Prince Sultan bin Salman announces Custodian’s adoption of historic mosques in Madinah for restoration
aTP- Arab tourism portal News – Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of SCTH, recently announced that, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him), has adopted the restoration of a number of historic mosques in the Kingdom.
President of SCTH made the announcement Custodian’s donation while addressing the workshop of caring of historical mosques yesterday, (Monday 10 October 2016), in Al Madinah Munawara, under the patronage of Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Al Madinah Province and Chairman of Al Madinah Tourism Development Council.
The workshop was organized by SCTH in collaboration with the General Presidency for Two Holy Mosques Affairs, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Al Turath foundation. The workshop was attended by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Sedais, President of the General Presidency for Two Holy Mosques Affairs.
President of SCTH in his speech also announced the establishment of the Historic Mosques Restoration Fund in Al Madinah which provides everyone to contribute to the restoration of the historical mosques in the Kingdom.
president of SCTH in his speech also stated that, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him), pays great attention to the historic mosques and whenever there is the launch of any restoration project or historic sites in the Riyadh province or Riyadh downtown, Historic Diriyah, Historic Jeddah and the like, he was instructing the relevant authorities to begin their work by restoration of historic mosques first and put them in their priority list.
“The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz is paying remarkable attention to the efforts of caring of mosques in particular, and the national cultural heritage, in general. His attention is reflected in a number of projects, such as Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque, besides his reaffirmation of the State’s adoption of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for Caring of Kingdom’s Cultural Heritage, through which SCTH has shown its keenness towards caring of the historic mosques by establishing the Historic Mosques Caring Program under the supervision of the Urban Heritage Center and is working with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs through an agreement of cooperation for caring of the historic mosques throughout the Kingdom.”
President of SCTH in his speech added that, the efforts of caring of historic mosques has begun since the reign of the founder of the Kingdom, King Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and followed by his sons the subsequent Saudi kings, where Al Madinah has seen the first projects of restoration of historic mosques.
President of SCTH in his speech expressed his appreciation to the initiative of Prince Faisal bin Salma, Governor of Al Madinah, who had donated for the restoration of Al Ejaba Mosque in Al Madinah in addition to the initiative of the General Presidency for Two Holy Mosques Affairs for restoring one of the historic mosques in Al Madinah, besides praising the donations made by a number of citizens and businessmen in Al Madinah to resort 14 other historic mosques.
President of SCTH in his speech emphasized that, the message of the historic mosques caring program is not only confined to the restoration itself, rather it is dedicated to bringing the historic mosques to life and revive the role of the mosque in the society, as well as highlighting the historic stories of those mosques, where the mosques were the major places from which the founders of Saudi state had emerged. Thus taking care of the historic mosques is considered a recognition of the role of the mosques in the national unity.
President of SCTH in his speech highlighted the significant examples along the journey of this program, the most important of which is the donation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him) to the expenses of the restoration of Al Hanafi Mosque in Historic Jeddah, besides his patronage for a special program for caring of historic mosques in the surroundings of Historic Diriyah project, which includes the restoration of 34 historic mosques, and they are implemented by SCTH, Ar-Riyadh Development Authority (ADA), and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
In the framework of this program, SCTH has opened the “Al Shafi Mosque” in Historic Jeddah after it has been restored at the expense of late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, then SCTH also announced the establishment of the Historic Mosques Restoration Fund for Jeddah city and the restoration efforts are currently underway on Al Mem’ar Mosque in Historic Jeddah at the expense of late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, and King Salman bin Abdul Aziz announced the donation to restore Al Hanafi Mosque in Jeddah. In addition, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz in this context has inaugurated Al Dwaihra Mosque at Al Bijairi neighborhood in the Historic Diriayh and besides his donation for restoring Othman bin Affan Mosque in Historic Jeddah and many other historic mosques that are actually under restoration now.
“Historic Mosques Restoration Program” which is carried out by SCTH in collaboration with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Al Turath foundation, aims at preserving and taking care of historic mosques in the Kingdom as well as highlighting their religious, architectural and cultural value.”
president of SCTH in his speech urged the Saudi citizens to engage in this program in light of the importance of historic mosques and their importance roles in the society.
“I call upon Saudi citizens on behalf of the leader of this nation to engage in the restoration of historic mosques as the initial statistics indicate the existence of one thousand historic mosques in the Kingdom, and most of them are still neglected or in the state of ruin, which does not suit us as Muslims as we must take care of the mosque more than our houses.”
For his part, Sheikh Saleh Al Meghamsi, Imam of Quba Mosque, during the workshop said “Historic mosques in Al Madinah has significant advantage in comparison to other places in terms of their history, referring that, the Kings of this country were closely associated to the mosques and they were and still are taking care of them in light of their importance for Saudi families, individuals and the Saudi nation.
He continued, “Al Madinah is rich in historic mosques that are associated with great historic events,” adding that, caring of historic mosques means caring of the history of the nation.
Noteworthy, President of SCTH had donated for the restoration two historic mosques – Al Anbaria Mosque in Al Madinah and Al Sakhra Mosque in Al Ula, while Prince Faisal bin Salman has donated for the restoration of Al Ejaba Mosque in Al Madinah.
