of elections in 2008, resulting in no representation in Parliament, Imran Khan is considered as the one of the four major political leaders in Pakistan, especially by mainstream media (others being Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain).

On 25 April 1996, Khan founded his own political party called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a proposed slogan of "Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem." Khan, who contested from 7 districts, and members of his party were universally defeated at the polls in the 1997 general elections. Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, but denounced his presidency a few months before the 2002 general elections. Many political commentators and his opponents termed Khan's change in opinion an opportunistic move. "I regret supporting the referendum. I was made to understand that when he won, the general would begin a clean-up of the corrupt in the system. But really it wasn't the case," he later explained. During the 2002 election season, he also voiced his opposition to Pakistan's logistical support of US troops in Afghanistan by claiming that their country had become a "servant of America." PTI won 0.8% of the popular vote and one out of 272 open seats on the 20 October 2002 legislative elections. Khan, who was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali, was sworn in as an MP on 16 November.. As an MP, he was part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts, and expressed legislative interest in Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice.

On 6 May 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim figures to criticise a 300-word ''Newsweek'' story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from American president George W. Bush for the incident. In 2006, he exclaimed, "Musharraf is sitting here, and he licks George Bush’s shoes!" Criticizing Muslim leaders supportive of the Bush administration, he added, "They are the puppets sitting on the Muslim world. We want a sovereign Pakistan. We do not want a president to be a poodle of George Bush." During George W. Bush's visit to Pakistan in March 2006, Khan was placed under house arrest in Islamabad after his threats of organising a protest. In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan, were rejected on 5 September.

On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which General Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief. On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest at his father's home hours after President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Khan had demanded the death penalty for Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule, which he equated to "committing treason". The next day, on 4 November, Khan escaped and went into peripatetic hiding. He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab. At the rally, Khan was captured by students from the Jamaat-i-Islami political party, who claimed that Khan was an uninvited nuisance at the rally, and they handed him over to the police, who charged him under the Anti-terrorism act for allegedly inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience, and for spreading hatred. Incarcerated in the Dera Ghazi Khan Jail, Khan's relatives had access to him and were able to meet him to deliver goods during his week-long stay in jail. On 19 November, Khan let out the word through PTI members and his family that he had begun a hunger strike but the Deputy Superintendent of Dera Ghazi Khan Jail denied this news, saying that Khan had bread, eggs and fruit for breakfast. Khan was one of the 3,000 political prisoners released from imprisonment on 21 November 2007.

His party boycotted the national elections on 18 February 2008 and hence, no member of PTI has served in Parliament since Khan's resignation in 2007. Despite no longer being a member of Parliament, Khan was placed under house arrest in the crackdown by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of anti-government protests on 15 March 2009.

In April 2011, Khan lead protests over the drone attacks in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. He and his protesters stayed on the streets overnight to show solidarity with the victims of these drone attacks by the US Military.

Ideology

Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.

Khan has credited his decision to enter politics with a spiritual awakening,"I never drank or smoked, but I used to do my share of partying. In my spiritual evolution there was a block," he explained to the American ''Washington Post''. As an MP, Khan sometimes voted with a bloc of hard-line religious parties such as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, whose leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he supported for prime minister over Musharraf's candidate in 2002. On religion in Pakistan, Khan has said that, "As time passes by, religious thought has to evolve, but it is not evolving, it is reacting against Western culture and often has nothing to do with faith or religion."

Khan told Britain's ''Daily Telegraph'', "I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary." Other ideas he has presented include a requirement of all students to spend a year after graduation teaching in the countryside and cutting down the over-staffed bureaucracy in order to send them to teach too. "We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grass roots," he has said. In June 2007, Khan publicly deplored Britain for knighting Indian-born author Salman Rushdie. He said, "Western civilisation should have been mindful of the injury the writer had caused to the Muslim community by writing his highly controversial book, ''The Satanic Verses''."

Criticism

During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp. though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol. He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.

