MADINAH – Foreigners from non-Arab countries attending Friday prayers at the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah can now listen to the sermons in English and other languages. Emir of Madinah Prince Faisal Bin Salman on Wednesday formally launched a program for simultaneous translation of Friday sermons at the Prophet's Mosque, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Live English and Urdu translations of the Friday sermon began two weeks ago at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. Speaking at the ceremony, Prince Faisal said the project was one of the noble initiatives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who spares no effort to serve Islam and Muslims. The prince cited the historic expansion of the two holy mosques currently under way in the two holy cities and the continuous upgrading of services as evidence of this. Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, attended the ceremony at the governorate headquarters. Prince Faisal also opened the Prophet's Mosque Academy and the Ziyarah Affairs Administration at the mosque. Earlier, Sheikh Al-Sudais briefed Prince Faisal on the interpretation project and its goals. He said the project came in line with the directives of King Abdullah to help millions of worshippers who do not speak Arabic to understand the message of Friday sermons in the two holy mosques. “This is a major accomplishment and a qualitative change in services provided to worshippers,” he said. On the Prophet's Mosque Academy, Sheikh Al-Sudais said the academy would work to improve the performance of employees and spotlight the services being provided by the Saudi government to visitors of the Prophet's Mosque. He said a separate administration for Ziyarah affairs was established to further upgrade the services.
