Thursday October 16, 2003 12:04 PM

ADDRESS OF PROF. DR. EKMELEDDIN IHSANOGLU, DIRECTOR GENERAL, OIC RESEARCH CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC HISTORY, ART AND CULTURE (IRCICA, ISTANBUL) ON THE OCCASION OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE MAHATHIR AWARD FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES AND PRESENTATION OF A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE TO HIS EXCELLENCY DATO SERI DR. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE TENTH ISLAMIC SUMMIT CONFERENCE (PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA, OCT 16-18, 2003)

Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies the Heads of State and Government, Your Excellency the Secretary General of 01C.

Since its establishment twenty-three years ago, the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture - IRCICA has had the privilege of enjoying the close and unfailing support of the OIC Member States, and the General Secretariat of the OIC, and thanks to this support, it has attained its present status as a research institution of universal scope. Thus IRClCA, this scholarly institution of the Muslim world, is the fruit of the Member States' combined efforts.

Based on the experience it acquired in more than two decades of studies on Islamic cultures and civilisation, IRCICA is convinced that state support and patronage are indispensable factors for cultural development. With this understanding, IRCICA would like to acknowledge the seminal efforts that have been deployed by His Excellency Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of the Tenth Islamic Summit, to promote cultural development and encourage scholarship in the study of Islamic cultures and civilisation.

Your Excellency the Prime Minister,

It is a great honour for me as the Director General of IRCICA to express my deep gratitude to Your Excellency for your benevolent deeds towards developing culture, arts and sciences, which has made of your country a leading experience in the Muslim world and a source of inspiration for Muslim intellectuals.

Thus, Excellency, in gratitude for the patronage you have extended to culture and learning, for your giving impetus to arts and sciences in the Muslim world, your continuous support of IRCICA's activities, in sum, for having caught the constitutive power of Islamic civilisation and carried the torch of this civilisation not only in your country but all over the world, we have instituted a scholarly award with the name "Mahathir Award for Islamic Studies". It is a great honour for me and my colleagues at IRCICA to announce this award on the occasion of the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference convened under your Chairmanship. This award, which constitutes a modest step towards perpetuating the spirit of the mission you have undertaken, aims at promoting studies on Islamic cultures and civilisation among young scholars. It will be presented periodically to the best PhD studies relating to the Muslim world, and will be devoted in its first term to studies on the Malay world.

Dear Sir,

On this auspicious occasion, I would like to renew my heartfelt gratitude to Your Excellency, and I cannot find any better way of expression than dedicating to you a plate which bears the calligraphic writing of a saying of our Holy Prophet, the Holy Tradition that says (Arabic text will be quoted) "The most blessed of mankind is the one most beneficial to mankind". The plate is written and gilded in the classical style by the most eminent artists of our world. Please accept this plate as a token of our deep gratitude. I do pray to Allah Almighty that for long years to come you continue to be a source of inspiration and guidance for us.