Qur’anic Botanic Garden ‘receives more than 100,000 visitors annually’

Published: 13 Jun 2024

Garden has 18 plants mentioned in the holy Qur’an and several other plants

NT Bureau
Doha

The Qur’anic Botanic Garden at the Qatar Foundation receives more than 100,000 visitors annually, Fatima Saleh Al-Khulaifi, its Director, has said.

Speaking to Al Raya daily, Fatima Al-Khulaifi said that the garden includes 18 plants mentioned in the holy Qur’an and about 40 other plants mentioned in the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The garden in total has 109 different plants, as it is not limited to collecting only the plants mentioned in the Qur’an and the Hadith, but also includes many other plants, with the aim of preserving rare plants in Qatari soil, she said.

She explained that the goal of the garden is to collect plants mentioned in Qur’an and the Prophet’s Hadith in one place, something that did not exist during the inauguration of the garden in 2008.

“The greatest goal of establishing the garden is to enhance the value of the environment and plants in the hearts of Muslims and non-Muslims, so that the approach towards the environment is based on respect and responsibility,” Fatima Saleh Al-Khulaifi said.

She said: “The plants in the Garden are divided according to their natural environment into three main groups: The first is desert plants, which are plants that grow in the wild and desert areas where Arabs lived, and these plants do not need shading as they can tolerate heat and drought. Examples of these species include tamarisk, sidr, samar, arak, and al-Ithkhar.”

“The second section is plants of the Mediterranean basin, those plants that grow and are cultivated in the northern and southern regions of the Mediterranean, and most of them are fruit trees. Their cultivation requires some protection and the provision of some shade so that they can grow well in light of the high summer temperature. These types include grapes, figs, olives, mustard, safflower, and pomegranates”.

She added: “The third section is tropical plants, those plants that grow in warm rainforest areas, and most of them are medicinal and cosmetic plants that Arabs knew in ancient times, and the cultivation of these plants often requires environments with temperatures and humidity prepared for such types of plants, including eucalyptus. ginger, oud, saffron and other types etc.

The plants in the garden have an information board next to them that includes the name of the plant, its story, where it was mentioned, and what its intended meaning is, making the tour in the garden an educational and scientific experience in addition to enjoying the various plants, she told the daily.