The King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) has launched a programme called "The Complete Works of Pioneer Historians" and released its first title, "Unwan al-Majd fi Tarikh Najd" by the historian Othman bin Abdullah bin Bishr. The launch took place yesterday at the King Abdulaziz Lecture Hall in Riyadh under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Special Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Chairman of the Darah's Board of Directors.

Darah CEO Turki bin Mohammed Al-Shuwaier said the programme stemmed from a vision by Prince Faisal bin Salman, who ordered the work and followed its preparation. Its first phase covers the complete works of five pioneers of Saudi historical writing: Othman bin Bishr, Muqbil Al-Thukair, Khalid Al-Faraj, Mohammed bin Laboun and Mohammed Al-Fakhiri. The Darah will hold workshops inviting specialists and members of the public to contribute documents, manuscripts and letters related to them.

Speaking for the historian's family, retired Major General Ali bin Nasser Al-Bishr said the last copy of the book written in Ibn Bishr's own hand stayed with him until his death in 1290 AH. His descendants kept it for generations before entrusting it to the Darah so that researchers and future generations could use it.

Dr. Mohammed bin Ali Al-Abdullatif outlined how the edition was prepared: tracing and studying the manuscript copies, adopting the author's autograph copy as the base text, comparing it with other copies and resolving the differences between them.

The programme aims to give a fuller picture of Saudi historical writing by studying each historian's output as a whole, moving beyond single publications to connected scholarly collections on the history of the Kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula.