“My Father, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince”
By His Royal Highness Prince Fahd, son of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince
Al‑Madinah newspaper is honored and proud to enrich its special issue with an article by His Royal Highness Prince Fahd, son of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The newspaper is also pleased to allocate a distinguished place for it in this edition, though it regrets the technical error that occurred in the printing plate of His Highness’s photograph, which forced the administration to redo it and wait to place it in its proper location.
It is indeed difficult for someone like me to attempt to answer the question posed by the editorial staff of Al‑Madinah Al‑Munawwarah newspaper—namely, to speak about my master and father, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, may God preserve him. The subject is vast, and a son speaking about his father is always surrounded by deep emotion, affection, and loyalty.
I would like to focus on one particular aspect of this topic—an aspect about my father that I cherish and take pride in, and for which I sincerely pray that God rewards him on our behalf with the best of rewards. This aspect is His Highness’s great concern for providing his children with the means of knowledge, culture, and learning from our earliest years. He ensured this for us with exceptional care and dedication. We learned the basics of reading and writing, followed by religious lessons taught by a group of distinguished scholars well‑known in this field.
During the primary stage, His Highness established a private school for us, which included a number of our brothers from among the sons of the people. The school followed a modern curriculum that included the Qur’an, monotheism, jurisprudence, reading, dictation, composition, history, geography, penmanship, arithmetic, Arabic, and English. Alongside the scholars, several Egyptian teachers specialized in primary education participated in teaching us.
Our secondary school today is a modern and vibrant institution built upon the latest sound educational theories. It is supervised by a group of senior Egyptian specialists from the universities of Egypt and England. Its curriculum includes Arabic language and literature, detailed religious sciences, history, geography, public speaking, civics, English, French, and other subjects required in secondary education.
What deserves mention here is His Highness the Crown Prince’s daily attention to each of our academic progress reports, as well as his review of the opinions of the school supervisors. He would direct the teachers regarding areas where he felt additional care was needed. It was also his habit to gather us once or twice a week to review our lessons and notebooks, inquire about our progress, offer valuable advice, and guide us in the right direction.
He also established for us a model school library containing a good collection of various books, newspapers, and magazines. My brothers would gather there to read and spend part of their daily time.
Sports also have a significant place in our school. During our free time, we have fields for football, basketball, and tennis, as well as a swimming pool, and an hour dedicated to horseback riding and running. These activities are supervised by an Egyptian instructor specialized in physical education. I am truly proud of His Highness’s attention to this aspect—not only for us, but also for the sons of the people.
While it is natural for any father to care about such matters for his children, my father—may God preserve him—distinguishes himself in this regard beyond all praise. His concern extends to all the other students in this school and in other schools as well. He is, may God preserve and guide him, a lover of knowledge and a supporter of establishing schools. He frequently emphasizes, in both private and public gatherings, the necessity of spreading knowledge among all segments of the nation.
I pray to Almighty God to fulfill His Highness’s aspirations under the leadership of His Majesty our revered King—may God support him.
Source: Al‑Madinah
Date: 8 Dhul‑Hijjah 1369 AH — 21 September 1950 AD
Al‑Madinah