The King Faisal Foundation was established in 1976 by the sons of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamic Nationalism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian...

. The Director-General is HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal

Khalid Al-Faisal

Prince Khalid al-Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is the current Governor of the Makkah Province. He previously served as the Governor of the Asir Province from 1971 to 2007....

. The Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic Foundations in the world.

King Faisal International Prize

The foundation presents an annual prize, King Faisal International Prize, to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". The foundation awards prizes in:

• Service to Islam
• Islamic studies
• Arabic Language and literature
• Science
• Medicine

Each of the five prizes, awarded annually, consist of a certificate hand written in Diwani

Diwani

Diwani is a calligraphic variety of Arabic script, a cursive style developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks...

 calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy, colloquially known as Perso-Arabic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting, or calligraphy, and by extension, of bookmaking, in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. This art form is based on the Arabic script, which for a long time was used by all...

 summarizing the laureates work; a 24 carat

Carat (purity)

The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...

 200 gram gold medal—uniquely cast for each winner; and a cash prize of SR 750,000 (USD $200,000). The prizes are awarded at a ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by the King of Saudi Arabia.

The first King Faisal International Prize was awarded to Sayyid Abul A'ala Maududi in the year 1979 for his Service to Islam. This prestigious award was awarded in 1986 to Ahmed Deedat for his excellent services for Islam. In 2009 the prize went to Ronald Levy

Ronald Levy

Ronald Levy is an American medical doctor and scientist at Stanford University. He specializes in lymphoma, including Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Burkitt's Lymphoma and Hodgkin's Disease...

, its first Jewish recipient.

King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies

The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies was established in 1983. Based in Riyadh, the centre is an independent, not-for-profit institution financed by the King Faisal Foundation. The center studies issues affecting the Arab and Muslim worlds, and organizes a number of conferences each year.

Aims and Mission of the Center

In keeping with the goals of the King Faisal Foundation, the Center is dedicated to serving Islamic civilization, supporting continuing research, and encouraging cultural and scientific activities in a number of fields. The Center summarizes its mission as follows:

• To raise awareness about the contribution of Islamic civilization to human heritage and to highlight the main distinguishing features of Islamic civilization;
• To raise public awareness about the late King Faisal b. Abdul Aziz, of his great humanity and remarkable qualities of leadership, and to highlight his central contribution to, and continuous support for Islamic Solidarity;
• To support research in areas related to Islamic civilization, to develop it along scientific lines, and to encourage researchers and students at all academic levels;
• To help train a new generation of scholars specialized in the fields of Islamic studies, Arabic language, and the social sciences;
• To help promote and preserve the Islamic heritage by organizing annual exhibits at the Center;
• To organize lectures, conferences, and symposia, of both a general and specialized nature, on issues vital to Islam and to Muslims and to their roles in the present and in the future, linking today’s Muslims to the roots of Islamic culture;
• To continue to build libraries through the acquisition of resources relating to any aspect of Islamic civilization, and to make the Center one of the principal resources on Islamic civilization worldwide;
• To develop specialized databases in fields relating to the mission of the Center and its areas of specialization, thus enhancing the library services available to researchers and students at the Center;
• To translate scientific treatises and research into foreign languages, and to translate a variety of works into Arabic, when such translation would be of service in achieving the aims and objectives of the Center;
• To support and encourage research that falls within the Center’s interest.

Alfaisal University

Alfaisal University is a private non-profit institution which aspires to be a world-class research university committed to the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge in the fields of business, engineering, life sciences and medicine, and to the development of knowledge-based economies

The Library

The Library's collection covers the fields of Islamic Studies and Islamic Civilization. At present, there are more than 250,000 volumes in Arabic and Latin languages. There is also a collection of rare and out-of-print periodicals and more than half million articles.
A separate audio-visual research library has more than 11,000 audio and videocassettes, slides, and films, which contain lectures and documentary material related to the Center’s various activities and interests.

Manuscripts Library

As part of the Foundation’s contribution to preserving Islamic culture and highlighting the contributions made by Muslim and Arab scholars, The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies has undertaken the challenging mission of locating, authenticating, acquiring, or copying, and indexing all known Islamic manuscripts worldwide. In addition to nearly 23,000 hand-written texts, some of which are more than 1,200 years old, the manuscript archives have more than 18,000 microfilms and hundreds of photocopies. The majority of the microfilms are acquired through mutual agreements with the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, the Library of Congress, and the British Library. Databases save researchers up to 70% of the time they would normally spend searching catalogs for information pertaining to manuscripts located elsewhere in the world.

Painting and Patronage

The King Faisal Foundation is also involved in promoting greater cultural and artistic ties between Europe and Saudi Arabia, principally through the Painting and Patronage

Painting and Patronage

Painting & Patronage is a prominent cultural and artistic exchange programme between Saudi Arabia and the international community. It was founded in 1999 by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, son of the late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz...

initiative which was launched in 1999.

External links

• King Faisal Foundation - official website
• King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies - official website
• Peter Harrigan, 2000, Rays of Light and Brightness: The King Faisal International Prize, Saudi Aramco World