Al Azhar project opens

The project aims to preserve the rare scripts contained in Al Azhar University, one of the world’s oldest and most prominent universities, and to protect the scientific and historical heritage contained therein and to enable these treasures to become accessible on the Internet to users and scholars the world over.

Estimated at $5 million , the entire sum for the project is provided by General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister. The contribution reflects his interest in preserving this important heritage for all mankind through the use of modern technology and his emphasis on the importance of utilising technology to implement the cultural, intellectual, social, and economic development of the Arab and Islamic Worlds.

The ceremony was attended by the Grand Imam Dr Mohammed Sayed Tantawy, the Shaikh of Al Azhar, and Ahmad bin Byat, Director-General of the Dubai Technology, E-Commerce and Media Free Zone and Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Executive Director of the Dubai Knowledge Village and Manager of the Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Information Technology Education Project, entrusted to implement the Azhar scripts preservation project.

Commenting on the project, the Grand Imam said: “The launch of this large project reflects the spirit of cooperation and brotherhood that binds the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the strong and long-lasting ties that have always united the two brotherly peoples.”

The Grand Imam also praised Dubai’s positive contribution to making this cooperation possible as evident by this project which came about as a noble initiative by the Crown Prince of Dubai to preserve Al Azhar’s heritage, which is actually a heritage for all the Islamic World.

The Grand Imam emphasised that “the launch of a website that serves as the Islamic World’s voice to the world and sheds light on the true picture of Islam and the enlightened spirit of its followers is an important step in the present and also for the future of the coming generations.”

Ahmad bin Byat, Director-General of the Dubai Technology, E-Commerce and Media Free Zone, stressed the project’s value, stating that “this initiative is one of the positive results of the close cooperation that has always existed between the brotherly peoples of Egypt and the UAE.”

He said: “Today’s event reflects the vision of General Shaikh Mohammed and his optimism regarding a bright future for Arabs and Muslims, and his desire to protect the important cultural and intellectual heritage that belongs to the Muslim World and which is considered one of the essential foundations of Muslim individuals worldwide.”

The project aims at providing electronic copies of all the contents of Al Azhar library, which is composed of around 42,000 scripts and 128,000 books, and to post all these documents online on the world wide web. The biggest of its kind in the world, this unique project both in terms of its size, is the biggest scanning project worldwide or the age of the documents being scanned. Special technologies were used for the first time ever in this giant project.

Furthermore, implementing the project required that special scanning technologies be used, and IBM developed special scanners that guaranteed that the scripts wouldn’t be negatively affected by the scanning process.