Governor launches move to preserve Madinah script

MADINAH: Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman has launched a new cultural initiative aimed at caring for and preserving the Madinah hand-written style of the Holy Qur’an which was initiated in the era of Caliph Othman bin Affan, the Saudi Press Agency said.

While opening an exhibition on Madinah manuscripts and related events on Sunday, Prince Faisal directed Taiba University, King Abdul Aziz Research Center (Darah) and the Madinah Cultural Program to implement the project.
The exhibition was organized by Darah in cooperation with the Madinah Development Authority (MDA) and Saudi Aramco at the Meridian Hotel, Madinah.
For his part, acting Secretary-General of Darah Fahad Al-Shammari announced two initiatives for Darah: its accession to the Islamic Manuscript Association (TIMA) together with creation of a mobile electronic unit for indexing and digitization of manuscripts; and secondly, signing of a cooperation program for preserving manuscripts with families of Al-Bizati and Khiyari.
Al-Shammari said it was a night of fulfillment of history, heritage and culture, and evidence of the success of initiatives launched by Prince Faisal.
He said manuscripts are a knowledge reserve which our children have to be linked to because it is the cultural depth of the Arab and Islamic nation.
Al-Shammari said the exhibition reflects interaction which was planted by Prince Faisal, the interaction between families and libraries, and wonderful integration between Darah, the MDA, Saudi Aramco, Madinah municipality and the Madinah Cultural Program.
The exhibition also represents one stage of a project announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman which is related to King Abdul Aziz Complex for Endowment Libraries, Al-Shammari pointed out.