DID YOU KNOW?

• One of the interesting characteristics of the population in Ras Al Khaimah is gender imbalance; there are more than twice as many males as females.
• Ras Al Khaimah flag - white rectangle with a smaller red rectangle inside.
• Arabs and Muslims are not synonymous terms. Muslims are those who practice Islam. Interestingly, the biggest Muslim community is in Indonesia.
• Five times a day, Muslims turn to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, and offer their prayers (salah) to Allah. Initially, prayers were said facing Jerusalem, but in 624AD the Prophet changed the direction to Mecca.
• Under Islamic Sharia law, a man can divorce his wife by stating ‘I divorce you’ three times (talaq). It has to be confirmed at the UAE court with both the man and the woman present.
• Men and women in wedding ceremonies and receptions are segregated, with areas for men and for women.
• In the recent decades, shisha (water pipe or hookah) emerged outside the traditional shisha smoking countries such as Egypt or Lebanon. Although in the UAE it was not present or sometimes even banned, now shisha is very popular especially amongst local men.
• Contrary to popular belief, a camel does not store water in its hump; it is used as a food store consisting of a fatty tissue.
• Camels race until they are 12-14 years old and 90% of racing camels are female.
• Men all over the country wear a unified loose fitting shirtdress, called kandura, although most of the visitors call it dishdasha.
• In the past, henna was also used by pearl divers and fishermen to protect their skin for the sun. 
• Pearls come in eight basic shapes: round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque, and circled. However, perfectly round shaped pearls are extremely rare.
• Natural or cultivated pearls can be distinguished only by X-ray examination. Fake pearls can be distinguished from natural or cultivated pearls by a microscope examination or by simply rubbing the pearl against the surface of a front tooth. If it does not feel perfectly smooth, the pearl must be fake.  
• A 100 gram of dates equals to 230 kcal of energy.
• Fresh dates are an important source of vitamin C; however, the vitamin C is lost in the process of drying.
• Only female date plant produces fruit. Majority of date palms in the UAE are female trees and farmers often pollinate those manually using male flowers available at local markets. Optionally, farmers keep one male palm for every 100 female trees.
• It can take between 4 to 7 years before freshly planted date palms can produce any fruit, while the best dates are collected after about 8 or 10 years. A mature palm tree produces between 80 and 120 kg of dates.
• Peregrine Falcons are considered the fastest-moving animals in the world. They can dive at speeds of 320km per hour.
• Hoods often seen on falcons are to help to keep the falcon in a calm state. Special hoods are used during hunting competitions and these can cost up to a thousand of dirhams.
• The Arabian Oryx, an antelope native to deserts of the Arabian Peninsula is probably an archetype animal for the legendary Unicorn. Seen in profile Oryx appears to have only one horn. 
• The Arabian Oryx can detect rain and will migrate towards it.
• Four venomous species of snakes (vipers) are present in the UAE.
• In the Arabia Peninsula prior to Islam, the beliefs were based on the ancient Arabian mythology. People were polytheists and they believed in various goddesses and gods, demons, half-gods, jinn and other supernatural beings.
• The Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, apart from the main land where the city of Ras Al Khaimah is situated, additionally consists of a large enclave starting from Masafi and going as far as Hatta, and a number of small islands.
• Ras Al Khaimah owns only 0.1% of the UAE oil reserves, the oil sector is a minor portion of income for this Emirate. Real estate, tourism, building materials, manufacturing and a service sector are the prominent pillars of development.
• Julfar, the predecessor of Ras Al Khaimah, and Ras Al Khaimah itself were once the most important ports in this part of the world.
• Rulers of Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah belong to the same family of Qawasim.
• Al Qasimi is a singular form of Qawasim.
• Shamal, a village in Ras Al Khaimah, with more than 150 tombs of the Wadi Suq period (2000-1600BC) is one of the largest prehistoric cemeteries of the region.
• Wadi means ‘valley’ in Arabic. Wadis are the dried up rivers beds from the past, that now form excellent passages through the mountains. However should there be rainfall, wadis get flooded with fast flowing water from the mountains. 
• Majid ibn Daher, a famous nabati poet from the 17^th century, was born in Julfar and his body is buried in the district of Kharran in Ras Al Khaimah.
• Frankincense has been traded on the Arabian Peninsula for more than 5000 years.