Afp: ‘disappearing Tradition: Najaf Abaya Makers…’

[Abd-Allāh]

ÈöÓúãö Çááøóåö ÇáÑøóÍúãóٰäö ÇáÑøóÍöíãö

ÇáÓáÇã Úáíßã æÑÍãÉ Çááå æÈÑßÇÊå

It’s old news, but I only saw this recently and it seems no one here has posted about it yet.

AFP: ‘Disappearing tradition: Najaf abaya makers in decline’, Prashant Rao – Mar 8, 2011

Known across the region for its fine texture, the Najafi abaya is worn by all manner of VIPs from officials to oil-rich sheikhs. But the men who produce the hand-made cloth, inheritors of a generations-old trade, are increasingly going out of business.

“Let me tell you something,” said Kadhim, laughing bitterly while embroidering one of the full-length cloaks, spread across his lap. “If I could find a government job, I would stop all this.

“This work is too hard, and business is not good anymore.”[…]

“My sales of the summer abaya are down to around a fifth of what they were 10 years ago – I used to sell hundreds but now I sell dozens,”[…]

A major boost in the Iraqi dinar made the Najafi abaya less attractive to overseas customers – whereas $1 bought around 3 000 dinars prior to the 2003 invasion, it now gets only 1 180 dinars[…]

“It used to be all about abayas, but now we sell gifts for tourists,” said Yusuf Mohammed Ali, a former tailor who switched to peddling scarves, rings and prayer beads[…]

“Look here,” Kadhim said waving into the bazaar. “All of this used to be for selling abayas.”

“Not anymore. People have moved on.”

Very sad, but there are still ʿabāyah makers out there, and I think even though they have declined in recent times and are less in number now, they will survive in future inshā’Allāh.

æÚáíßã ÇáÓáÇã æÑÍãÉ Çááå æÈÑßÇÊå

[Abd-Allāh]

↑ Why does the forum software insist on capitalising the title as it sees fit? It should be ‘AFP: “Disappearing tradition: Najaf abaya makers…” ’ – at least that is what I wrote. I’m a big boy now, I know which words need capitals and which ones do not.

[Al-Englisi]

↑ Why does the forum software insist on capitalising the title as it sees fit? It should be ‘AFP: “Disappearing tradition: Najaf abaya makers…” ’ – at least that is what I wrote. I’m a big boy now, I know which words need capitals and which ones do not.

lol, i faced the same grievance, nice to see someone writing with transliteration, makes reading a lot more pleasant for me.

About the thread, one contributing factor maybe competition in neighbouring/near-by countries. It seems that the market may have shifted to the UAE, both the quality of the material and variation of choice seem to be higher there (though i have never been to Iraq to confirm this).