Can you remember something that happened 50 years ago? Do you remember events that took place 10 years ago, or even five years ago in accurate detail? Have you ever met someone who could?
The Guinness World Records names a 32-year old German man, Johannes Malouf, as being the 2013 memory power world champion. However, Saudi Arabia’s own Mohammed bin Saad Al-Motaleq, a 64-year-old citizen from Makkah, known as “The Saudi Google” or “The Bullet Man,” can remember political and sports events in great detail, surpassing even Johannes Malouf in his capability to precisely remember details of time and place.
Al-Motaleq’s relationship with reading and culture dates back to the time of the Suez Canal war against Egypt in 1956, during which his father shared with him details of the events, most of which he can still remember accurately.
Saad’s love for reading, as well as sports, politics, and social events, extends beyond that of the average person. He has no trouble remembering details of these events accurately, though he admits his recollection of recent events is not as strong.
When asked about the first final match between Al-Helal and Al-Nasser, he responds quickly and without hesitation that the final took place on May 17, 1981, and ended with a victory in favor of Al-Nasser scoring 3-1.
He was also able to say exactly on which day King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz took over the reigns of power in the Kingdom, when he was born, and when he passed away.
In less than four seconds, Al-Motaleq responds: “King Faisal was born in 1906, took office on Nov. 2, 1964, and ruled the Kingdom for 11 years.”
Al-Motaleq also recalled the date of the first oil discovery in the Kingdom, details of the oil embargo, and facts about the British Empire.
Al-Motaleq carries a set of colored pens in his pocket which he uses as a color-coded strategy to help him write down details of different events.
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For example, he uses a red pen to write details of violent events and personalities associated with them such as Stalin, Hitler and Holako; a green pen to write about peaceful events such as sermons; a black pen to record details of football games; an orange pen for inventions and inventors and a special silver pen to document anything related to the history of Al-Saud.
“My favorite world leaders are John Kennedy in America, Omar Al-Mukhtar in Libya, Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, Saad Zaghloul and Mohammed Farid of Egypt and Jomo Kenyata of Kenya,” he said when asked about his heroes.
Dr. Fahd Al-Mansour, consultant psychiatrist, attributed Al-Motaleq’s unique memory to high activity in the part of the brain which deals with past events.
"However, to remember details with such skill and precision at his age, is a gift from God,” he added.
Dr. Assad Al-Khayal, memory consultant at the Department of Psychology at the University of Ain Shams in Cairo, said a lot of people believe that memory imbalance is a symptom of advancing age.
In fact, people of all ages can suffer from this imbalance.
Moreover, there is no such thing as strong or weak memory he said, but rather trained and untrained memory.


