JEDDAH, 14 February 2005 — Crown Prince Abdullah will give away the Prince Naif International Prize for Sunnah and Islamic Studies at a ceremony to be held in Madinah in April.
“The crown prince has agreed to distribute the prize in the first half of Rabiul Awwal (April),” Interior Minister Prince Naif said while announcing the prizewinners.
“I told the crown prince, we’ll hold the prize distribution ceremony in Riyadh for his convenience. But he insisted to hold it in Madinah and promised to attend it,” he said.
Of the five winners three are women: Dr. Rawiya bint Ahmad Al-Dhahhar, Fatma bint Saleh Al-Jared, both from Saudi Arabia, and Ruqeya bint Taha Al-Alawani of Bahrain.
Al-Jared and Dr. Hekmat ibn Bashir Yasmeen, an Iraqi, shared the prize for Sunnah (Subject: Sunnah and Protection of Human Rights).
Dr. Alawani was declared winner for the research she presented on the etiquette of dialogue with opponents in the light of Sunnah.
The prizes for Islamic Studies went to Dr. Al-Dhahhar (Shariah objectives for punishments in Islam) and Sheikh Adnan ibn Muhammad Al-Arour, a Syrian (The method of preaching Islam in the light of contemporary realities).
The winners were announced after a meeting of the higher committee for the prize in Riyadh, which was chaired by Prince Naif.
The meeting was attended by Prince Saud ibn Naif, Saudi ambassador in Madrid and deputy chairman of the committee, Prince Muhammad ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and Prince Nawaf ibn Naif.
Other participants were Sheikh Muhammad Tantawi, the chief of Al-Azhar, Saleh Al-Asheikh, minister of Islamic affairs, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi and Dr. Saaed Al-Harithy, secretary-general of the prize.
The Prince Naif Prize was instituted in 2002 to encourage scientific research in the Sunnah of the Prophet and Islamic studies and promote a spirit of competition among Muslim researchers around the world.
