SHAFAQNA – The first edition of a workshop on studies of Shia Islam or Shi’ism was organized by the Iranian Cultural Center in Berlin, Germany.
A message of the Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi to the workshop was read out on the first day of the program on October 6.
The Shia source of emulation in his message described the educational program as a valuable cultural step which could help to better introduce and promote the school of Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS).
The introduction of the Shia heritage in the development of sciences, explanation of the culture and academic systems in Shia seminary schools, clarification of the concepts of ijtihad (endeavor to deduce the rules of Sharia from the sources of fiqh) and Marja’iyyat (religious authority), discussions on Shi’ism and Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) and mapping the cultural and human resources of Shia Islam were the objectives of the workshop.
Ehab Badavi from Leiden University in the Netherlands, Andrew Newman from Edinburgh University, Edmund Hayes from Leiden University, Gerhard Bowering from Yale University, John Walbridge from Indiana University, Joseph Fan from Tubingen University, Allameh Shahat Al-Jundi from Al-Azhar University, Mohammad Ali Shomali from the Islamic Center of England, Hojat-ol-Islam Mohsen Khandan Alviri from Iran’s Baqer-ol-Ulum University were among the experts and scholars attending the workshop.
Source – IQNA