So far we have heard about and seen Islamic education, Islamic party, Islamic bank, Islamic country, but now an Islamic botanical garden is going to be set up in Qatar. Qatar's leading daily newspaper, The Gulf Times, reports that a proposal to set up a botanical garden on the basis of the scientific and aesthetic concepts given in the Holy Quran was approved by the UNESCO headquarters in 2006.

The garden titled as 'Quranic Botanic Garden' is going to be established at Al-Shahaniya area of Qatar. The report adds that a number of plants mentioned in the holy Qu'ran like date palms, figs, grapes, olives, and pomegranates etc., will be planted in the proposed garden. Newspaper says, the garden features will be based on the Quranic verses that mention the Gardens of Paradise.

The project leaders hope the project would help achieve important objectives in the fields of environmental conservation, scientific research, education and recreation. A living display of plants mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, arranged as a traditional quadripartite garden, will be useful to carry out training programmes in the field of environmental conservation, as well as to spread knowledge of the Holy Quran.

Spreading over 24 hectares of land, this unique garden will include about 350 species of local flora, apart from 51 plants mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith.

Mohammad Rukanuddin

Department of English Bangladesh University, Dhaka