All Star Al Mahabbah Awards 2008 Concludes: Anders Botter, Mohammed Al Hossary, Hashem Baroum and Many Other Wins Awards

THE closing night of the Al Mahabbah Awards Festival 2008 brought pleasant surprises and exciting wins to an action packed three day festival in honour of love for the Prophet Mohammed. An international slate of guests, nominees and performers were on hand waiting in anticipation for the announcement of the winners of the awards in ten categories.

Starting off the day at 12 p.m. was the Women’s concert at Al Raha Beach Theatre that featured a cast of performers such as Moroccan band Al Haja Zabeida and Amira the Egyptian opera singer performing ‘Mohamed ya rasool Allah’ which Yasmeen Al Khayam performed thirty years ago and was composed by Dr. Gamal Salama. However, the most highly anticipated event of the three-day festival, the Closing Awards Ceremony took place at 8 p.m. at Al Raha Beach Theatre.

Attending the ceremony were HE Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai; HE Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Head of the Royal Court of Abu Dhabi; HE Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minster of Higher Education and Research; Dr. Hamdan bin Musalla Al Mazrouei, Head of the General Foundation; Reem Al Hashemi, Minister of State; Dr. Amal Abdullah Al-Qubaisi, Member of the National Council of the UAE; Dr. Abla Al Kahlawi, Dean of Islamic and Arabic studies at Al-Azhar University; Sufi Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah; Al Habib Ali Al Jifri, Head of the Board of Trustees for Al Mahabbah Awards, and a host of religious clerics, scholars, artists and actors.

It was also a full house for the who’s who of Egypt with stars Ehab Tawfik, Hamada Helal, and Mohammed Henedi among others attending to show their support for this international event to highlight to the world the importance of the Prophet Mohammed in Muslim’s lives.

After a quick introduction to the judging committee for the Al Mahabbah Awards that was headed by Dr. Abdel Hakim Murad and included Islamic photographer Mohsen Kilby, Muslim poet Daniel Abdelhayy Moore, Islamic art and architecture expert Ahmed Hamid, Muslim artist Zakkariyya Whiteman and founder of Sufi Village International Ahmed Kostas, the awards ceremony was quickly underway with the introduction of the first award of the night.

His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai was awarded Personality of the Year for his plans to build a museum dedicated to the life of the Prophet Mohammed. Accepting the award on his behalf was HE Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum which was presented by HE Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

After a quick performance by South African singer Zain Bhikha, the award for Best Book went to the late Martin Lings for his 1983 book, Muhammed: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.

Awards for Photography and Graphic Arts were awarded to Turkish artist Naciya Subasi for ‘Anasye’ and Saudi Arabian Bahi Mashat for ‘Ya Habibi Ya Mohammed’ respectively.

The award for Advertisements was presented to The International Committee for the Support of the Final Prophet in Saudi Arabia for their one-minute advertisement, ‘Illa Rasul Allah’ while Documentary and Television Award was awarded to ‘Alla Khota Al Habib’, a TV program produced by Iqra’a TV and starring renowned Muslim preacher Amr Khaled.

In an unusual twist, the award for Film was split between two winners who produced the only two great films about the Prophet, the late Moustapha Akkad for ‘The Message’ and Muwaffak Al Harthy for ‘Mohammed.’ Accepting the award on behalf of Moustapha was his son, Hollywood filmmaker Malek Akkad.

The Mass Media Award was given to Turkish moderators for their website, lastprophet.info which aims to raise awareness about the Prophet Mohammed and is translated into several languages including Arabic, English, French and German.

The award for the songs Category was split into two sections, International and Arabic songs. The unanimous winner of the International Song category was Native Deen from the USA with their song ‘Tala’a Al Badru’ and the winner of the Arabic Song category was Saudi Arabian Nasheed Artist Hashem Baroum for ‘La Taqoul’.

Bringing the exciting night to a close was a series of performances by song winners Native Deen and Hashem Baroum as well as a moving poetry recital by a young Turkish girl called Sahar which brought the crowd to tears and a recital about loving the Prophet by Dr. Amal Al Kahlawi that also brought many in the audience to tears with her emotional overtones.

The Al Mahabbah Awards 2008 was held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Supreme Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and under the honorary Chairmanship of HE Sheikh Abdallah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the UAE was created to award artistic expression of the love for the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). This year stars from all over the world came together to show their support for this festival as an example of unity among the Muslim community. Support from Non- Muslims was shown too with many of the participants joining the festival highlight to the world the real aspects of Islam and help smash the misconceptions and negative images that exist around the world today.