French President open Haj exhibition in Paris

A photo taken by Muhammad Helmi in 1947 shows Maqam Ibrahim inside the Haram 

French President Francois Hollande and Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah open a Haj exhibition in Paris on Tuesday.

King Abdul Aziz Library and the Paris-based Institute of Arab World are jointly organizing the event, which will run for three months. Faisal bin Muammar, adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and supervisor of the library, thanked the French president for finding time to open the exhibition. “The Paris show reflects the warmth of Saudi-French relations,” Muammar said, while commending France’s support for King Abdullah’s interfaith dialogue initiative.

Muammar also stressed the important role being played by Prince Abdul Aziz for the development of King Abdul Aziz Library and for facilitating the efforts to organize the exhibition in Paris. He highlighted the importance of Haj pilgrimage being the fifth pillar of Islam and the largest gathering of Muslims around the world. He said the exhibition would showcase rare artifacts that have been collected from various international museums. “Haj reflects the unity and equality of Muslims and this will be an important message to be conveyed by the exhibition to the French and European communities,” he added.

Speaking about the exhibition, he said it would give visitors an idea about the history of Haj, the routes followed by pilgrims to reach the holy sites in Makkah in ancient times, the various rituals of Haj and the development witnessed by Makkah during the Saudi era. The exhibition also aims at promoting the King’s interfaith initiative to achieve greater understanding between the followers of Islam and other religious faiths. A piece of Kiswa, thick black cloth with intricate embroidery of Qur'anic verses in gold, that covers the door of the Kaaba will be on display at the second Saudi Haj Exhibition. 

Mohammed Al-Jabri, an official of the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, said that for the first time a piece of the Kaaba will be displayed internationally. The exhibition will also feature other antiquities, an old frame of the Black Stone, a door of the dais of the Prophet's Mosque and a number of Qur'anic texts which were written on some walls in the Grand Mosque. The official also revealed that a worker from the Kaaba Kiswa factory in Makkah will show viewers materials used in stitching the Kiswa and will also show a live demonstration of how the cloth is laced and embroidered. 

The first Haj Exhibition was held in London two years ago, however artifacts from the Two Holy Mosques were not on display then. – See more at: http://kep.org.sa/en/NewsDetails.aspx?newsid=70595#sthash.YTgOfM82.dpuf