Crown Prince opens 87th Hashemite Scientific Council

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Friday attended the first session of the 87th Hashemite Scientific Council at the Royal Cultural Centre.

The scientific council, organised by the Awqaf Ministry, is an annual Ramadan event that features the participation of intellectuals, clerics and Sharia (Islamic law) professors from the Kingdom and other Arab and Muslim countries. 

At the session titled "The Status of Jerusalem in Islam", former Awqaf minister and Secretary General of the Islamic Fiqh Academy Abdul Salam Abbadi spoke about Jerusalem and its significance, stressing that the city has had an Arab status since 3,000 years before Christ, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Abbadi noted that the Hashemite custodianship is a great responsibility on the Hashemites to protect and build the holy city, which highlights the importance and the status of the city, as well as the Hashemites' role in safeguarding these holy sites. 

Mohammad Bashari, secretary general of the Islamic European Conference, said that Jordan has and will continue to present the world with lessons in harmony and defence of vulnerable people, mainly the Arab causes and humanitarian issues. 

He praised the Hashemite achievements in Jerusalem and its holy places, adding that Islamic components of non-Islamic countries have become part of the decision-making in the West, especially as the Muslim community amounts to some 500 million, constituting a "vital motive" for Arabs and Muslims in Islamic countries to defend Arab and Muslim causes.