RIYADH, 24 April 2005 — Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, will give away Prince Naif ibn Abdul Aziz International Prize tonight to five winners for their outstanding work on Sunnah and contemporary Islamic studies.
The presentation, hosted by Interior Minister Prince Naif, will be held at a special ceremony at Le Meridien Hotel in Madinah. Each prize consists of a cash award of SR500,000, a certificate of appreciation and a medal.
The two joint winners of the Prize for Sunnah and Protection of Human Rights are Fatima Saleh Al-Jared (Saudi) and Dr. Hikmat Basheer Yaseen (Iraqi), while the winner for research on “The Etiquette of Dialogue With Opponents in the Light of Sunnah” will be Dr. Rukaya Taha Al-Jabir Al-Alawani (Bahraini).
The winners of the prizes for Islamic Studies include Dr. Rawiya Ahmad Al-Dhahhar (Saudi) for “Objectives of Punishments Under Islamic Law” and Sheikh Adnan ibn Muhammad Al-Arour (Syrian) for his work on “Methods of Preaching Islam in the Light of Contemporary Realities.”
Misfer ibn Abdullah Basheer of the Prince Naif International Prize Committee told Arab News that a total of 241 scientific papers were received by the committee and they were screened by a panel of university professors to determine the suitability of the works to ensure that they are in accordance with the stipulations set out by the committee.
“At the preliminary stage a total of 133 of the 241 papers were rejected since they did not comply with the requirements of the committee,” Basheer added.
Subsequently, he said, the selected papers were scrutinized by a group of national and international theologians before they were sent to a panel of judges who determined the winners and finally sent to the Higher Committee chaired by Prince Naif.
The prize committee comprises 14 members including representatives from the Muslim World League, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, Al-Azhar Mosque, University of Islamabad, Umm Al-Qura University and Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University.
Muhammad Haniffa Muhammad, former Sri Lankan speaker and founder member of the Constituent Council of the Muslim World League ( MWL) who arrived here to attend the function, told Arab News that the prize encourages people to do research on current Islamic topics which eventually benefit the world Muslim community.
