MOUNTAINS ARE THE GLORY OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH

[Abu Tariq Hijazi]

MOUNTAINS ARE THE GLORY OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH
SAUDI FLAG ON THE MOUNT EVEREST)
ABU TARIQ HIJAZI
Almighty Allah raised the Heavens and created mountains miraculously to keep balance of our fast whirling planet. He said in the Holy Quran:

Do they not look at the camels, How they are created?
And at the sky, How it is raised high?
And at the mountains, How they are fixed firm?
And at the Earth, How it is spread out? (Al Quran 88:17-20)

One is thrilled to see the loftiness of the mountains and thinks that how great they are and HOW GREAT IS THE CREATOR WHO MADE THEM.
There are more than 100 large mountains around the world and fourteen of them have the highest peaks rising above 8000 meters (26000 ft). Himalaya is the largest and the longest mountain range lying in Asia. It has two of world highest peaks in Indo-Pak Chinese region. These are Mount Everest (29,035 ft) and Kanchen-junga(28,169 ft) in Himalaya and Mount K2 (28,251 ft)in Karakorum range.
Mount Everest is the highest peak of the world. It is not named as Eve-rest for ladies or Ever-rest for lazier, but there is a long story behind this name.
It was only about 150 years ago when British Govt, in India first established the height of Peak XV as 29002 ft. through Great Trigonometric Survey of Himalaya in 1856. The Royal Geographic Society in 1865 declared its name as Mount Everest on the name of Sir George Everest (ex SGI) on the recommendation of Mr. Andrew Waugh the then British Surveyor General of India.

Photo George Everest Surveyor General of India

And thus the name of one non Indian & non Asian, bearded Welsh shone on the millenniums old Highest Peak of the world. Mr. Everest expired after this designation in 1866. British govt. could not select a name from any religion or from history of region.

Mount Everest is regarded as the highest mountain of the world over the sea level. It is also reported that its plate tectonics is adding its height as 4.0 mm per year and moving the summit 3-6 mm per year north-eastwards. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is regarded as he tallest mountain of the world from its base on the mid ocean floor measuring 10,200 m (over 33,000 ft) but is seen 4205 m (13,796 ft) above the sea level.

During the last century there were many efforts to re-measure and climb the Everest Mountain. Here we mention few selected campaigns:
In 1933, Lady Houston, a British millionaires, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of aircraft led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the summit in an effort to deploy the British Union Flag at the top.

In 1953, a British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing parties to attempt to reach the summit. The first party reached up to 8700 m and returned but second party of Edmund Hillary & Sherpa Tenzing Norgay made the final assault. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. local time on Friday the 15th Ramadan 1372 AH corresponding to 29 May 1953. They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.

News of the expedition's success reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, 2 June 1953. Hillary from New Zealander was promptly knighted in the Order of the British Empire, a KBE, for the ascent. Tenzing from Nepal was granted the George Medal by the UK. From then there has been a rush of adventurers who wish to record their names in the book of history.

By the end of the 2010 climbing season, there had been 5,104 ascents to the summit by about 3,142 individuals. Nepal Govt. grants a permit costing up to US$25,000 per person. There were 219 fatalities recorded on Mount Everest since the 1922. There has been remarkable achievement by chivalrous men & women recording their efforts to reach the summit.

2005: Helicopter landing: On 14 May 2005, pilot Didier Delsalle (fr:Didier Delsalle) of France landed a Euro-copter AS350 helicopter on the summit of Mount Everest and took off after about four minutes.

The youngest person to climb Mount Everest was 13-year-old Jordan Romero in May 2010 from the Tibetan side and the oldest climber to reach Mount Everest's summit was 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, on 25 May 2008 from the Nepalese side.

1965: A 21-man Indian expedition, led by Lieutenant Commander M.S. Kohli, succeeded in putting nine men on the summit.
1975: On May 16, Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman on the summit. On May 27, a Tibetan woman, Phantog, became the first woman to reach the summit from the Tibetan side.
1988: September 29,Stacy Allison becomes the first American woman atop Everest.
1990: Peter Hillary, Edmund Hillary's son, became the first offspring of a summiter to reach the summit.
1993; May, Santosh Yadav of India became the first woman to climb Mount Everest twice within a year (May 92 and May 93).
1995: May 17 – Nasuh Mahruki became the first Turk to summit.
2000;On May 17 Nazir Sabir from Pakistan reached the highest summit at 0730 hours, becoming the first Pakistani to climb to the roof of the world.
In 2005, Farkhondeh Sadegh and Laleh Keshavarz, a newly married dentist, became the first Muslim women from Iran to stand on the top of the world, still wearing their headscarves.
2006: On May 15, Eylem Elif Maviş became the first Turkish woman to summit Everest. She was part of the first team from Turkey, of which all ten members, among them four women, made the summit.

Saudi Flag on the Mount Everest.

2008: The first Saudi to reach the summit of Mount Everest planted his nation's flag atop the peak May 21 is Farouq Al Zuman, 30. After Zuman reached the summit he raised the flag reading “la ilaha illallaah Mohammadur rasulullah, and recited Azaan, (the Muslim call to prayer ) and spent some time on the top. Zuman has also scaled Mount Shasta in California and Washington's Mount Rainier and Mount Haleakala of Hawaii'.

Farouq al Zoman raising the Saudi flag on Mount Everest

2009: On May 16, Apa Sherpa climbed Everest for the 19th time, once again breaking his own record. Apa Sherpa has reached the summit 21 times.
2010: May 23 – Musa Ibrahim, 30, became the first person from Bangladesh to reach the summit.
2011: Suzanne Al-Houby for becoming the first Arab woman to scale the world's highest mountain and for sending a message of peace to Israelis and Palestinians from the “Rooftop of the World.” A Palestinian by origin, who lives in the UAE, Al-Houby, 40, is a graduate of Oregon State University. Al Houby, a mother of two, is originally from Jaffa in Palestine.
2013: This year was the 60th anniversary (1953-2013) of the first summit climbing of the 8848-meter peak.

Saudi Woman on the Top.

Raha Moharrak on Mount Everest on May 18, 2013
2013: Raha Moharrak 26, a graduate from the American University Sharjah is currently based in Dubai. She was joined by 34 other mountaineers in reaching the summit on May 18, 2013. Her four-member expedition team included the first Qatari, Mohammed Al Thani from Qatar's royal family and the first Palestinian man, Raed Zidan. Moharrak is both the first Saudi Arabian woman and the youngest Arab to reach the summit, which at 8,850 meters or 29,035 feet is the HIGHEST PEAK of the world. (over)