A view of the ‘Gardens of Al Andalus’ exhibition.

The exhibition ‘Gardens of Al-Andalus’ has been opened at the College of Islamic Sciences at Education City, under the patronage of HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, vice chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF).

The exhibition, created by the Islamic Culture Foundation (Funci) of Madrid, will be on until May 31, under the direction of Funci president Dr Cherif Abderrahman Jah in collaboration with QF’s Qur’anic Botanic Garden and its manager Fatima al-Khulaifi.
The opening was attended by several diplomatic and academic figures, including HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and ambassador of Spain Ignacio Escobar.
The exhibition portrays the Andalusi garden from different perspectives: botanical, architectural, scientific, poetic, and spiritual.
The exhibition’s goal in Doha is to bring the peoples closer together and to build bridges between Qatar and Spain, based on a common culture.
Dr Jah said it is an honour for Funci, to share with Qatar, “a journey in time through Al-Andalus, one of the most brilliant periods in the history of mankind, whose roots are to be found in the Arabian Peninsula, cradle of Islam”.
“The world today cannot deny the grandeur of this civilisation that bears universal values, which brought light to Hispania during the Middle Ages and whose scientific, philosophical and spiritual projection was to lay the foundations for the Renaissance in Europe. This civilisation contains the keys to a balanced development of societies, in the human as well as the scientific, political and economic spheres.
“In the exhibition ‘Gardens of Al-Andalus’, Al-Andalus speaks of its own history and splendour through its gardens, these being open, multicultural spaces in which the scientific influences and the landscapes of East and West came together over the centuries.
“This is why we have chosen the Hispanic-Arabic garden as a symbol of a coming-together and of dialogue amongst peoples. ‘Gardens of Al-Andalus’, shows a civilisation that is respectful of nature.
“According to the Holy Qur’an, it is nature that provides the answers to the new environmental challenges to be faced by our future generations.
“This exhibition forms part of the programme entitled “Med-O-Med, cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean and the Middle East”, set up by Funci with the aim of joining forces for environmental research, education and conservation, and for recovering the scientific and conservationist spirit that is inherent in Islamic civilisation.
“Funci, a private Spanish institution, which has been working for over 30 years on disseminating objective knowledge of Islamic culture in the West, hopes to transmit today a message of peace to the world. This is the same message that Islam sent out from Arabia, bringing hearts together, with neither prejudice nor frontiers.”