JEDDAH, 26 August — A weeklong dawa exhibition opening in Jeddah on Wednesday is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors.
Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed will inaugurate the event, which will feature exhibits of computer programs, Islamic books and cassettes, lectures by prominent scholars and daily contests with prizes.
This is the second such event organized by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Propagation and Guidance in the last three months. The first exhibition in the eastern city of Dammam also attracted about 100,000 people, including Muslim and non-Muslim expatriates.
Ahmad Al-Sabban, deputy Islamic affairs minister for planning and development, said the Jeddah event to be staged at the International Exhibition Center will be the first of its kind in the city. “We plan to hold similar exhibitions in the country’s 13 provincial capitals and other major cities,” he told Arab News.
A total of 110 exhibitors, from government agencies, private companies and charitable organizations, will take part in the event. The program, the brainchild of Saleh Al-Sheikh, minister of Islamic affairs, aims to encourage Muslims to disseminate the message of Islam — especially by focusing on dawa resources available on the Net.
Sabban, who is chairman of the organizing committee, said there will be separate stands at the exhibition for women, children, young people, studying the Holy Qur’an through distance learning, the Haj and the Internet. Fourteen dawa centers in Jeddah and other parts of the Kingdom are partaking, highlighting their efforts to take the message of Islam to the country’s expatriate workers.
The Islamic Waqf Establishment, Sabban said, will expose the methods used by missionaries to convert Muslims, stressing the need to protect Muslims from such organizations. Dr. Mazen Mutabagani, of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, will explain both the good and bad sides of the movement.
Sabban said this is the first time the Ministry of Islamic Affairs is organizing such an exhibition. “The outcome of the Dammam show was overwhelming. The turn out was much larger than what we expected. It shows that people are interested in Islam and dawa work,” he said.
The exhibition will have separate pavilions to cater to the needs of different language speaking expatriates in the country. “There will be workshops on how to use computers, the Internet and mobile phones to propagate Islam,” Sabban said.
For the first time, Islamic manuscripts will be displayed on computers and visitors will be able to flip pages using a touch-screen facility.
Sunday and Monday are allocated for female visitors only, when all the organizers in the hall will be female. The ministry has arranged free transportation to the exhibition from various parts of Jeddah, in coordination with Saudi Public Transport Co.
