MT Desk: A palm orchard in the Saudi city of Al-Qasim has more than 200,000 palm trees. The garden has been dedicated in the name of Allah. The orchard is capable of producing 10,000 tons per year as a result of 45 types of dates. This is not the end; it is also recognized in the Guinness World Records as the largest waqf garden in the world. And all the income from this garden is spent on building mosques in different countries of the world, charitable work and organizing Iftar during Ramadan in the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina. Suleiman al-Rajhi, the country`s richest man, owns the world`s largest privately owned garden. However, despite being the richest man, in 2010 he divided all his wealth among his sons, daughters, wives and close relatives.

The rise of Suleiman al-Rajhi, however, is quite combative and encouraging. He was born in extreme poverty. When he goes to school, the school authorities organize an entertainment trip and ask each student to pay one riyal for the expenses. Al-Rajhi went home and informed his parents and asked them to pay one riyal. But they could not afford to pay that amount. As the date of the entertainment trip approached, he started crying. But despite the boy`s cries and pleas, they failed to raise money. Meanwhile, the results of his quarterly examination came. In this he took the first place in the class. Happy with the result, a Palestinian teacher at the school gave him a riyal as a reward. He gave it as a subscription.

However, as time went on, he finished his studies and started his career as an entrepreneur. He rented a room in Jeddah and started a bank called Al Rajhi. He got a lot of success in a short time. Al Rajhi Bank has a strong network throughout Saudi Arabia.

He never forgot his past on the way to gaining fame and fortune. The Palestinian schoolteacher looked for the teacher who gave him one riyal for being the first in the class. At one point he even found him. Reminding him of that incident in school life, he picked up the teacher in his car and said that he was indebted to him. Then the teacher said with a laugh, do you want to give me back that one real now? Al Rajhi parked his car in front of a bungalow. An expensive car was also kept there. He got out of the car and went to the front of the bungalow with the teacher and said, this bungalow and car are yours from today. From now on, it is my responsibility to bear all your expenses. Tears came to the teacher`s eyes when he heard this. It needs to be mentioned here that the teacher was living in extreme poverty after retiring from teaching.

At present, the Waqf of Suleiman Al Rajhir is worth more than 60 billion riyals (more than Tk. 13 thousand 500 hundred crore). Al Rajhi Bank, founded by him, is recognized as the largest Islamic bank in the world. He also owns a poultry farm called Al-Watania, which is the largest poultry business in the entire Middle East. Suleiman al-Rajhi is also known around the world as a philanthropist. There is no city in Saudi Arabia that does not have a mosque built with the financial support of the Al Rajhi family. More importantly, the 1.5 million officers and employees under the Al Rajhi family receive their salaries before the end of the month. His bank has also donated 170 million riyals to the Saudi Ministry of Health to combat the global epidemic of coronavirus. Forbes magazine has already listed him as one of the top 20 philanthropists in the world. Suleiman al-Rajhi, the richest man in Saudi Arabia, is said to be the richest man without money.