ZANZIBAR: Scholars highlight Islamic heritage at symposium

Wednesday 04th, September 2013 / 23:09 Written by Oman Observer 

in Local, Main

ZANZIBAR — A number of scholars and intellectuals highlighted the prominent place of the Islamic heritage at the conclusion of their three-day symposium titled “History of Islamic Civilization in East Africa” here yesterday. The symposium was organised by the National Records and Archives Authority, Oman, in conjunction with the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture in Istanbul, the Omani Foreign Ministry and Zanzibar University in the Republic of Tanzania. Yesterday, four sessions were held during which a number of working papers were presented in three sessions.

The first session was chaired by Dr Mohammed Ibsirili, Professor of History at Al Fateh University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr Farahat al Ja’abiri, Professor of Arabic Language and Arts and Islamic Civilization at the College of Arts and Human Sciences in Tunisia, spoke about various aspects of social and religious life in Zanzibar.

Then, Dr Timothy A Professor of Archeology at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, highlighted archeological perspectives of communication between the Arabian Gulf and East Africa. In his paper, Dr Mubarak bin Abdullah al Rashdi, Head of Islamic Sciences Department at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU, focused on the thought of Shaikh Abu Muslim al Rawahi and the scholar’s jurisprudence curriculum represented in his book titled “Nithar Al Jawhar”. Dr Fu’ad Abdul Wahab al Shami of Sana’a University, Yemen, presented a working paper on Relation of Ottoman Empire with Zanzibar. The second session was chaired by Dr Nahid Abdul-Kareem, holder of PhD from Damascus University in Modern History. She works at SQU. During the session, Dr Issa Zaidi from the College of Swahili and Foreign Languages at State Zanzibar University presented a working paper themed “Orientation towards Endowment to Support Higher Education in Zanzibar: Challenges and Aspirations”.

Dr Said bin Mohammed al Ghailani, Professor at the College of Arts and Social Sciences in SQU, spoke about the role of Omanis in spreading Islam in East Africa. Dr Abdulaziz bin Hilal al Kharousi, Deputy Director at the Research and Studies Department at National Records and Archives Authority in the Sultanate of Oman, presented a working paper about the role of Omani documents in highlighting the Islamic cultural presence. The third session was chaired by Dr Hamid Karhila, Ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Union of the Comoros. During the session, Shaikh Amir bin Mohammed al Hajri, former Deputy Chairman of the State Council in the Sultanate of Oman, presented a working paper titled “The Role of Omanis in Spreading Islam and Culture in African Interior”. Dr Bin Nu’aima Abdul Majeed, Professor at Wahran University, Algeria, touched on the Islamic Civilization in East Africa through the Moroccan Written Heritage. Another working paper presented by Dr Fu’ad Abdul Wahab al-Shami of Sana’a University, Yemen, dealt with the relation of the Ottoman Empire with Zanzibar. — ONA