Al-Furqân Islamic Heritage Foundation
Newsletter N U M B E R
F IV E
D ec. 2000 C O N TEN TS
F
m
t
h
e
we^sensethe threat to our moral and
C ataloguing ....................................... 15
™؛ag ؛n°
Comm unity E vents ............................... defaced and C onference ................................................. unjustly 8 Encyclopaedia ............................................ several
h
a
i
r
m
a
ض
n
its brief as working ©اsave ،he Manuseript Heritage of Islam and bring this heritage to a position where it is accessible to main-stream scholarship. Al-Furqan attempts to maintain a level of flexibility while adhering to its declared strategy. Its project to document the manuscript heritage continues; surveying collections of Islamic manuscripts in the world and providing catalogues for these collections; working for the conservation of collections; imaging manuscripts on microfilm and CD-ROM, and publishing new critical editions of important manuscript works. Al-Furqan also aims to disseminate information on an authentic and enlightened Islamic culture and to draw vital connections between this culture and contemporary civilisation. During the last year al-F u rq ^ has seen a change of Director. Dr Kamal Arafat Nabhan, who steered the Foundation from 1997 to 1999 decided that the time had come to base himself in Egypt with his family. The position of Director-General has been happily filled by Frofessor Yusuf Ibish, a " scholar and academic. Professor Ibish has been involved with the F o u n d a tio n s in c e 1991 as founding member of the Board of Experts and, more recently, as the B oard's
heritage. The
ع
C
14
Chairman’s A d dress.......................... 1
^ Forthcoming E ven ts......................... 13
o
We are pleased to present issue V of al-F u rq ^ Foundation's Newsletter. With this issue, the Newsletter finally settles on the form that will embody the Foundation's commitment - on the one hand to seriousness of content, and on the other, to beauty, as a basic v a ln e of Islam. The Newsletter is al-Furq^؛n F ou n d a tio n 's main instrument in communication with its friends across the world. We give you news of the activities of the Foundation, which we nurture and tend, with the aim of bringing forth ideas from the realm of the imagined to that of the actual, of turning some dreams into reality. This is a time when there is a need to realise some of the great dreams of the builders of the I sla m ic Civilisation, and, indeed, of human civilisation as a whole. To bring some of the glory of the past into the present - and the future too, by the Grace of God. A l-F u rq ^ Foundation was established in response to a requirement created by the circumstances surrounding the human cultural heritage generally and the Islamic heritage specifically. In the current climate, where bigotry and narrow-mindedness so often lead to aggression
Award ......................................................... spiritual
Conservation ..................................... 15
r
s am 19 ؛ ا
ه
4 Ih lfla sffe w
Foundation Structure and Boards...... 2 years , ،٠ the actual destruction o f H onours ...................................................... Islamic vehicles o f culture - such 7 Leetures 12 as manuscripts. W e do not have to go back to the time o f the Tartars ^ LiDrary........................................................ ID ؛٠ see the drowning o f books, nor Obituaries ..................................................... to the Spanish Inquisition to 5 Profile 3 ؛witness the^r burning. The National Library o f Sarajevo, burnt to a “ •• • , ،1 Fubhcations ................................................ ٢١ shell, is there to remind us o f the W orldw ide N e w s .................................... irrational destructiveness o f man. 16 Al-Furqân Foundation has defined
Vice-Chair. Al-Furqan Foundation is continutng on a path of solid achievement, it makes use of the most recent advances of information technology, but it makes use, above all, of the best and most committed hearts and minds from across the world that it has the honour to call its colleagues: the Boards, Consultants, Administration, Staff and Friends of al-Furqân Foundation. A hm ed Zaki Yamani Chairman, al-Furqan