Someone who is rich, but who doesn’t have [positive] principles -- these people have no value.”When he is not ensconced in his farmhouse outside Amman, Olajuwon spends the other part of the year in his Houston-area mansion, where he manages a number of high-end real estate investments. CLEAR LAKE -- One big star in town for the NBA All-Star Weekend isHall of Fame legend Hakeem Olajuwon. It doesn’t mean I’m [so] religious; every devout Muslim does it.”Olajuwon told the Monthly that he had visited and trained in Jordan while he playing in the NBA, liking the country enough to settle there after his playing days ended.“I’m here [in Jordan] with my whole family, so I drive the kids to school,” he said. The Nigerian Ambassador, Amman Taofeek Oladejo Orapaja, wants Jordan and his country to develop deeper ties and has called on Jordanian authorities to open an embassy in Lagos, noting that Jordan only has one consul office in the non-Arab part of Africa (that being in Johannesburg, South Africa). Listed at 7 feet 0 inches (213 cm), Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Microsoft has removed the Birds Eye imagery for this map. When Michael Jordan abruptly retired, it was Olajuwon who took the mantle as the NBA’s best player. Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon , formerly Akeem Olajuwon, is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. “If people are eating and drinking in front of you, the willpower of the Muslim should be stronger. “Then I start my exercise, which is hiking in the mountains. He led the … Rather, he packed up his wife and seven children and relocated to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.In a 2009 article written by Gary Meenaghan, an Abu Dhabi-based sportswriter, Olajuwon described Jordan as a “balanced, neutral society” where he and his family regularly attend mosque and diligently observe Muslim customs, like Ramadan, and also study Arabic in order to read The Holy Quran in its original language.“Whether people around you are fasting or not doesn’t make any difference,” Olajuwon said of Ramadan. In recent years, tens of thousands of Africans have migrated to the Middle East, including Israel, on search of jobs, causing a tremendous strain in the host countries.Of course, as a super-wealthy celebrity, Olajuwon would not suffer the indignities of poverty, rejection and racialism endured by most of his fellow black Africans in the Middle East.According to the Jordan Times, about 350 Nigerian students are currently enrolled in Jordanian universities, with about one-third of them studying aviation. He played center for the Houston Rockets, whom he led to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, and the Toronto Raptors. He also maintains his contacts with the NBA, by tutoring some of the game's brightest stars, including Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Amar’e Stoudemire, Yao Ming and Dwight Howard.However, the core of Olajuwon's life appears to be rooted in Islam.In a 2008 interview with Texas Monthly, he said: “My religion is a lifestyle. Olajuwon living in Jordan is not no unusual considering that it is an Islamic nation and also one that has received (though not always welcomed) immigrants and refugees from across the … I find in the Arab World that when they are fasting, they say they are weaker and they don’t work as hard. Homes - Celebrity - Sports - Basketball “But you also have a lot of people where they don’t know how to handle success and end up destroying their career. “The Dream” began his career with the Rockets as one half of the “Twin Towers” with Ralph Sampson. We live in the mountains. However, shortly after his retirement in 2002, he did not take the familiar path hewn by prior NBA superstars -- that is, he didn't become a coach, nor a broadcaster, nor a celebrity pitchman, nor retire to Arizona to play golf. The retired professional basketball player lives here. It’s beautiful when the sun is coming up.”Olajuwon living in Jordan is not no unusual considering that it is an Islamic nation and also one that has received (though not always welcomed) immigrants and refugees from across the Middle East and North Africa. That’s the way it is all around the world.