West planning, conspiring to corrupt ethics, change the Muslims’ minds: Al-Qurayshi

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Sunday, 25 September 2022

The director of the 6^th International Arbaeen Pilgrimage Scientific Seminar stated, “Arbaeen pilgrimage is not just crying and mourning for the sufferings of AhlulBayt (a.s.), rather it is a school that teaches us freedom, independence and resistance.”

The 6^th International Arbaeen Pilgrimage Scientific Seminar was started by the Karbala Center for Studies and Research in cooperation with Iraqi institutions and universities.

The opening ceremony of the Seminar was held on the Friday morning, September 23, 2022, in the Khatam al-Anbiya Hall of the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein (a.s.) in Karbala.

The theme of the 6th scientific and international seminar of Arbaeen Pilgrimage is “Arbaeen; perseverance on the path, the sign of identity”.

The ceremony was attended by many Shiite and Sunni scholars, presidents of Iraqi universities, scholars and writers, administrative and military officials, tribal sheikhs, managers of scientific-research institutions, and a group of educated women.

Mr. Hassan Khakarand as the representative of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly and Hojat al-Islam Hosseini Aref as the representative of the Ashura International Foundation participated in this scientific and religious seminar.

West planning, conspiring to corrupt ethics, change the Muslims’ minds: Al-Qurayshi

The second speaker of the opening ceremony of the 6^th International Scientific Seminar of Arbaeen Pilgrimage was Mr. Abd al-Amir Aziz Al-Qurayshi, the director of the seminar and the head of the Karbala Center for Studies and Research.

Before presenting the report on the executive measures of the Seminar, he stated, “Progress in various scientific fields and techniques could not improve human ethics. Rather, human beings used scientific progress to confront human ethics.”

“The West is planning and conspiring for moral corruption and changing the minds of Muslims,” the director of the 6^th International Scientific Seminar of Arbaeen Pilgrimage added, “This is the war of beliefs. They want to impose their evil will on Islamic societies. Therefore, it is wajib (obligatory) for Muslims to stand against these conspiracies with full strength.”

“In this path, we need to take assistance from some factors, one of the most important of which is the Ashura epic and the pilgrimage of Arbaeen,” he added, pointing to the necessity of confronting the cultural invasion of the West.

“Arbaeen pilgrimage is not just crying and mourning for the sufferings of AhlulBayt (a.s.), rather it is a school that teaches us freedom, independence and resistance,” Al-Qurayshi emphasized.

“Arbaeen Pilgrimage is the biggest program that helps people in terms of faith, culture and propagation of Islam, so that through it, people can cling to heavenly teachings and free themselves from mundane limitations. Arbaeen is the renewal of the covenant with the Imam of truth and justice. Therefore, the enemy tries to neutralize this program,” he added.

“Doing this is the responsibility of all groups, especially the academic and university groups. But unfortunately, we see that our universities do not pay due attention to this matter,” stated the religious researcher.

After this introduction, the head of the Karbala Center for Studies and Research mentioned the objectives of this seminar in involving Iraqi and foreign academic centers in Arbaeen discussions, and expressed, “With this approach, Karbala Center for Studies and Research has been holding this seminar for several years, and this year’s seminar is the sixth.”

“So far, 130 articles from different countries of the world have been submitted to the scientific committee of the Seminar. Most of these studies were done by Iraqi researchers. 91 articles were approved in the scientific committee, 28 of which were from foreign countries and the rest from Iraqi universities,” he said, referring to the reception of Iraqi and foreign writers and researchers from the seminar.

On the other activities of the Karbala Center for Studies and Research, Al-Qurayshi stated, “This center also pays attention to other cultural and artistic matters. For example, this year, for the first time, we launched the Arbaeen Visual Arts Exhibition.”

In the end, while expressing his gratitude to those involved in holding the 6^th International Arbaeen Pilgrimage Scientific Seminar, he said, “I would like to appreciate all those who helped us in organizing this scientific event, especially Sheikh Abdul Mahdi Al-Karbalai, the religious custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and Mr. Al-Abayeji, the secretary-general of the Shrine, who closely followed the procedures of the seminar. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the officials of Al-Safwa College and Mr. Al-Khetabi, the honorable governor of Karbala.”

While remembering his late colleagues, the head of the Karbala Center for Studies and Research mentioned, “Now, it is the second year that the late Hojat al-Islam Sayed Mohammad Al-Helu has passed away. He was a noble figure who defended the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) and tried to remove the abandonment from them. He also paid a lot of attention to this seminar.”            

A series of international scientific seminars on Arbaeen Pilgrimage

Every year, the call for scientific and international seminar of Arbaeen Pilgrimage is announced by the Karbala Center for Study and Research at Iraqi universities, as well as scientific societies abroad, and it is held in Karbala before Arbaeen Day.

But this year, due to some incidents in Iraq, it was not feasible to hold the 6th seminar before Arbaeen Day. Therefore, the seminar started on Friday 24, September, six days after the anniversary of the Arbaeen of Imam Hussain (a.s.).

It is worth mentioning that the Karbala Center for Study and Research is the research branch of the Office of Imam Hussain (a.s.) Holy Shrine, and has extensive activities in scientific, research, publishing and cultural fields.

Arbaeen Iraq Karbala Muslims West