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Saudia Introduces Sanitizing Prayer Beads For Religious Pilgrimages
The national airline has developed ProtecTasbih, a groundbreaking solution marrying hygiene with tradition for traveling pilgrims.
Saudia, the national airline of Saudi Arabia, has introduced ProtecTasbih, prayer beads infused with self-cleansing properties, helping to create a safer pilgrimage experience for the millions who travel to Makkah for Hajj and Umrah.
ProtecTasbih is a result of a collaboration between Saudia and its creative partners, including Leo Burnett Saudi Arabia and Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai. Confronted with the challenge of incorporating antibacterial elements into prayer beads without adding alcohol, the team opted for tea tree oil due to its natural ability to disrupt the cell membranes of bacteria.
The beads are engineered to endure various environments and temperature fluctuations, from the controlled atmosphere of aircraft cabins to outdoor pilgrimage trails. Beyond their cleansing function, the beads are also sustainable, as once the antibacterial outer shell is worn away, a core shell underneath allows them to continue to be used, reducing waste.
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As pilgrims embark on their spiritual journeys, ProtecTasbih will enhance hygiene standards without interrupting age-old customs.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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