THE GOLDEN BOOK in Mauritania

Mauritania was the first country in which Annette and Rüdiger Nehberg presented their GOLDEN BOOK. A TARGET conference was held in the capital, Nouackchott, on 16 October in the National Museum. The Grand Mufti, Hamden Ould Tah, and the country’s Islamic scholars tested the book’s contents and found it unreservedly to be “worthy of Islam”. They promised to preach the contents concerning the protection of girls to their communities. Moreover, the Grand Mufti, Hamden Ould Tah, had the far-reaching idea of calling a summit of all Islamic scholars to discuss female genital mutilation. He initially considered Hamburg or Berlin for the venue; in the end it was held at Al-Azhar, the heart of Sunni Islam.

Back in 2005, Annette and Rüdiger Nehberg took their “Caravan of Hope” around Mauritania from oasis to oasis on the instructions of the Grand Mufti in order to bring the message of the ban on the practice to the people.

Distribution of the GOLDEN BOOK is still underway as it is an immensely difficult undertaking in this huge desert state than spreads across an area roughly the size of Germany, Denmark and France put together.