Abdul Latif Jassim Kanoo

He served as Under Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Municipalities, and the Environment from 1975 to September 1996, and retired with honors on October 29, 1996. He chaired and delivered the speech of the Bahraini delegation to the UN Conference on Human Settlements meeting known as Habitat II earlier that summer.

Abdul Latif Kanoo is the founder of Beit Al Quran, a museum established in Manama on March 12, 1990 and an important center for cultural education and research. The museum contains many valuable and rare collections of Quran manuscripts, and its library contains nearly 15,000 volumes.

He has received several honors, including an honorary doctorate from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in South Korea. The Union of Arab Historians awarded him their Arab Historian Medal in 1987. In 1990, he received the Bahrain Medal from the Emir of Bahrain, Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, then the highest civil honor bestowed upon local innovators.

Kanoo delivered a speech at the World Conference on housing issues in developing countries, held by the International Association for Housing Science at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He also co-founded the Bahrain Society of Engineers in 1972.

Dr. Abdul Latif bin Jassim Kanoo (Arabic: المهندس الدكتور عبد اللطيف بن جاسم كانو, (1935-12-22) December 22, 1935 (age 87)) is a Bahraini structural engineer, writer, and researcher. He was born in Manama and studied civil and structural engineering at Imperial College London, then obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate from the University of Texas. Kanoo served as an Under Secretary at the Ministry of Housing in his home country and then as a member of the Consultative Council. He also founded the Beit Al Quran museum, for which he currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Abdul Latif bin Jassim Kanoo was born on December 22, 1935 in Manama. He studied in Manama for primary and secondary school, and then traveled to England, as did most of the ruling class at the time, to complete his education. Specializing in structural and civil engineering, he completed his studies in 1957. Earning a Diploma of Imperial College from Imperial College London, he continued working in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. He earned his Master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, then enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1970.