Rekhta Foundation virtual exhibits highlight life of poets

Source: Google Arts & Culture, Rekhta Foundation page. Exhibits feature Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum, Jahan Ara Begum and Begum Zeb-Un-Nissa.

Google Arts & Culture features content from over 1000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online. One such partner is the Rekhta Foundation, from Noida, India.

The foundation is the largest online repository of Urdu poetry in the world. The website displays works of over 2,100 well-known and lesser known poets from the 13th century to the present day, and includes over 25,000 nazms and ghazals (Editor's note: types of Urdu poetry) in Persian, Devanagari and Roman scripts.

Exhibits on the Rekhta Foundation site on Google Arts & Culture include a focus on the life of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum, one of the rulers of Bhopal, the present-day capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. The exhibit describes the life of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum and how she advanced infrastructure, architecture, arts and education.

Another online exhibit is on Jahan Ara Begum, Shah Jahan's daughter. Shah Jahan is famous for building the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, while Jahan Ara Begum is known for her wisdom and her contribution to Sufism. Her Sufi mentor, Mulla Shah, wanted to name her his successor, but the rules of the order disallowed it. She is known for authoring several books, including a biography of Mulla Shah titled Ṣaḥibia and a biography of Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti, the philosopher who established the Chisti order of Sufism, titled Munis-ul-Arwah (The Companion Spirits).

Begum Zeb-un-Nissa, Jahan Ara Begum's niece and the eldest daughter of Aurangzeb, has her own section. She wrote poetry, and was imprisoned for the last 20 years of her life by her father.

VCM adds works from National Museum of Kazahstan to e-collection

The Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (VCM) welcomes the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a new participating museum.

Created under the Cultural Heritage State Program on behalf of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the museum aims to be the hub for analysis, comparison, reflection, discussion, and evaluation of statements on the historical and cultural heritage of Kazakhstan. 

 

The VCM is a project of the Asia-Europe Museum Network (ASEMUS) to foster mutual understanding among people from diverse cultural backgrounds. By presenting a collection of Asian masterpieces through the web, the VCM provides an opportunity for everyone to appreciate the arts, regardless of financial or geographical circumstances, and promotes communication among participating museums all around the world by introducing their collections online. 

 

Interested?

 

Explore the masterpieces of the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan

View the al Sabah Collection at the Google Cultural Institute

Source: al Sabah Collection, from the Google Cultural Institute. Captioned. 'Inscribed Royal Gemstone, 1,001 AD'. Rectangular emerald stone, w3.35 x h2.92 cm, inscribed with seven lines of 'naskhi' script from the Quran (2:255). View this item online.

The al Sabah Collection, regarded by international authorities as one of a small handful of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the world.  has 48 items available for viewing online via the Google Cultural Institute.

The Collection was begun in 1975 when Sheikh Nasser Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah purchased a mid-14th century enamelled glass bottle from a London art gallery. Curated by Sheikh Nasser and his wife Sheikha Hussah Sabah al Salem al Sabah, the Collection was moved in 1983 from Sheikh Nasser’s private residence to a new location at the Kuwait National Museum. The building became known as Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah (DAI), and Sheikha Hussah became the organisation’s Director General. Since its inception in 1983, DAI has diversified from managing the loan of the al Sabah Collection of art from the Islamic world to the State of Kuwait to becoming an internationally-recognised cultural organisation.

The Collection has now grown to more than 30,000 objects representing the full geographic and chronological range of the Islamic world, from Spain to China, from the 7th to 19th centuries. It features all aspects of art, including arms and armour, calligraphy, carpets and textiles, ceramics, coins, ivory, jewellery, extraordinary manuscripts and miniatures, metalwork, scientific instruments, stone and stucco, wood and glass. The Collection actively publishes volumes focused on its holdings, organises special exhibitions, and loans objects to exhibitions elsewhere in the world.

Interested?

View the Suroor Asia blog post on the Google Cultural Institute and the Aan Collection

Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces adds more masterpieces, highlights Silk Road

The Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (VCM) has grown by five members in the past year, it was revealed at the annual meeting of the Trustees of the VCM at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore on 19 and 20 November, 2015.

