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

Hajj Ibrahim Hernández, president of the Seville Mosque Foundation and Hajj Abdelgani Melara, it’s Imam Jatib have had the honor and pleasure of being received by Sidi Ahmed Kostas, Director of Islamic Affairs of the Moroccan Ministry of Awqaf, and the director of Publications of the Quran, in the Royal Palace of Rabat.

At the meeting, that was requested by the Ministry, the translation of the Noble Qur’an to the Spanish language done by Hajj Abdelgani was handed over for possible a publication, which we hope will be done shortly, Insha Allah.

The first major project of Hajj Abdelgani was the translation of the Quran into the Spanish language, which was a process that lasted almost twenty years, to which other Spanish Muslims collaborated, and during which he studied the traditional Tafsir to find out the best form of expression in the Spanish language for this time. This translation has been published several times, one of them by the Mujamma ‘al-Malik Fahd li Ṭiba’a al-Muḥḥaf ash-Sharif of Medina al-Munawwara, which requested this translation due to the prestige it already enjoyed among the Spanish speakers. It has also being published by the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs of Turkey, among other several editions no less careful and important.

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

During the meeting the project of the Mosque, the Islamic Cultural Center and Awqaf of Seville, was presented to them, along with the annual report of the Foundation, in order to gather their support, the government’s and His Majesty’s Mohammed VI, Insha Allah.

We would like to transmit our sincere gratitude for the reception and hospitality, and we hope that this meeting will reinforce our relationship and commitment to a country that we have received so much from and that we have so much in common, Insha Allah.