Meeting with Sidi Ahmed Kostas, Director of the Ministry of Awqaf of Morocco

Today, Hajj Ibrahim Hernández, President of the Mosque of Seville Foundation and Hajj Abdelgani Melara, Imam Khatib of the same have had the honour and pleasure of being received by Sidi Ahmed Kostas, Director of Islamic Affairs of the Ministry of the Awqaf of Morocco, and the Director of Publications of the Qur’an, at the Royal Palace of Rabat.

At the meeting, at the request of the Ministry, the translation of the Noble Qur’an into Spanish made by Hajj Abdelgani was delivered, for a publication of this, which we hope will be published soon. Insha Allah.

Hajj Abdelgani’s first major project was to undertake the translation of the Qur’an into the Spanish language, which was a process of almost twenty years in which other Spanish Muslims collaborated and in which he studied the traditional tafsirs and sought an expression in the Spanish language that was appropriate for the people of this time. This translation has been published several times. One of them by the Mujamma’ al-Malik Fahd li Ṭiba’a al-Muṣḥaf ash-Sharif of Medina al-Munawwara, being required by such a body due to the prestige he already enjoyed among Spanish speakers. And another by the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs of Turkey, among several other editions no less careful and important.

He has also translated such important texts as: Mukhtaṣar al-Bukhari, al-Muwwaṭṭa of Imam Malik, ash-Shifa and Qawa’id al-Islam, both of the qaḍi ‘Iyaḍ, the diwan of the shaikh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabib and Tanbih al-Ghafilin of as-Samarqandi.

During the meeting, they were also presented with the project of the Mosque, Islamic Cultural Center and Awqaf of Seville, together with the annual report of the Foundation, in order to obtain their support, that of the government and His Majesty Mohammed VI. Insha Allah.

Our sincere thanks for the reception and hospitality. And we hope that this meeting will strengthen our relationship and commitment to a country from which we have received so much and with which we have so much in common. Insha Allah.