Jointly led by Jos Takema, Project Manager of the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands and Yun Hye Chung of the National Museum of Korea, the VCM now boasts 135 member museums from 35 countries and 183 new masterpieces for a total of 2,514 available online.

In December, the VCM introduced a new highlight on the Silk Road. A dedicated Silk Road button on the VCM Search for Masterpiec es page provides instant access to relevant masterpieces. Pictured is a folio from an 8th century large Quran from the collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum (copyright Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore), which turned up during the search. 

According to the VCM, the museum acquired this folio in 1999. It is likely from a monumental Quran in Tashkent, Uzbekistan attributed to the Caliph Uthman (reign 644 to 656) and might have been carried along the Silk Route. The item has been carbon-dated, and there is a 68% probability of a date between 640 and 705 and 95% probability of a date between 595 and 855. 

The VCM website development is sponsored by NAVER, Korea's top search portal. The VCM also began new social media initiatives on Facebook and Instagram this year.

The VCM was originally a project of ASEMUS - the Asia Europe Museum Network. It features online versions of masterpieces of Asian origin from the collections of contributing museums to promote mutual understanding and appreciation between peoples of various and different cultures. Each museum contributes a selection of 25 masterpieces from their own collections.

Bank Simpanan Nasional is first bank in Malaysia to offer virtual teller machines

Bank Simpanan Nasional has become the first bank in Malaysia to introduce virtual teller machines (VTMs), which allow bank tellers in one location to serve customers in multiple locations in Malaysia remotely, via a live virtual banking operation.

BSN was inspired by kiosk banking, which has been implemented in European countries, China, Canada and the US, to adopt VTMs. The project involves a strategic collaboration between BSN and Vastcomp to build a custom system combined with video conferencing telepresence technology from Cisco that complies with the bank's security requirements. BSN also partnered with Telekom Malaysia as the network service provider.

“The VTM balances the workload between branches, enabling customers in busy branches to perform transactions assisted by tellers in less busy branches nationwide. Customers can now enjoy counter transactions without geographical limitations and experience a more comfortable and personalised professional financial services,” said BSN Chief Executive Datuk Adinan Maning.

Transactions that can be carried out via VTM include balance enquiries, deposits and withdrawals, intra/inter-bank fund transfers, inter-bank GIRO transfers, bill payments, loan and credit card repayments and Sijil Simpanan Premium* (SSP) savings. For security purposes, all transactions require the customer to insert their MyKad (ID) into the Multi-Link Queue Management System (MLQMS) or VTM and have their thumbprint verified, while the transactions are recorded.

Datuk Adinan added, “In total, BSN is investing RM30 million to roll out the VTM that provides more than 80% of counter services, and is an improvement over current automated teller machines (ATMs) and cash deposit machines (CDMs). In the near future, VTM will also be offering additional services including account opening and issuance of debit cards, customer information management and bill payments. The VTM can also allow extended banking hours with the placement of VTMs at public locations, if necessary.”

Speaking at the launch, Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said, “The technology is rapidly changing. To keep well abreast and continue to evolve with the advent of technology, it is important that banks innovate and provide the latest financial technology to consumers. I commend BSN on its concerted effort in optimising technology to provide smart, efficient and interactive face-to-face banking services via a technological system. It is an excellent tool to offer a combination of technology and human touch banking experience.”

Interested?

BSN's 9.1 million+ customers can enjoy the new banking service in 31 branches, with 93 VTMs already operational. BSN currently has 401 branches, 870 ATMs, and 387 CDMs across Malaysia. The system currently involves a total of 450 BSN tellers as virtual teller agents nationwide. Read the list of virtual teller services

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about Cisco's involvement in the VTMs

*SSP savings are a type of shari'ah-compliant savings which do not accrue interest. In lieu of interest, SSP account owners are entered in weekly lucky draws and stand to win prizes.

