Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Awqaf Minister, Wael Arabiyat, Tuesday attended a ceremony to mark the completion of the third phase of the Development of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif Manuscripts Restoration Centre Project.
The event also included the graduation ceremony of ten Manuscripts Center employees, who completed a training programme. Earlier phases of the Project in the holy city of Jerusalem involved establishing a Manuscripts Restoration Center in al-Aqsa Mosque back in 1999, one of the several significant Hashemite restoration projects. His Majesty King Abdullah II has granted the project personal care and support.
The King has followed up the development phases of the project. He funded and enabled the entry of the laboratory of the manuscripts center in 2008.
In 2015, King Abdullah directed the concerned authorities to permanently appoint the ten graduates, as employees of the Jordanian Jerusalem Awqaf, who are now contributing to restoring and archiving thousands of valuable manuscripts in al-Aqsa Mosque and in Jerusalem libraries.
The minister stated that Al-Aqsa Mosque Manuscripts’ Restoration Center Project is no less important that other Royal Restoration projects that have been completed recently, citing the restoration of the Mosaics at the Dome of the Rock and Dome of the Qibli Mosque as examples.
The minister stressed that the protection of the Manuscript heritage constitutes the protection of the accounts of documented History that prove the Arab-Islamic identity of the Holy City.
The minister thanked the UNESCO for the support it provided for the project, clarifying that the UN cultural organisation provided the needed coordination and international experts for the completion of the project. Arabiyat also thanked Norway that funded the third phase of the project.
The Representative Office of Norway to the Palestinian Authority Tor Gjerde expressed Norway’s "delight of being part of this historical project that aims to protect the valuable cultural heritage of the city of Jerusalem".
The UNESCO representative and coordinator of the project, Nao Hayashi, voiced her gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah for granting the UNESCO this precious opportunity to be part of an Hashemite I’mar projects inside al-Aqsa Mosque/ al-Haram Al-Sharif.
She also pointed out that this achievement was a result of intense efforts and great cooperation with Jordan, represented by the Royal Hashemite Court, the Jordanian Minister of Awqaf and the Jordanian Awqaf Department in Jerusalem, and the Norwegian and Palestinian support.
Director General of Jerusalem Awqaf Sheikh Azam Al-Khatib, recalled the royal directives to establish the center in Al-Ashrafiyah School at the Western Part of Al-Aqsa in 1999, so that the center would protect the school and protect and revive invaluable treasures of Islamic history.
Al-Khatib elaborated that the Royal Project started by dispatching Awqaf employees to Italy in cooperation with the UNESCO. The Project also involved importing laboratory devices from Italy in 2005. However, Israeli Occupation Authorities confiscated the devices in Ashdod Port for three years until King Abdullah personally intervened and paid the transportation and setup expenses.
Secretary General of the Palestinian Awqaf Ministry and the dean of the Revival of the Palestinian Heritage Foundation, Khalil Karajah ar-Rifa’i, commended King Abdullah's Custodianship over Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in Jerusalem and his Majesty’s keenness on protecting written heritage.
The director of the Revival of Heritage and Islamic Research foundation, Mohammad as-Safadi, highlighted the cooperation between the foundations, who holds hundreds of thousands of valuable documents that belong to al-Aqsa Mosque and the Jerusalemite Shar’i Courts, with the newly established Manuscripts Center in al-Aqsa Mosque in an effort to protect valuable heritage.
The director of Tourism and Archeology in al-Aqsa Mosque, Yousef an-Natshah, pointed out that this achievement came as a result of the close cooperation between experts from Palestine, Jordan and the UNESCO, who worked hard to maintain that best results were achieved in all phases.
Wasfi Kailani, the Coordinator of the Development of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif Manuscripts Restoration Centre Project, said that the project is still ongoing and that the Fourth Phase is about to be launched through a $1.8 million grant. Kailani elaborated that the Fourth Phase of the project will include training an additional five employees to ensure the continuity of the restoration work.
He pointed out that Manuscripts Restoration Center has a current mission to restore around 4000 manuscripts, 1000 of which require extensive restoration, in addition to millions of historical papers and documents. Kailani added that the fourth phase of the Project will also include providing services for the Jerusalemite society and Palestinian Academic institution.
Among the treasures housed by al-Aqsa Manuscripts’ Center are the Ihya’ U’loom ad-Deen manuscript written by al-Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali during his stay at ar-Rahma Gate in al-Aqsa Mosque, ar-Rob’a al-Azmiri, which constitutes thirty sections of the Holy Quran dating back to the beginning of the Ottoman era, and rare editions of Saheeh al-Imam Muslim dating back to the Mamluki era.
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