Holy Makkah: Disabled memorizing Qur'an 'remarkable'

Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) Prince Sultan bin Salman, who is also chairman of the Disabled Children's Association (DCA), has stressed children with special needs are gifted with special skills

"They are those who have overcome their psychological disabilities more than their physical disabilities and succeeded in displaying some great skills. They are, in fact, children with special skills, not handicapped," the prince added while speaking at the concluding ceremony for the Prince Sultan bin Salman Qur'an Memorization contest for disabled children in Makkah on April 11.

Prince Salman, while speaking to Arab News, said that the Qur'an Memorization contest for disabled children is a remarkable event. "This is truly a very important event, the event of the disabled children who are now reading the Qur'an and who are now memorizing parts of the Qur'an. It is joyful event for me to attend every time, mainly because to us as Saudis, the Qur'an is really a way of life rather than reading a book. The Qur'an to us is a foundation of our country, it's a foundation of our humanity and it is the values that the Qur'an preaches are the most important to us in Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia was founded on values of Islam. Islamic values basically are values that are far reaching in terms of issues of human rights, issues of family, issues of community, issues of economic and social tolerance and issues of equality.

"The world has been looking at Islam from different angles and different perspectives that is not necessarily always in line with what we believe Islam to be," the prince said.

"Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is a religion for tolerance. Islam is a very joyful religion and I always thought to be a Muslim you must be a happy person.

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