Chairman’s Introduction
Inroduction by Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman and Patron
The civilisation of Islam is distinguished by several features:
The first is the fact that it covers many fields, including a flexible and sophisticated shariah which is based on justice and the public interest. It establishes the ideals of freedo
m, equality and mutual consultation. It extends widely to encompass sciences such as medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and architecture. Compared to the Roman civilisation, for example, known for its historic law and an architecture whose prese
nce is fading, or the Greek civilisation, known for philosophy and medicine, and many other similar cultures and civilisations, the Islamic civilisation reflects an approach of human life that seeks to ensure healthy progress in all its aspects
The second feature is its precise, glaring birth. Whereas other civilisations hail from a hazy or obscure beginnings, which in some cases spreads over several centuries, Islam was born in Makkah, on the very day Prophet Muhammad was entrusted with the delivery of the Islamic message. It then developed and flourished in Madinah where it established its roots and crystallised its ideals and principles, and from there it spread to all corners of the globe. It covered the entire world with knowledge in various disciplines of science and learning.
I was honoured to have been born and brought up in Makkah. I spent my formative years there and received my basic education at its Grand Mosque, known to historians as a unique centre of learning. My affection and adoration of Makkah flows equally from the heart as well as the mind.
Similarly, I have the honour of affiliation to Madinah, from my mother’s side. The deeper I explore in the era of Prophet Muhammad, and that of his successors, the more I appreciate this city’s grace over the whole civilisation of Islam, the world and all mankind.
It was, therefore, always a dream for me to produce a manual, an encyclopaedia of the two cities acknowledging their scientific and cultural roles throughout the centuries. They were the cradle of Islamic civilisation and the source of its light which has shone all over the world. The influence of the lively role of Makkah and Madinah continued far beyond the greater cities of Islam that followed in Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and Istanbul.
I travelled widely, visiting many world cities housing Islamic manuscripts, looking for inspiration. I visited centres of encyclopaedias, and met with their directors. During that period, I set up the al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, which at its launch in 1990 organised an exhibition of major manuscripts from Makkah and Madinah.
But it was clear to me that al-Furqan is not the organisation that could realise that dream. Encyclopaedic work is a special art. It has its own methodology and style. It requires a basic infrastructure to determine and rationalise entries and records. In 1994 a group of researchers and scholars, led by Dr Abd al-Wahhab Abu Sulaiman, were studying the possibility of producing an encyclopaedia of Makkah. We quickly arranged to meet and discuss the idea and how to bring it to life.
The necessary preliminary steps were taken and the main lines of action were drawn. After a series of intensive meetings, and consultation with several advisors and experts, four main aspect of the project were defined.
- Prepare an outline of the project, its various entries, the scientific data and illustrations required, together with a time-table.
- Invite researchers, scholars, academics and specialists to submit works and research papers on the two cities for review and evaluation to be included in the encyclopaedia.
- Identify subjects relating to Makkah and Madinah and invite scholars, writers, academic and experts to write on them.
- Provide services, scientific material and information to students and researchers to promote scientific research and to preserve the cultural and scientific heritage of the two holy cities.
A Council of Consultants was formed to draw up the general policy for the project, identify the outline of the encyclopaedia and agree the budget. It would adopt the work plan, the recommendations of the academic committees, and the policy of citation, documentation and publication already agreed.
An Academic Board was also formed, consisting of experts with established track-record in various professional and relevant fields, to implement the decisions of the Council of Consultants and set goals, standards and rules for the terminology, expressions and glossaries to be used. The Board determines the systematic approach to be followed with respect to linguistic and editing style, and the publishing policy. It also oversees the work of the academic committees and the research groups working in various fields.
The encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah owes its existence to two people: the learned elder of Arabia, the late Sheikh Hamad al-Jasser and Dr Abbas Saleh Tashkandi, former Head Librarian at King Abdulaziz university in Jeddah.
In 1990, the late Sheikh Hamad al-Jasser, a member of al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, gave a keynote speech at the Foundation’s launch, in which he presented some of the most valuable manuscripts of Makkah and Madinah and urged the al-Furqan Foundation to undertake the task of producing an encyclopaedia of the two great cities. Dr Tashkandi, was the first friend with whom I raised the idea in 1978. He then supervised a technical team and participated very effectively in the project up to the year 2000 when he took full charge of it.
After a series of intensive meetings with Consultants and Academic councils, in Istanbul, Madinah and various others, inside and outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, spanning a period of four years, work started on the encyclopaedia.
This ambitious project is published in Arabic in 16 volumes, each averaging 650 large-size pages, printed on high-quality paper. So far, 3 volumes have been published. For me personally this is a dream come true. The historic significance of Makkah and Madinah, highlighting their role in spreading knowledge and learning to all corners of the globe, has come to be realised. It is a labour of love and veneration of the holiest sanctities of Islam, al-haramain al-sharifain.
Ahmed Zaki Yamani