Billionaire Makes His Name Visible from Space



Shiekh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan of the UAE, owner of the largest pickup truck in the world, would like to leave his mark on the world. He'd prefer to do so in a way that's visible from space, so he had workers dig letters a thousand feet across into the sand of his island Al Futaisi:

The name is two miles across — with letters a kilometre high. It is so huge that the "H", the first "A" and part of the "M" have been made into waterways.

The mega-rich sheikh, 63 — a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi — in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates — boasts a £14billion fortune that is second only to the Saudi king's.


Link and News Story -via Gizmodo | Image: Google Maps

Mega rich but aparantly has never seen a map, globe, or satellite imagery, and thus does not know that his monument is upside down relative to the conventional depiction of the earth.
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This reminds me of the character Johnny Lee Wombat from the Preacher comic books, who did something similar, but more obscene and for different reasons.

He had a lifelong dream to become an astronaut, but was rejected from the Air Force pilot program. So he bought up a ton of land, some dynamite, and carved a profane invective large enough that the astronauts on the shuttle would be able to see it from orbit.

I like his better.
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Glad to see he isn't taking that whole "feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive.." thing from the Quran seriously. Way better to spend your mullah on useless space lettering.
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Not familiar with Johnny Lee Wombat from Preacher, but the villain Chairface Chippendale from _The Tick_ was going to write his name on the moon with a laser. He only got the "CHA" when The Tick stopped him. Later, The Tick erased the "C" while on the moon. In every subsequent episode, the moon had "HA" written on it.
If you go to the image of Shiekh Hamad's island and back out, only the "HA" and one line of the M filled with water is visible, looking like "HA!" Immediately made me think that Chairface Chippendale had struck again.
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And next time someone asks me, a minimum wage employee with tuition bills, to help feed starving children in whereever, I will tell them no, but I know who can.

You can look up his name on a map of Arabia.

I have never...

I can not even tell you how upset this makes me.

I mean I am glad he probably spread the wealth a little buy hiring the labor, but he could have done something useful.

I hope his monument gets washed into the sea
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We are talking about the United Arab Emirates. Not the least westernized, commercialized region in the Arabian Peninsula.

Assuming this guy meant to praise himself by doing this; and not that "Hamad" is a regional form of "Hamd (Praise)", as in Al Hamdullilah (All praise be to Allah), then this guy does not appear to be any kind of genuine Muslim.

“The best jihad is the one in which your horse is slain and your blood is spilled.” [Al Baqarah 15]

Not the one in which your personal name is 1,000 miles across.
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So, I just came across this really interesting work by al-Ghazali called "Jewels of the Qur'an" and wanted to share this section:

"Know with certainty that the secrets of the visible world are veiled from the souls which are defiled by love of the world and most of whose energies are fully absorbed in the pursuit of the present world. We only mentioned this much [of these secrets] in order to produce yearning for, and encouragement to, them, and in order to make known one of the secrets of the Qur'an to him who is undmindful of it and to whom the shells of the Qur'an are not opened at all to reveal its jewels. Then if your desire is true, you will endeavour to seek out these secrets and ask the help of men of insight, in these matters, and will receive help from them. I do not think that you will be successful should you apply yourself to it solely by your judgement and reason. How will you be able to understand the language in action? On the contrary, you suppose that in the universe there is only the language of statement. This is why you did not understand the meaning of the words of God (may He be exalted). "They [i.e. the heavens and the earth] said, 'We have submitted [to You] willingly," unless you suppose that the earth has a language and life. Nor do you understand the statement of the speakers, 'The wall asked the peg, 'Why do you pierce me?' It replied, 'Ask him who hammers me and does not leave me. Behind me is the stone which hammers me.""

This sums up why Hamad is not genuinely Muslim. He demonstrates too much attachment/love for the "world" and for his self, and not enough for God. This attachment leads to a distorted understanding of Islam (or of any religion, or of truth generally).

More al-Ghazali and full-text of Jewels of the Qur'an: http://www.ghazali.org/site/oeuvre-t.htm
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I'm an muslim Emarati and i say this is just idiotic, please don't think that way about all of us as idiots just because one person wants to put out his name for the world to see.
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@ Ryan S:

Your reference:

“The best jihad is the one in which your horse is slain and your blood is spilled.” [Al Baqarah 15]

...is false. There is no such verse.
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