aboosait
INDIA
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 Topic initiated on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 3:22 AM 
Monorail-Over 600 Chinese nationals embrace Islam
ref:http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi_arabia/10352586.html
Riyadh: Over 600 Chinese nationals working on the HaramainRail project have embraced Islam in a recent ceremony in Makkah.
They are workers of the Chinese Railway Company, which wonthe multibillion contract for implementing the 450km rail road linking the holycities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and Rabigh.
Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Khudhairi, undersecretary at the MakkahGovernorate, said that this year’s celebration of the Kingdom’s National Daycoincides with a number of auspicious and historic occasions.
These included launching of the prestigious internationalresearch university - King Abdullah University for Science & Technology(KAUST), celebration of Eid Al Fitr and a recent ceremony of Chinese workerspronouncing their Shahada.
Dr. Abdul Aziz, who witnessed the event, described it as a“direct response to critics of the government for contracting Chinese company.”
Among the converts, there are 70 workers who are engaged inthe construction of Makkah monorail project, which links the holy city with theholy sites of Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafat.
“Their conversion took place 24 hours after getting booksintroducing Islam in Chinese language at their worksite at Arafat, which isoutside the Haram area,” he said adding that the credit goes to the Office ofthe Call and Guidance for Expatriates in Makkah.
Efforts are underway to spread the message of Islam amongsome 5,000 Chinese nationals working on the Haramain train,” he said addingthat the major problem for the Call and Guidance Office is the lack of enoughbooks on Islam in Chinese language.
It is noteworthy that the first phase of Haramain Railconsisting of 70km has well been started a few months ago. This representsexpropriation of land, filling works, construction of bridges and tracks. Theproject is expected to be operational in 2012. |
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