Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani (first left) during the launch of the book Jassim the Leader, Founder of Qatar at the ministry.
Doha: The Ministry of Culture yesterday inaugurated the book Jassim the Leader, Founder of Qatar by Sheikh Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, at the House of Wisdom Hall at the Ministry of Culture.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani, and a number of attendees, comes in cooperation between the Qatari Forum for Authors and the Qatari Publishers and Distributors Forum.
The event witnessed the celebration of the new publication, which enriches the shelves of the Qatari library, and highlights the ability of the Qatari writer to literary creativity, which is one of the goals that the Forum of Qatari Publishers and Distributors aspires to achieve.
The Minister of Culture stressed, during the inauguration ceremony, the ministry’s keenness to encourage such initiatives that require more effort and patience, explaining that this is the case of the human researcher, who must be patient and dreamy. He praised the author for his efforts in publishing the Arabic version of the book, and it is expected to issue copies in other languages as well.
For his part, Sheikh Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, author of the book Jassim the Leader, Founder of Qatar, said: “The English version of the book was issued in 2012, and 10,000 copies were distributed, explaining that the book in its English version relied on the style of storytelling, not on events and facts that follow each other.”
He said that there were challenges in translating the book into Arabic, including the references the author relies on to obtain information and documents to tell stories and events in their true form based on accurate information.
Sheikh Mohammed said that it took a long time to gather information and documents, until it helped translate the book into Arabic, according to the accurate information it carried about the personality of Jassim, the leader, the founder of Qatar, his arrivals and his tours. He stressed that he is in the process of translating the book into French, in cooperation with the French embassy in the country, pointing out that there is an intention to translate it also into Chinese and other languages. Sheikh Mohammed explained that the book narrates in nearly 200 pages and in a narrative style, the life of Sheikh Jassim bin Muhammad, the founder of Qatar, may his soul rest in peace, when he appeared as a young and knight whom his father, Sheikh Muhammad bin Thani, may God have mercy on him, be proud of.
