Dr. Abdul Rahman Bin Ma'adhah Al-Shehri, Secretary General of the Saudi Scientific Society for Qur'anic Studies and member of the teaching staff at King Saud University, said the means of modern communications including the Internet and satellite TV channels have made it possible for messages to be delivered to almost every place in the world. He said he is supervising the Ahl Al-Tafseer Forum, which is being carried out as a specialist dialogue forum and has been serving the Qur'an and its sciences since 2002. He said that the forum, which grew by gradually attracting specialist researchers in Qur'anic studies, now has more than 6,000 member most of whom are specialists in Qur'anic studies worldwide. He added that several other services have been added to the forum such as electronic and audio libraries, a database for theses in religious studies and others under the title “Tafseer and Qur'anic Studies Network”. “We are now developing the electronic gate more professionally to serve the Holy Qur'an and its sciences,” he explained. As to providing lessons via the Internet, he said there are many ways and various programs but all of them have one common factor – that is, the lessons are given via computer at the home of the student or at any other place. Male and female students, who listen to the lesson through personal computers at home, can ask questions and receive immediate answers. He said that a large number of students have benefited from this service, which is approved and used by many universities and other education institutions. The service is being continuously developed by adding more interactive components that enrich the lessons, he said.
