CULTURAL CENTRE A MONUMENT TO MULTICULTURALISM

12th September 2006

The new Al-Maktoum Multicultural Centre will be a monument to multiculturalism in Scotland and beyond.



That was the prediction made by Professor Abd al-Fattah El Awaisi, Principal of the Al-Maktoum Institute speaking to Dundee’s West End Community Council last night. (Tuesday 12 September 2006)



Professor El-Awaisi was the guest speaker at the Council’s monthly meeting and outlined the proposals for the multi-million pound centre that is to be built at the site of the former Harris Academy annexe on Blackness Road.



He told his audience that the three-storey building would be a ” world class” facility, open to everyone and that his hope was that groups, organisations and individuals from Dundee and elsewhere in Scotland would visit and make use of it. The building was being designed to reflect the concept of openness; somewhere people of all faiths and none could come together.



Included in the design are an Internet Café, a large exhibition hall, a public conference hall, several meeting rooms and a small mosque. At the heart of the multicultural centre, and it’s main feature, will be the library that is planned to house Europe’s leading collection of books on the study of Islam and Muslims.



The Deputy Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is financially supporting the project



Professor El-Awaisi said: “ We were granted planning permission earlier this year and since then people have been anxious to know what is going on the site and when the building work will start.



“We are currently exploring possible dates for Shaikh Hamdan to visit Scotland in order that he can lay the foundation stone for the new building.



“In short, the Al-Maktoum Foundation is building a multicultural centre and not an Islamic cultural centre. It is not only building a mosque or a facility available only to Muslims in the city, but it is building a multicultural centre which will be a facility for all the communities of Dundee and Scotland and it will be a model for multiculturalism. It will help the work of promoting understanding and bringing communities together.”