Crown Prince calls for effective use of social media

MADINAH — Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, underscored the need for effective use of social media to highlight and foster the sublime values of Islam as well as the position of the divine religion on various issues in the religious, political, economic, moral, military and humanitarian and other fields. The Crown Prince, who is also general supervisor of Naif Bin Abdulaziz International Prize of Prophetic Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies, made the remarks in a statement issued on the occasion of the First Conference to be organized by the Prize in Madinah on Tuesday. Several eminent academics, thinkers, intellectuals and researchers from within the Kingdom and outside will take part in the conference, with the theme of “Controls of using social networking sites in Islam,” which will be held at the Islamic University of Madinah, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif noted that the Saudi society is desperately in need of effective use of social media in the wake of the fast developments taking place in the world of technology. “The minds of many people, especially the young, are preoccupied with social networking sites, and hence it necessitates us to take advantage of this medium for Islamic propagation in a way benefitting citizens and the nation,” he said. The Crown Prince said that the Islamic approach helps grooming a Muslim to become a righteous person who is useful to society and who plays an active role in achieving the nation’s renaissance. “Such a person is an integral part of the fabric of the nation, having his rights guaranteed by Islam, and at the same time, he has to perform his duties toward the nation and his fellow beings without infringing the rights of anyone else,” he said.