THE Sultan of Brunei Darussalam recently officiated at the launch of the Islamic Tourism and Exhibition 2011, the result of a collaboration between the State Mufti’s Office and the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources.
The gallery showcases some 15 artefacts of the exact replicas from the Sacred Trust Exhibition from the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey with revered relics such as a number of swords belonging to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the staff of Moses. They are on display in Brunei Darussalam for the first time.
The exhibition also features various priceless Islamic artefacts and relics from the sultan’s private collection.
The ruler was introduced to Brunei Tourism Development Department’s Islamic initiative, themed ‘Brunei Darussalam: Tracing the Beauty of Islam’ and consisting of a new Islamic tourism brochure promoting places of historical or religious significance in Brunei Darussalam as well as promoting the sultanate’s Islamic way of life.
The ‘Brunei, the Islamic Experience’ tour package and brochure created by Darussalam Holdings with support from Brunei Tourism offers a four-day/three-night Islamic themed travel experience in Brunei Darussalam, targeting not only fellow Malays with Nusantara interests in seeing a sovereign Malay Islamic monarchy, but also the Ummah at large who are keen to learn more on Islamic practices and also to raise interest among non-Muslims in the region to learn more on the Malay civilisation, religious practices and Malay cultural heritage, which are often linked with Islamic teachings.
The Islamic Tourism initiative was energised into action following the meeting held during last year’s Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) between Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, and Dato’ Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen, Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism.
They explored how Brunei and Malaysia could create respective Islamic tourism packages that could complement each other to create an Islamic Civilisation Trail in Southeast Asia and allow interested visitors to follow the development and progress of ancient and modern cultural practices of Islam in the Malay Archipelago.