Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, on Wednesday inaugurated the ‘Haj: Memories of A Journey’ exhibition organised by the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre (SZGMC) on the mosque’s premises.

The exhibition will be open till March 19, 2018, marking the centre’s 10th anniversary.

Shaikh Mansour toured the exhibition, which was organised in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, and viewed rare Islamic manuscripts and historic photographs, in addition to antiques, and classic and contemporary artworks, loaned by 15 local and international institutions.

The exhibition highlights the challenging routes that pilgrims travelled, some across continents, to reach Makkah.

Shaikh Mansour said that the organising of the exhibition and its historic and cultural content reaffirm the prestigious position that the centre occupies as “a cultural beacon that reflects the purity of humanity, as based on the teachings of Islam, and our traditions and values”.

Shaikh Mansour added that the exhibition represents an ideal destination for learning up-close about the concept of tolerance in Islam. He expressed his happiness with the cultural contents related to the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, stressing that it represents a humanitarian model of a veteran leader who made gallant values and principles a way of life in the UAE. He said that this allowed the country to be ranked first regionally and third globally in the tolerance index released by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.

Shaikh Mansour said that such events are an open invitation for appropriately linking the present with the past, and ushering in the future with moderate values of tolerance and diversity.

The exhibition highlights the historical narrative of Haj, from the arrival of Islam to this region of the Arabian Peninsula. It also showcases the innovations of Muslims to facilitate the journey and make it more accessible for everyone. It also displays a very precise historical account of the evolution of the Haj routes from the era of ships and, before the invention of aircraft, the journey to Makkah undertaken by foot, to the present day where the most common mode of transport is by air.

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