GARIIF24: Festival of Arabic Islamic Heritage Empowers Global Citizenship

By, Nurul Irdina Binti Zahimi

GOMBAK, 18 Dec 2024 – The Opening Ceremony of the Global Arabic Islamic Annual Festival (GARIIF 2024) was held from 2.30pm to 4.00pm in the Main Auditorium, at IIUM on 16 December. The main theme of this festival is, “Empowering global citizenship with Islamic Heritage in the digital era” that is set to celebrate Arabic Islamic Heritage promoting a rich cultural legacy while aligning with Malaysia’s Madani vision.

The festival is organized by IIUM Ar-Rahmah Flagship 3.0 in collaboration with local and international club, company and universities. And it will be organised for five days from 16 December to 20 December 2024. The Chairperson of the organising committee of GARIIF 2024 is Prof. Dr. Rahmah binti Ahmad H. Osman.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Muhammad Darul Naim bin Abdul Mutalib that commenced with a Quranic recitation by Muhammad Hafiz Bukhari bin Mohd Khadari.

Honourable guests who attended the opening ceremony were the Ambassador of Yemen, Dr. Adel Muhammad Ali Ba Hamid; and the Rector of IIUM, Prof. Emeritus Datuk’ Dr. Osman bin Bakar.

Prof. Dr. Rahmah’s speech mentioned the Arabic poetry that was related to the event, which was translated to:

“Culture shines with the light that time cannot extinguish spreading through the honourable deeds and elements of nation.”

The emphasis in this year’s festival is the large number of programmes at 21 of diverse categories including workshops, competitions, lectures, and performances organized in collaboration with ministries, embassies, local and international universities and others. The programme encourages the appreciation for Arabic Islamic Heritage among youngsters.

The events also contain activities such Gimmick GARIIF 24 – the mock cheque giving ceremony with sponsorships and video montage. Mock cheques were from five sponsors that were present at the opening ceremony, two of them were from Yayasan Perkasa Siswa who sponsored RM2,500 and one of them was from an honourable guest, Dr. Adel Muhammad Ali Ba Hamid, who donated RM2,000.

The open ceremony ended with a video montage for GARIIF 2024 that featured an illustration of the festival and a photography session with the audience and others who were involved in the event.***