Daily News Egypt
By Alia Essam
A Saudi-Emirati project for a book which narrates the life of the prophet Muhammed, This is Muhammed, has entered the Guinness World Records as the largest book in the world. It was launched at the Daily News Egypt headquarters.
The book has 420 pages of 4×5 meters each. Dr. Mohamed Saeed Al-Awalaki, chairman of the Emirati Mshahed Investment Group and the creator of the book, told the Daily News Egypt the book is worth US$ 1 million dollars and weighs 1,500 Kgs.
“It tackles all aspects of the true life of the prophet Muhammed. We have also included mini versions of the book itself so that the copy is available to ordinary people,” he said.
Elaborating on the objective of the project, Al-Awalaki said it aims to provide a counter argument to misperceptions about the prophet Muhammed, his personality and life.
“We first started to think about the project right after publication of the offensive Danish cartoons about Muhammad in 2005. We examined the situation and realised that the primary reason behind such cartoons is a complete ignorance of the genuine personality of the prophet.
The prophet cannot be characterized with this bloody mentality, as the cartoons depicted him.” The book is being translated into six languages and a brail version is being created.
The book is currently located in the United Arab Emirates. On 29 November, it will commence a tour starting from Kuwait, then moving to Qatar, then Egypt. Currently, Awalaki is considering eventually placing the book either in Sheikh Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, near the prophet Muhammed’s mosque in Saudi Arabia, or at Al-Azhar University in Egypt.
There is a great possibility that it eventually will end up in Saudi Arabia. It will depend which place will preserve the project best.
