JEDDAH, 5 April 2006 — Al-Islam Group, a Jeddah-based cultural organization, plays a significant role in the propagation of Islam by removing misconceptions about the religion through its websites. They have been viewed by 5.7 million people in more than 80 countries.
The group has responded differently to the blasphemous cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by launching a year-long online campaign to spread the Prophet’s message and teachings.
“We launched the campaign in February 2006 and had a tremendous response from people worldwide,” Muhammad Mateen Osmani, director of the group, told Arab News.
The organization has taken this lunar month of Rabiul Al-Awwal, in which Prophet Muhammad was born, as an opportunity to hold a variety of programs on its website www.prophetmuhammadforall.org which was launched in April 2004. “The purpose of the website is to help both Muslims and non-Muslims learn more about the Prophet of Islam,” he said.
Osmani said Al-Islam Group had received requests to introduce Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in several leading languages. “During the campaign in support of the Prophet, we intend to offer books about the Prophet in different languages by e-mail,” he explained.
The group’s websites boast of having the largest collection of Islamic books and audiocassettes featuring Islamic lectures given by well-known scholars on different topics. Osmani spoke about his organization’s efforts to educate children about Islam. “Our website has been offering the world’s rare and biggest collection of Islamic lectures, songs and stories for children,” he claimed.
The Rabiul Awwal programs include quizzes in 10 languages — English, Arabic, French, Turkish, Sinhalese, Swahili, Malay, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam — based on the Prophet’s biography, Osmani explained. “We intend to reach out to at least one million people during Rabiul Awwal.”
The group’s eye-catching screensavers with the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and the sayings of the Prophet in a variety of languages have proved popular all over the world.
Maulana Habib-ur-Rahman, chief patron of the group, said after a lapse of more than 14 centuries, the life and teachings of the Prophet survive without the slightest alteration or interpolation. “Prophet Muhammad is matchless by any standard. No man was ever greater,” he added.
Abdul Qayoum Nusrat, secretary of the group, spoke highly of the translators, web developers and screensaver designers for volunteering their services in order to make the project a success. “We need the services of more people to run these Islamic websites in an efficient manner,” he said.
