Closing of the Sixth Manuscript Conference
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Alexandria—The Sixth Manuscript Conference, entitled “Heritage Publishing”, came to a close on Thursday, 7 May 2009.
The final recommendations of the Conference asserted the importance of establishing an Arab Organization for publishing heritage, focusing on electronic publishing in addition to paper publishing, translating Arab heritage to include it in the world heritage, setting some rules for heritage publishing, and establishing university departments for manuscript studies.
Dr. Youssef Ziedan, Director of the BA Manuscript Center and Museum, announced that the Seventh Manuscript Conference would be entitled “Origins of Arab Heritage”, after brainstorming with several Arab intellectuals and scientists. He added that there are cultural origins in the pre-Islamic communities and the Quranic language has pre-Islamic roots; thus Islamic heritage can never be fully understood without taking all these into consideration.
Among the most prominent participants in this year’s Conference were Islamic thinker Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Dr. Bashar Marouf, Dr. Radwan El-Sayed, Dr. Stefan Leder, Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd, in addition to Dr. Roshdi Rashed and Syrian Minister of Culture, Riyad Nassan Agha who both spoke in the opening session on 5 May 2009.