to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has a noble connotation.
It is a Qur’anic verse which says: “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is the most righteous of you. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Qur’an, 49:13)
Reports here suggest that President Obama’s advisers took a long time in deciding on a gift for the King. After a lot of brainstorming sessions, the advisers came up with the idea that the gift should convey a message to the King that Americans in general appreciate his continued efforts for a meaningful dialogue between monotheistic religions.
Suliaman Cook, a representative of noted Arab American international calligraphist Muhammed Zakryia, said it took the calligrapher five months to produce his masterpiece, according to Al-Watan Arabic daily.
The advisers told Zakryia that they were looking for something special to convey a message of great meaning and implication to King Abdullah. On several past occasions, King Abdullah has regretted that two friendly countries like the US and the Kingdom have not been exchanging opinions periodically.   Also, King Abdullah believes that the American leadership has not always heeded Saudi advice even when it was in response to requests from the US itself.  The advisors to the President reached this conclusion and thus they selected this Qur’anic verse as a gift. According to them, the gift would serve as a strong and effective signal to the King that the Americans always listen to his advice which advocates the values of tolerance and respect of religions, dialogue and understanding.  President Obama’s advisers also believe that King Abdullah always tries to disseminate a modern Islamic discourse to confront the ways adopted by extremist elements. They also view King Abdullah as the only leader in the region who has made efforts to institutionalize and reinforce this discourse at all levels.