“If you’re a 1/7 baby, then you’re definitely from jeel al-tayebeen (the good generation). I’m the eldest of 5 and all five of us share the same birthday. My mother would throw us separate birthday parties spread across the year, as we disliked shared birthdays. But now, as we’re all older and have our own families, we celebrate it together. It’s a big family affair and an inside joke that millions of Saudis share.”
-Jamal Al-Ibrahim, former banker and business owner, one of more than 3.5 million Saudis (10% of the population) who has the fictitious birthday the first of Rajab (1/7 in the Hijri Islamic calendar/February 14 in the Gregorian). When identification cards became mandatory over 60 years ago many who were registered just knew their year of birth. Subsequently, 1/7 was designated for millions of Saudi citizens. [Arab News]
