RIYADH — A Filipino man, whose late father was a Saudi national, arrived in the Kingdom on Thursday to be reunited with his extended Saudi family after having lived in the Philippines as a Christian for 18 years.

In an emotional and touching scene, Majed Al-Moussa arrived at the King Khaled International Airport to be welcomed by his family that had painstakingly searched for him for months, reported Al-Watan newspaper. At the time of his father’s death Majed was only two-years-old; his mother, a British citizen, took him to the Philippines.

Having arrived in the Philippines, Majed’s mother left for England leaving him in the care of his grandmother who brought him up as a Christian. Majed grew up not knowing anything about his family in Saudi Arabia.

Majed’s brother, Bandar Al-Moussa, said that by coincidence he discovered his brother’s birth certificate in some of his father’s old papers and it was then that he learned he had a brother who lived in the Philippines. Bandar began searching for Majed together with an uncle who had witnessed his father’s marriage to Majed’s Filipino mother many years ago.

In his quest to be reunited with his brother, Bandar sought help from the Saudi Embassy in Manila and also managed to get hold of an official document from the Interior Ministry that confirmed that his father’s marriage to Majed’s Filipino mother was registered.

Abdul Aziz Al-Rakabi, who is in charge of the welfare section at the embassy, said that they found Majed after two months through an old telephone number. Al-Rakabi contacted Majed’s mother in the UK to obtain permission for her son to go to Saudi Arabia and claim both Saudi citizenship and his share of his father’s inheritance.

As a Christian, the embassy found that the Saudi government was unable to grant Majed citizenship so the embassy contacted the Muslim affairs office in Manila and Majed converted to Islam.

After the two brothers met and hugged at Riyadh airport, Bandar said that he was extremely happy that his brother was finally back, adding that he could not understand a single word he was saying.

Source: arabnews.com