RIYADH, 4 December 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah was honored yesterday at a ceremony for the distribution of Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud International Prize for Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies. The king had won the prestigious award for serving the Sunnah (the sayings and life of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).

The Supreme Commission of the Prize chose the king as the recipient due to his many efforts to serve Islam and Muslims, such as proposing an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference last year in Makkah in light of the challenges faced by the Muslim world.

Attending the event on behalf of Abdullah was Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, who distributed certificates and cash prizes to the winners. Among the other dignitaries who attended were Prince Naif, interior minister and the president of the Supreme Commission of the Prize, Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, president of the Shoura Council Sheikh Saleh Bin-Humaid, ministers, Grand Mufti Sheikh AbdulAziz Al-Asheikh, the grand mufti of Lebanon and the mufti of Egypt.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Prince Naif said that the members of the seven terrorist cells busted by the government plotted a number of assassinations and terrorist operations in the country. “Security officers are ready to foil any future terrorist operation.”

The interior minister said people behind these terrorist cells “are the enemies of Islam and Muslims even if they have an Islamic mask.” He said that the arrested terrorists had political and economic agendas. “Their aim is to turn Muslim against Muslim,” he said, adding that this would only benefit non-Muslims.

The minister said the government had no plans to increase the number of its administrative regions, adding that governors were doing their best to serve the country and notified the king of the challenges they faced in their regions.

Naif said that the aim of his international prize was to “protect the image of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from all sorts of mockery,” citing that in the recent past the prophet has been a target of mockery from the enemies of Islam.

Said Al-Harthi, adviser to the interior minister and secretary-general of the Supreme Commission of the Prize, announced the winners of this year’s prize. The Prophet’s Sunnah Prize was awarded to Basim Al-Jawabra, a Jordanian national, for his research titled “Infidelity Charges in the Light of the Prophet’s Sunnah.”

In the same category, another prize was given to Saudi national Nawal Al-Eid for her research paper titled: “The Rights of Women in the Prophet’s Sunnah.”

Mohammad Waqiallah Ahmed, a Sudanese national, won the Contemporary Islamic Studies Prize for his research titled: “Islam in Current Western Curricula — Review and Criticism.”

At the ceremony, Prince Salman said the prize encouraged researchers to serve the Sunnah. “It also encourages the youth to adopt Sunnah in their lifestyle and implant the love of the Prophet in the hearts of Muslim youth.”

Al-Harthi said Crown Prince Sultan’s attendance on behalf of King Abdullah illustrated the keenness of the country’s leadership to support Islamic research on the Qur’an and Sunnah, which is the constitution of the Kingdom.

He said 306 research papers were submitted. Seventy-nine research works were rejected in the first phase. In the second phase, an additional 112 research works were rejected after they were evaluated by a number of university professors. “The remaining 115 research papers were then scrutinized by the most qualified religious scholars in the Kingdom,” he said.