RIYADH, 22 October — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, will inaugurate at King Saud University campus on Nov. 11 a four-day international conference on the achievements of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd in the service of Islam, education and at the political/administrative level during the 20 years of his reign.
This was disclosed to Arab News by Dr. Abdullah Al-Homeidan, Dean of the College of Languages and Translation (COLT) at King Saud University and author of over 60 books and articles.
He said the conference venue will be Hamad Al-Jasser Hall in KSU’s Building No. 26. The conference will have three broad themes — Saudi services to Islamic architecture and buildings, educational advancement, and political as well as administrative changes during the 20 years. There will be 12 sessions in all, split over three daily sessions.
Dr. Al-Homeidan, who has also been listed in “2000 outstanding scholars of the 20th century” brought out by Cambridge University, said the conference will bring together international experts with deep insight into the life and work of King Fahd.
They will shed light on King Fahd’s services to Islam, his contribution to education, and the political as well as administrative reforms that marked the 20 years of his reign.
One of the highlights of the celebrations will be an exhibition organized by the King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex of Madinah displaying the full range of the languages into which the Holy Qur’an has been translated since the inception of the complex.
King Saud University will also bring out King Fahd’s biography in several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Persian and Urdu. The 450-page book will be translated into these languages from the original in Arabic. A book exhibition will be held on the campus to run concurrently with the conference.
The university’s academic council has set up an ad hoc committee to coordinate its efforts for the various events lined up for the 20th anniversary celebrations. This committee will liaise with the high-level committee set up under Riyadh Governor Prince Salman to supervise the celebrations.
Dr. Al-Homeidan said COLT will play an important role in the international conference by providing translation service and rendering the book into different languages. The publication will be printed by KSU’s own press.
One section of the book will spell out the progress achieved in translation and Arabization of scientific terminology during the last 20 years. The section will discuss the methodology of translation as well as the innovative practices introduced in this field. There will also be a bibliography of books on translation and Arabization for the benefit of researchers.
Dr. Al-Homeidan said a Russian professor working at COLT has been assigned the task of writing a book on Saudi Arabia’s relations with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics during King Fahd’s reign. Another book in French will highlight the progress achieved on the economic front during the same period.
Asked when the book was expected, he said the Arabic version will be out during Ramadan. Translation into other languages will be completed a month later. “Our staff members are working very hard to meet the deadline for the project,” he added.
