On her 67th birthday..a biography of the most beautiful Arab queen, Queen Noor

There is a lot of talk about her, in her presence beauty cannot describe beauty, she is a queen who is considered one of the most beautiful in the history of the queens of the East. Queen Noor snatches from the sky the sparkle of her stars on one of the nights of September. We get to know her together in this report. Her original name is Lisa Najib al-Halabi, wife of the former King of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal. Her father, Najeeb Elias Halabi, is an American of Syrian origin, and her mother, Doris Karlquist, is of Swedish origin.

Nour has been interested in Jordanian culture and children's and women's rights, and has contributed and continues to contribute to many non-governmental organizations. With the participation of Yarmouk University students, it established the Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts. She wrote and published her memoirs in 2003 under the name “The Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life,” during which she spoke about her life from the time she married King Hussein bin Talal until his death.

Queen Noor in Hamburg, in 1978

    Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany,

These days are passing the anniversary of Queen Noor Al Hussein's 67th birthday, and on this occasion, we are reviewing with you glimpses of her life story in the following lines.

Her real name is Lisa Najib Al-Halabi, and she was born in the United States of America in Washington in 1951, to a father of Syrian origin named Najib Elias Halabi who works in the US government, and a mother of Swedish origin named Doris Karlquist, who is American of Arab origin.

In 1974, Queen Noor obtained a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in architecture and urban planning. After completing her studies, she participated in a number of international projects in the field of city design and planning in the United States and Australia, and a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Jordan.

After that, she worked in Jordan on an airport development project. In 1976, she began working on comprehensive designs for the facilities of the Arab Aviation Academy, which was established in Amman. Then, in 1977, she joined Alia Corporation - Royal Jordanian Airlines, to occupy the position of Director of Planning and Design.

Here she was introduced by chance to King Hussein during her first visit to the Jordanian capital, when she was working as an architect with a foreign company in Iran, where the late king fell in love with her from the moment he saw her while she was on the airport grounds with her father Elias Al-Halabi, who was working at the time. In the field of air navigation, and by virtue of his position as head of the Federal Aviation Administration, he has the powers and expertise that allow him to communicate with the King of Jordan.

King Hussein married her on June 15, 1978, and she immediately converted to Islam, and her name changed from Lisa to Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan, and she bore him four children: Prince Hamzah and Prince Hashem, and the two princesses Iman and Raya, and she lived with King Hussein until his death in 1999.

The official photo of Queen Noor with her husband

Since her association with the late king, she has been exercising her role in public service at the local and regional levels, by focusing on issues of human security, education, art and cultural awareness, environmental preservation, sustainable development and human rights, preservation of architectural heritage, child care and the development of the role of women in society. and promoting intercultural understanding.

She was awarded the "King of Hussein bin Ali", in addition to the "Renaissance medallion studded", and she also received a number of foreign decorations.

Queen Noor has two published books: “Al-Hussein, King of Jordan”, issued by the King Hussein Foundation in 2000, and her memoirs “The Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life”, issued by Marimax in 2003, in which she spoke about her life, since her marriage to King Hussein Bin Talal and until his death, and he achieved the best sales, his proceeds were allocated to a charitable foundation bearing the name of King Hussein, and it was translated into 17 languages.

Queen Noor begins her book with a dedication saying: “To my beloved Hussein … the light of my life.” The dedication is accompanied by the noble hadith of the Prophet, which says: “Work for your life as if you will live forever, and work for your hereafter as if you will die tomorrow.”

The book’s twenty-one chapters truly reflect a human experience of an unexpected life, as the author herself admits, and she also reviews impressions about the political leaders she met and dealt with, such as: Carter, Clinton, Rabin, Netanyahu, Hosni Mubarak, Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, the Shah of Iran and the Sultan Qaboos, Muammar Gaddafi and others.

Leap of Faith: A Memoir of an Unexpected Life book cover.

Since 1979, the initiatives of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation and the King Hussein Foundation, founded and chaired by Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein, have worked to promote development thinking in the Kingdom and the Middle East region.

This is through launching pioneering programs that apply best practices in the areas of: poverty alleviation, empowering women, providing financing for small projects, health and arts as a tool for social development and cultural exchange, as well as providing expertise and training to build capacity in these areas in neighboring Arab and Asian countries.

The former Jordanian Queen Noor Al Hussein, the wife of the late King Hussein bin Talal, also appeared in the videotape of a promotional film for the nuclear agreement, which the six major countries signed with Iran in Geneva in 2015, to reject nuclear proliferation, along with: Morgan Freeman, Jack Black, and others from Hollywood stars, in an advertisement by the GLOBAL ZERO association known for its opposition to nuclear proliferation.