"Saudi prince donates millions to universities for study of Islam"

"Saudi prince donates millions to universities for study of Islam"
by Caryle Murphy ("Washington Post," December 13, 2005)

Washington, USA - A prominent Saudi businessman said Monday that he is donating $20 million each to Georgetown and Harvard universities for the study of Islam and the Muslim world as part of his philanthropic efforts to promote interfaith understanding.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, said in a telephone interview from the Saudi capital of Riyadh that he also has donated $15 million to establish the Middle East's first two centers for American studies, at universities in Beirut and Cairo.

"As you know, since the 9/11 events, the image of Islam has been tarnished in the West,'' said Alwaleed, who is chairman of the Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Co. and has extensive business holdings in Europe and the United States.

He said his gifts to Georgetown and Harvard will be used ``to teach about the Islamic world to the United States,'' and the new programs at American University in Beirut and American University in Cairo will ``teach the Arab world about the American situation.''

The $20 million gift to Georgetown is the second-largest ever received by the Jesuit-run university, school officials said.

``We are deeply honored by Prince Alwaleed's generosity,'' said a statement from Georgetown President John DeGioia, who met Alwaleed on Nov. 7 in a Paris hotel to sign documents formalizing the donation.

Alwaleed, a grandson of the Saudi kingdom's founder, King Abdel Aziz, tried to give $10 million to the Twin Towers Fund shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 2001. But then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani rejected the donation after the prince said in a news release that the United States needed to ``re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance towards the Palestinian cause.''

Asked about the controversy over his New York gift, Alwaleed replied that ``this is behind us and now we are working for the present and the future. . . . My love and admiration to the United States was never diminished.''