Khan is often dismissed as a political lightweight and a celebrity outsider in Pakistan, where national newspapers also refer to him as a "spoiler politician". Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a political party with its voting stronghold in Karachi, has asserted that Khan is "a sick person who has been a total failure in politics and is alive just because of the media coverage". The Political observers say the crowds he draws are attracted by his cricketing celebrity, and the public has been reported to view him as a figure of entertainment rather than a serious political authority.

''The Guardian'' newspaper in England described Khan as a "miserable politician," observing that, "Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower... He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next." The charge constantly raised against Khan is that of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life's "playboy to puritan U-turn." One of Pakistan's most controversial political commentators, Najam Sethi, stated that, "A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn’t inspire people." Khan's political flip-flops consist of his vocal criticism of President Musharraf after having supported his military takeover in 1999. Similarly, Khan has been a critic of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when Sharif was in power, having said at the time: "Our current prime minister has a fascist mind-set, and members of parliament cannot go against the ruling party. We think that every day he stays in power, the country is sinking more into anarchy.". In a column entitled "Will the Real Imran Please Stand Up," Pakistani columnist Amir Zia quoted one of PTI's Karachi-based leaders as saying, "Even we are finding it difficult to figure out the real Imran. He dons the shalwar-kameez and preaches desi and religious values while in Pakistan, but transforms himself completely while rubbing shoulders with the elite in Britain and elsewhere in the west."

In 2008, as part of the Hall of Shame awards for 2007, Pakistan's ''Newsline'' magazine gave Khan the "Paris Hilton award for being the most undeserving media darling." The 'citation' for Khan read: "He is the leader of a party that is the proud holder of one National Assembly seat (and) gets media coverage inversely proportional to his political influence." ''The Guardian'' has described the coverage garnered by Khan's post-retirement activities in England, where he made his name as a cricket star and a night-club regular., as "terrible tosh, with danger attached. It turns a great (and greatly miserable) Third World nation into a gossip-column annexe. We may all choke on such frivolity." After the 2008 general elections, political columnist Azam Khalil addressed Khan, who remains respected as a cricket legend, as one of the "utter failures in Pakistani politics". Writing in the ''Frontier Post'', Khalil added: "Imran Khan has time and again changed his political course and at present has no political ideology and therefore was not taken seriously by a vast majority of the people."

Awards and honours

In 1992, Khan was given Pakistan's civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz

In 1983, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award

Khan is featured in the University of Oxford's Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford's Keble College.

On 7 December 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford, where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project.

In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket.

In 1983, he was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year

In 1985, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year

In 1990, Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year

Khan is currently placed at Number 8 on the all-time list of the ESPN Legends of Cricket.

On 5 July 2008, he was one of several veteran Asian cricketers presented special silver jubilee awards at the inaugural Asian cricket Council (ACC) award ceremony in Karachi. On 8 July 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, for "acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities. On 13 December 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan. In 2009, at International Cricket Council's centennial year celebration, Khan was one of fifty-five cricketers inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Writings by Khan

Khan occasionally contributes opinion editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics to British newspapers. He has also published five works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. It was disclosed in 2008 that Khan did not write his second book, ''Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan''. Instead, his the book's publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that he had to write the book for Khan. Lewis recalls that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, "he handed me a leatherbound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on."

Books

Articles

Guardian comments, political and cricket commentary by Khan

Telegraph columns, sports articles penned by Khan from 2000 to present

We must address the root causes of this terror, Khan's editorial in the ''Independent'' following the 11 September attacks

Benazir Bhutto has only herself to blame, Khan's 2007 editorial on Bhutto's return to Pakistan

References

Further reading

External links

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan's political party

Chancellor: Imran Khan at the University of Bradford

Imran Khan: Pakistan has lost its dignity and self-esteem, Imran Khan, ''The Independent'', 3 May 2011

;Articles

The NS Interview: Imran Khan Mehdi Hasan, ''New Statesman'', 20 August 2010

Imran Khan's revolution, Murtaza Razvi, ''Dawn'', 27 April 2011

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