Medina

Medina (/məˈdiːnə/; Arabic: المدينة المنورة‎, al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, "the radiant city"; or المدينة, al-Madīnah, "the city"), also transliterated as Madīnah, is a city in the Hejaz, and the capital of the Al Madinah Region of Saudi Arabia. The city contains al-Masjid an-Nabawi ("the Prophet's Mosque"), which is the burial place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and is the second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca.

Medina was Muhammad's destination after his Hijrah from Mecca, and became the capital of a rapidly increasing Muslim Empire, first under Muhammad's leadership, and then under the first four Rashidun caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. It served as the power base of Islam in its first century where the early Muslim community developed. Medina is home to the three oldest mosques, namely the Quba Mosque, al-Masjid an-Nabawi, and Masjid al-Qiblatayn ("the mosque of the two qiblas"). Muslims believe that the chronologically final surahs of the Quran were revealed to Muhammad in Medina, and are called Medinan surahs in contrast to the earlier Meccan surahs.

Maher Zain

Maher Zain (Arabic: ماهر زين‎ ; born 16 July 1981) is a Muslim Swedish R&B singer, songwriter and music producer of Lebanese origin. With more Facebook fans than any other Muslim artist, award-winning singer-songwriter Maher Zain is one of the biggest stars in modern Islamic music. He released his debut album Thank You Allah, an internationally successful album produced by Awakening Records, in 2009. He released his follow-up album Forgive Me in April 2012 under the same production company.

Career

Beginnings

Maher Zain's Lebanese family emigrated to Sweden when he was eight. He completed his schooling there, gaining a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. After university, he entered the music industry in Sweden and linked up with RedOne, the Moroccan-born Swedish producer, in 2005. When RedOne moved to New York in 2006, Maher Zain followed soon after to continue his music industry career in the USA producing for artists such as Kat DeLuna.

On returning home to Sweden, he became engaged once more with his Islamic faith and decided to move away from a career as a music producer to become a singer/songwriter of contemporary R&B music with a strong Muslim religious influence.

2012 Ryder Cup

The 39th Ryder Cup was held September 28–30, 2012, in the United States at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. This was the first time that the Ryder Cup was held in Illinois. Europe went into the competition as the cup holders, having won in 2010 to regain it. The team captains were Davis Love III for the U.S. and José María Olazábal for Europe.

At the start of the final day's play, the U.S. led 10–6 and required 4½ points to win; Europe required 8 points to retain the cup and 8½ to win it outright. Europe achieved one of the greatest comebacks in Ryder Cup history by winning eight and tying one of the 12 singles matches. Martin Kaymer's five-foot putt on the 18th hole to defeat Steve Stricker took the score to 14–13, allowing Europe to retain the cup with one match still in progress. Tiger Woods missed a putt on the final green and conceded the hole to Francesco Molinari, halving the final point and securing outright victory for the European team, 14½–13½. It was named by European media covering the event as the Miracle at Medinah.

Muhammad

Muḥammad (Arabic: محمد‎; c. 570 CE – 8 June 632 CE), is the central figure of Islam and widely regarded as its founder. He is known to Muslims as the "Holy Prophet", almost all of whom consider him to be the last prophet sent by God to mankind to restore Islam, which they believe to be the unaltered original monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, and the Quran, which Muslims believe was revealed to him by God, formed the basis of Islamic religious belief.

Born approximately in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age; he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. After his childhood Muhammad primarily worked as a merchant. Occasionally, he would retreat to a cave named Hira in the mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer; later, at age 40, he reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave and received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" (lit. islām) to him is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, similar to the other prophets in Islam.

Ryder

Ryder System, Inc., or Ryder, is an American-based provider of transportation and supply chain management products, and is especially known for its fleet of rental trucks. Ryder specializes in fleet management, supply chain management and dedicated contracted carriage. Ryder operates in North America, the United Kingdom and Asia. It has its headquarters in suburban Miami, Florida within Miami-Dade County.

History

Ryder was founded in Miami, Florida in 1933 by James Ryder as a concrete hauling company with one truck, a 1931 Model "A" Ford. Within a few years, the business expanded to leasing trucks to other companies. This led to Ryder changing its focus from distribution to leasing. By 1939, Ryder's truck fleet had increased to 50. Ryder bought Great Southern Trucking Company in 1952. In 1955 Ryder System, Inc. was formed to combine Great Southern and Ryder Truck Rental. Ryder System went public in 1955. By the 1960s and 1970s, Ryder had expanded into the distribution and supply chain markets.