Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (WAM)
The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) has set a Guinness World Record through its Kalima Reading Club after bringing together 226 participants representing 69 nationalities in a single reading session.
The session, held at Zayed National Museum in cooperation with Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities, brought participants from diverse cultural backgrounds together around one book.
Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of ALC, said achieving a Guinness World Record related to reading supports efforts to promote the practice and reinforces the UAE leadership’s vision in this field.
He added that the achievement provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of reading internationally and showcase the ALC's initiatives, including the Kalima Reading Club, which has transformed reading into a means of bringing people together around knowledge.
Bin Tamim said the diversity of participating nationalities demonstrates reading’s role in promoting cultural diversity, broadening perspectives and creating spaces for interaction between people.
Participants discussed “Bedouin and Abbasid Cultural Identities: The Arabic Majnun Layla Story” by Ruqayya Yasmine Khan, translated from English into Arabic by Ahmad Ebish.
The book explores concepts of love, identity and human connection through the story of Majnun Layla and its Bedouin and Abbasid cultural contexts.
The discussion featured Hana Subhi, Professor of French Language and Literature at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, and Bilal Orfali, Professor of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi, and was moderated by Fatima Ibrahim Al Ameri, writer and editor at ALC.
The achievement forms part of ALC’s “Community Campaign to Support Sustainable Reading”, launched during National Reading Month 2025.
The campaign’s second cycle, launched in conjunction with the “Year of the Family 2026”, reached more than 62,000 people during the first half of this year.
The initiative supports ALC’s strategy to strengthen the presence of the Arabic language, promote sustainable reading practices and contribute to building a knowledge-based society.
