Speaking in Abuja at a three-day international symposium organised by Moroccan based Islamic organisation, Mohammad VI Foundation For African Oulema, with the theme, “The Islamic African Heritage: Memory and History,” the Sultan said the African continent needed fresh ideas.
“At a time when Africa needs fresh ideas for its rejuvenation, we need to look inward in the hiding treasures of wisdom of our past. This will enable us to get the impetus to chart a new course that will address and solve the many problems facing us today.
“I am confident that in the rich legacies of ours, we shall find that which our grandfathers found which make them build the great empires of the great of the past and contributed to humanity like all other civilisations,” Sultan said.
Earlier, the Secretary-General of the Foundation at the Kingdom of Morocco, Dr Si Mohammed Rifki, said the symposium was a concrete step in the fulfilment of one of the organisation’s objectives.
According to the religious leader, “In keeping with the pledge to implement the proposals and recommendations adopted by the members of the committee for the revival of the African Islamic heritage, with all its chapters, the symposium will therefore address a topic of paramount importance. This is one of the heritage themes adopted by the committee as a target programme.”
On his part, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, expressed optimism that the symposium would find lasting solutions to the persisting African political and socioeconomic issues, and also strive for peaceful coexistence.
The event,was attended by about 500 participants from about 30 countries and was aimed discovering the African Islamic heritage, its components, and its stages of development and the contributions of various environments, among many other objectives.
The meeting also aimed at the preservation of African Islamic manuscripts in particular, through the identification of their nature, centers, the problems and dangers that threaten them and the ways of promoting and preserving them from deterioration and loss.
He said that the Islamic heritage in Africa was rich, deep, and that there are huge collections of manuscripts in private, public universities, and libraries and research centres across the world.
Commending the foundation and organisers of the symposium, the Sultan, therefore, urged participants to ensure maximum interactions to deliver expectations of Muslims, not only in Africa but across the world.