RIYADH, 3 March — Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, will inaugurate on March 11 a three-day international seminar on the efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd in the service of Islam and Muslims during his 20-year reign.
Over 200 delegates from 80 countries will participate in the seminar, which will also feature an exhibition highlighting translations of the Holy Qur’an and Islamic publications into different languages.
Besides presentation of research and working papers, there will also be group discussions and lectures by eminent scholars from the Kingdom and abroad.
This was disclosed at a press conference by Dr. Muhammad ibn Sa’ad Al-Salem, rector of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, which is organizing the three-day seminar. Dr. Hamad Al-Ammar, undersecretary at Imam university and chairman of the media committee, was also present.
Dr. Al-Salem said Imam university was the right venue for the seminar, since King Fahd had laid the foundation of this institution which has drawn students from 120 countries.
The seminar intends to create an awareness of King Fahd’s role in promoting Islam around the world in terms of spreading the message, service to pilgrims, as well as establishment of Islamic centers.
Another aspect will be the Kingdom’s role under King Fahd in popularizing Arabic among the non-Arabs by setting up Arabic institutions around the world. Research papers presented on the occasion will spell out King Fahd’s role in strengthening Islamic organizations, such as the Muslim World League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Islamic Development Bank, and international relief and charitable bodies.
Dr. Al-Salem said Imam university has either organized or scheduled seminars on the same theme in Tokyo, Jakarta, Washington, Nouakchett in Mauritania, Djibouti and Ras Al-Khaima in the UAE, where the university has its branches. He added that the topics of presentation will be published in Arabic and other languages at the end of the seminar. The participants will have the facility of simultaneous translation from Arabic to English and vice versa. Part of the material will be placed on the Internet.
Referring to the topics of the 90 research papers, he said they will cover education, government and shoura systems, the Haj affairs, and international Islamic relief work. Other papers will deal with the services rendered by King Fahd in resolving the issues of the Islamic world like Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Somalia, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