Getty Publications offers free titles in PDF

The Getty Publications Virtual Library offers free digital backlist titles from the Getty Publications archives. The titles may be read online, or downloaded in PDF form.

The library featured 250 titles at its launch in January 2014, "available as high-quality scans to read online, or to download in their entirety, for free", the organisation said in a blog post.

Publications of note include:

The Ardabil Carpets
Rexford Stead, 1974
50 pages, PDF file size: 11.9 MB

This is a study of two Persian carpets, from the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century, believed to be "among the finest ever produced". The carpets, one now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the US and the other in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in the UK are believed to have been offerings during the Safavid dynasty in sixteenth-century Persia.

The Arts of Fire: Islamic Influences on Glass and Ceramics of the Italian Renaissance

Edited by Catherine Hess, with contributions by George Saliba and Linda Komaroff, 2004
184 pages, PDF file size: 14 MB

Published to coincide with an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, The Arts of Fire demonstrates how many of the techniques of glass and ceramic production and ornamentation were first developed in the Islamic East between the eighth and twelfth centuries.

*Images from Getty Publications website

Virgin Mobile Middle East gets Islamic financing from BLME

BLME, Europe's largest Islamic bank, concluded a US$15 million senior secured facility for Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA), the regional mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) group rolling out Virgin Mobile across the Middle East & Africa region, on June 2.

VMMEA will use the facility, which is part of a murabaha agreement, to fuel the company's growth in the GCC region and further cement its position as a MVNO. The cross-border agreement covers operations across a number of jurisdictions, including Oman, Jordan, KSA, Malaysia and South Africa, with future roll-outs planned in a number of other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Massoud Janekeh, Head of Islamic Capital Markets of BLME, said: "The telecommunications sector is witnessing significant growth in the Middle East, as a result of increased infrastructure investment and development, particularly in the Gulf states. This is increasingly being supplemented by the emergence of MVNO offerings, which VMMEA has pioneered. BLME's involvement in this transaction highlights the continuous need for Islamic financing products as well as our capability to execute transactions across a number of jurisdictions."

Waleed Al Omar, Head of Investor Relations added: "Through transactions such as this, BLME is consolidating its position as a bridge between the UK and the MENA region. BLME already has strong links to the region with its largest Shareholders being Boubyan Bank, Public Institute for Social Security in Kuwait and AREF."

Mikkel Vinter, CEO of VMMEA, commented: "We continue to develop our business and invest in growth opportunities and the funding from BLME is an enabler for future accelerated growth."

Shari'ah mode for BursaMktPlc virtual marketplace

Bursa Malaysia, formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, has unveiled BursaMktPlc ('Bursa Marketplace'), a virtual marketplace that provides rich market insights and trading ideas for investors. 

Bursamktplc offers access to big market data and analytical tools, such as the AlphaFactor quantitative tool from S&P Capital IQ which was previously limited to institutional and expert investors.
 
The launch was officiated by Yang Berhormat Dato’ Seri Haji Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah, Minister of Finance II at the first Capital Market Marketplace Huddle organised by Bursa Malaysia.
 
Dato’ Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said, “With BursaMktPlc we are putting the 'market-in-the-pocket' of all Malaysians by providing online access to comprehensive, objective and accurate information about our marketplace. Through the use of digital and social media we are connecting to new markets by engaging a new generation of investors, particularly Malaysia's baby boomers, those between 25 and 35 years of age.”
 

BursaMktPlc
FEATURES	DESCRIPTION
AlphaFactor	A quantitative tool that ranks stocks based on price momentum, valuation, historical growth, capital efficiency and earnings quality
Daily Espresso	Daily trend of analyst recommendations combined with AlphaFactor rankings
Level 2 Financial Information	View company financials beyond the usual top-line information
Research	Broker research and narket insights
Shari'ah Mode	Shari'ah filter for the site
My.Mkt	Watch list and portfolio management tool
$Tag (cashtag)	Allows users to click on stock symbols and see what the Twitterverse is saying about that stock (e.g. $BURSA)
Educational videos	On how to get started on investing and trading

Read more at www.bursamarketplace.com.