Farouk Saad Hamad Al-Zuman made history when he became the first Saudi to climb the world’s highest mountain this year. Al-Zuman, who is currently writing a book on his Mount Everest expedition, said it was his life’s ambition to hoist a Saudi flag on the Everest, a feat he achieved at 12:30 p.m. Makkah time on May 21.
Al-Zuman’s achievement at that time was headline news in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, where it boosted national and regional pride. The 30-year-old earned the nickname “Sir Edmund Hillary of Saudi Arabia.”
His mother, Asmara Al-Yahya, recalls that as a toddler Al-Zuman excelled at sports and adventure. “He loved taekwondo, swimming, and going to the gym with his father,” she said. That early athletic prowess and sportsmanship spirit bore unusual fruit for Saudi Arabia this year, when Al-Zuman became the first Saudi national to reach the summit.
During his 25 minutes at the top of the world, Al-Zuman raised the Saudi flag, called the adhan, had his picture taken and spent some time “running around ... saying, ‘Wow! This is a creation of Allah, Subhan Allah.’”
Al-Zuman has now approached the Saudi Ministry of Education to launch an educational initiative to promote sports, mainly mountaineering.
The project will cover a large number of educational institutions, especially schools, in which Al-Zuman will speak to students about his experiences with special reference to his Everest expedition.
“I could now play the role of a motivator inspiring Saudi students that they must not lag behind and come to the fore,” he said.
Al-Zuman has been commended all over the Kingdom and the Gulf as well as the Muslim world. He has been hailed as a national hero by Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and the first Arab and Muslim to go on a space mission in 1985.
