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Date : 22nd June 2007 Venue : The Hall of Harmony, Nehru Center, Mumbai Since its inception in 2007, Wisdom Foundation has organized several major events. The first event was an Essay Competition entitled "Peace, Tolerance and Harmonious Co-Existence in Islam" designed for the Imams of Mumbai. Forms for the essay competition were circulated for the Imams to various institutions. From several essay received, twenty-five were elected by the judges. The first three prize winning essays selected by the judges, received cash awards. The other Imams were presented with Certificates of Merit from the Foundation. The Event was held on the 22nd June 2007 at the Hall of Harmony, Nehru Center, Mumbai. His Excellency, Shri S. M. Krishna, Honorable Governor of Maharashtra was invited to preside over the event and gave the Keynote address. He kindly gave away awards to the participants for the three prize winning essays selected by the judges. All essays were written in Urdu. The Award winners were Maulana Mohamed Arif Umri (1st Prize); Maulana Mohammed Alim Nadvi (2nd Prize) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman Islahi (Third Prize). The event received an overwhelming response and the Hall of Harmony was packed to capacity. On popular demand the Advisory Board decided to have the three prize winning essays translated into English and along with a few other contributions, have them published. The book "Winning the Peace : A Quest" is the fruit of this endeavour. For this Event, we express our gratitude to Shri Satish Sahney, former Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, presently Chief Executive of The Nehru Center and Advisory Board Member, Wisdom Foundation for his meticulous and impeccable planning, sound advice and assistance in devising the Event. The Nehru Center needs special mention for making all the necessary arrangements relating to security and protocol for the Honorable Governor of Maharashtra, Shri S. M Krishna. A special note of gratitude for Editor in Chief, Loksatta and Advisory Board Member, Wisdom Foundation, Kumar Ketkar for his sincerity, time and efficacy in structuring the event, without his time and effort the Event could not have been possible. In the same vein we are indebted to Shri Asgharali Engineer, Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, Advisory Board Member, Wisdom Foundation, Maulana Shoaib Koti and Mufti Inamullah Sahab for evaluating the essays on "Peace, Tolerance and Harmonious Co-existence" written by the Imams of Mumbai. We deeply appreciate the benevolence of Shri Saleem Fazelbhoy for his vindication and financial assistance; to Shri Alok Aggarwal, Miss Ahla Furniturewala, Shri Shaukat Ali, Dr. Aziz Vally, for their wherewithal and Shri Asif Khan, Shri M. Merchant, Smt. Noorjahan Safavi, Smt. Bella Das for their laborious efforts in attending to details of organization. We thank Shri Dhananjay Chitnis, an established Chartered Accountant for his expert advice and voluntary assistance to the Foundation. |
