[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="King Salman receives King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam" ids="132552,132534,132536,132537,132541,132540,132542,132523,132539,132529,132525,132556,132546,132521,132531,132535,132538,132543,132544,132545"] Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman received the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam at a ceremony at the Prince Sultan Grand Hall of Al-Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday evening. King Salman also gave away the Prize for the winners in other four categories. Upon arrival at the venue, King Salman met other winners of the Prize and congratulated them. The King was briefed on a number of paintings by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Speaking on the occasion, Prince Khaled, who is also the executive president of King Faisal Foundation and chairman of King Faisal International Prize Committee, praised the King for his noble services to Islam and Muslims. It was followed by a video presentation featuring the great contributions made by the King in the humanitarian and charity fields as well as in serving the Two Holy Mosques. Then, the King was presented with the Prize. The King watched video presentations outlining contributions and achievements of other winners before giving away the Prize to them. The monarch also attended a dinner banquet on the occasion. King Salman has been chosen for the prestigious prize in recognition of his commitment to serve the Two Holy Mosques and their visitors and pilgrims, his care and support for the Prophet's biography in general and the project of Historical Atlas for the Prophet's biography in particular, his contributions in creating the Islamic Military Alliance to Combat Terror, as well as in establishing the King Abdulaziz Complex for Endowment Libraries in Madinah for archiving the Arab and Islamic legacy and King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Works, in addition to his strenuous and constant endeavor to unite the positions of Arabs and Muslims to confront the difficult conditions facing the Arab and Islamic nations. The 39th edition of the King Faisal Prize was awarded in five categories of service to Islam, Islamic studies, Arabic language and literature, medicine and science. Four researchers and a scientific institution were announced winners of the prize in the four categories other than service to Islam for the year 2017. The prize for Islamic studies was awarded to Ridwan Al-Sayyid, a professor at the University of Lebanon, for his research and studies of Arabic Islamic jurisprudential and political heritage. The prize for Arabic language and literature was awarded to the Arabic Language Academy of Jordan for its efforts to transfer science and technology via translation, Arabize technical terms, publish specialized glossaries and make Arabic a language of instruction. The award was received by Dr. Khaled Al-Kirki, head of the academy. Tadamitsu Kishimoto, professor of immunology at Frontier Research Center in Osaka University of Japan, received the prize for medicine for biologic therapeutics in autoimmune diseases. The prize for science was shared by Daniel Loss, professor of physics at Basel University of Switzerland, and by Dutch Professor Laurens Molenkamp of Wurzburg University of Germany. The ceremony was also attended by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Prince Rakan Bin Salman, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, chairman of the Board of Directors of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Prince Faisal Bin Bandar, emir of Riyadh, and Prince Bandar Bin Saud, deputy secretary general of King Faisal Charitable Foundation.
