RIYADH — Winners of the 37th annual King Faisal International Prize were honored by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at a glittering ceremony here on Sunday. The King gave away the awards to each winner and shook hands with them. Prizes consist of a calligraphic certificate, a specially minted 24 carat gold medal, and a cheque for $200,000, which is distributed equally if there are joint winners in a particular category. The King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) recognizes the outstanding works of individuals and institutions in five categories: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Language and Literature, Medicine, and Science. This year's award winners are Dr. Zakir Naik for Services to Islam, Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Kaki for Islamic Studies, Prof. Jeffrey Ivan Gordon for Medicine, and Prof. Michael Grätzel and Prof. Omar Mwannes Yaghi, who were jointly recognized for Science. No prize was awarded in the Arabic Language and Literature category this year. Dr. Zakir Naik is the president of the Islamic Research Foundation in India and one of the world's most renowned non-Arabic speaking Islamic scholars. He was awarded the KFIP for Services to Islam for a lifetime's teaching about Islam, his work on comparative religion, and for founding the Peace Channel, the world's comparative religion TV channel. Winner of the Islamic Studies category is Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Kaki, a consultant at Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah Development Commission, who was recognized for his research on the cultural heritage of Madinah. Prof. Jeffrey Ivan Gordon, Director of the Center of Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, US, was honored in recognition of his work defining the microbiomes genomic and metabolic role in human health. Prof. Omar Mwannes Yaghi, from the University of California (Berkeley) US, was recognized for his research into metal organic frameworks and their applications in various fields, including capturing of gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen. He shares the Science prize with Prof. Michael Grätzel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who was honored for his discovery of the development of photo-electrochemical systems for solar energy conversion.
