Sultan honoured for service to Islam

His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, received this week the King Faisal International Prize for 2002 for serving Islam.

The Selection Committee granted him this prize for the key role he has played in promoting Islam and supporting Islamic issues, arts and culture for decades.

The growing number of religious centres for Holy Quran memorisation set up by Dr. Sheikh Sultan, the New Muslims' Centre, the numerous cultural functions and associations throughout the emirate that helped spread Islamic culture, the libraries in the emirate's public schools and publications that helped to raise the pupils' religious and civic consciousness, humanitarian aid and educational grants for Moslems, and the health care projects, are all evidence of his support to Islam.

Born on 6 July, 1939, Dr. Sheikh Sultan received his basic education in the UAE and Kuwait. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science from Cairo University, Egypt, in 1971.

He then continued with his academic education and received his Ph.D. in history in 1985 from Exeter University in the UK. In 1999, he earned a second Ph.D. in political geography from Durham University in the UK.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan is the author of more than 16 works, which include The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf, Division of the Omani Empire (1856-1862), British Colonisation of Eden, Arab Omani Documents in the French Archive Centres, John Malcolm and the British Commercial Base in the Gulf, Historic Maps of the Gulf, Letter of Somalia Rulers to Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qassimi (1837), Power Struggles and Trade in the Gulf, Omani-French Relations 1715-1900, The Revolting Prince, The White Sheikh, The Return of Hulagu, The Case, A Guide for Historians to the Innocence of Ibn Majed, Reality is a True Copy.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan was UAE Minister of Education from 1971 to 1972, and has been president of Sharjah University since 1997, and president of the American University of Sharjah (AUS) since 1997, lecturer of 'The Modern History of the Gulf' at Sharjah University since 1999, and visiting professor at Exeter University since 1998.

He is also honorary member of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies since 1992, honorary chief of the Council for the World University Services since 1998, and honorary president of the Egyptian Association for Historical Studies since 2001.

His other credentials include an award from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) for maintaining cultural heritage and supporting educational grants; a medal from the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO); and honorary membership at the Institute of African Studies.

Established in 1976, the King Faisal International Prize awards $1 million divided equally among five categories: service to Islam, Islamic studies, Arabic literature, medicine and science.

Other winners include Husam Al Din Al Khateeb of Syria and Jordan's Hosni Mahmoud Hussain, who shared the prize for Arabic literature for their studies on Palestinian literature; Russia's Yuri Manin, a towering figure in mathematics for the last four decades, and the American, Peter Williston Shor, an outstanding scientist in the field of computer science, shared the science prize.

The prize for medicine was divided between Sweden's Finn Waagstein, the first investigator to discover the potential benefit of betaadrenergic-blocking agents in congestive heart failure, and American Eugene Braunwald, who is in the forefront of the investigation of congestive heart failure and acute coronary syndromes.

The prize for Islamic Studies was withheld.

Cultural awards are common in the Arab World. Another important award is the Sultan bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation (SACF) Award in the UAE. Sultan bin Ali Al Owais, a prominent UAE national poet and businessman, founded this award in 1988 to support the cultural movement in the Arab world.

The award was then declared a cultural foundation in 1994 by a decree by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Since then, the Foundation has proved its pan-Arab nature as the recipients of its awards cut across political boundaries with the only determining factor being creativity.

Some 603 people from 18 Arab countries participated in the seventh award (2000-2001) for best poetry; story, play, and short story; literature and literary criticism; human and future study and cultural and scientific achievement. The total value of the prize is $500,000 divided among these five categories.

The best poetry award this year went to Qassim Haddad from Bahrain for his interest in human issues and his creativity. Zakariya Tamer, a Syrian short story writer, won best play.

Mohammed Al Bisati from Egypt won best short story and play. Abdul Wahab Al Mesiri from Egypt was awarded for human and future studies. Another award went to Mohsen Jassem Al Mousawi from Iraq for literature and literary criticism.