In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
You are very welcome. One of the flaws in the work that we clergy do is that we have always been working alone. Even when a group of us gathered somewhere – for example, in a classroom – everyone would work for themselves. Our group work has been confined to discussions in a classroom where two, three individuals engage in an argument over a specific issue. Otherwise, mutual work and cooperation has not been common among our seminarian groups when it comes to scholarly work and obtaining scholarly results. However, this is not the case in the world – in particular, in the western world. In western countries, many mutual tasks are carried out.
They even sometimes produce works which are a combination of tens of pieces and components. Each piece is given to a group of people and then there are some individuals who receive the results and put them together to produce a single work. They produce works like this. Well, it is evident that the results of working like this is much better and much larger in number. Fortunately, it is witnessed that Islamic seminaries are working in this direction. Your work is a manifestation of this cooperation. You should act in a way that there will be cooperation in the real sense of the word. Everyone should cooperate. Minds should help one another so that there will be a desirable product. This is one point.
The second point is that there are two important areas in your conference: one is the Holy Quran and another is humanities. The issue of the Quran and its characteristic as a reference point and a source of understanding on various intellectual, practical, social, political and governmental matters is very important. We have not really worked enough in this area. We are really suffering from lack of work in this area: an example is the area of deliberating on the Quran for those who are interested in this. Well, this shows that we have deprived ourselves, to a great extent, from divine signs and from divine guidance in different areas. This in itself – the fact that the Quran is a reference point on this very important matter – is a fundamental and sensitive issue.
Humanities and attention to this field – it has been several years now that this issue has become common – is another issue. Your job is to connect these two very important matters together. In my opinion, this is very important. It is very necessary to work in this area as much as possible.
Another point is that there are certain places and centers in the country which are working on humanities. Individuals both inside and outside the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution are working in this area. Different organizations are working on humanities. They have the same goal. Of course, they have not referred to their work as "The Quran and Humanities" or other such titles. However, they are working in the direction of developing a link between humanities and Islamic teachings. These individuals should be benefitted from. There should be cooperation with these organizations. We need to benefit from the intellectual products of other individuals.
In the present time, there are some people who are working and endeavoring in this area. Of course, I do not know if you cooperate with various organizations or not. This did not exist in the report that the honorable gentleman in the conference delivered. If you are cooperating with them, then so much the better. If not, you should certainly search and find these individuals and centers and you should cooperate with them. The experience of those individuals should be benefitted from because they have worked on these areas. This is another point.
Another fundamental point is that it is only two, three centuries now that humanities have been created in the world. It is only two, three centuries that some individuals have been thinking and working on that and producing some results. And in the case of some other individuals, their ideas do not reach as far as a century. They have been working on those ideas for only some decades. In other words, there are fields in humanities that are considered as imports for us.
Apart from philosophy, literature and other such fields – which are related to our own work – certain issues have arisen, and certain ideas have been formulated, worked on and criticized. These ideas have passed through different layers of thought and now we want to enter into the arena and separate them from their so-called non-religious or anti-religious roots and connect them to a Quranic and divine root and origin. Well, this is very important. This requires mastery over others' work. We should know what others have done in these areas. Knowing what tasks they have carried out and what achievements they have made is a requirement. This should be worked on.
You mentioned that eight, nine hundred articles and abstracts are available to the conference. Well, this number of articles is very good and noteworthy, but what is more important than quantity is quality. You should act in a way that twenty, thirty valuable and instructive articles will emerge from the work that you will do in this conference in the month of Azar so that all those who have thought and worked on these areas can benefit from them.
Another point is that there are some people in the world of Islam too who are working on these issues. For example, in the Arab world, there are some individuals who are working on this. In the Indian subcontinent too, there are some scholars who are working on these areas. Such scholars should not be ignored. Fortunately, your conference is international and the work that you can do – cooperation and mutual work with the thinkers of the world of Islam – cannot be done by many of our academic centers. This chosen society has the characteristic of being able to bring up a certain issue at a vast international level and to produce results out of it. This is very good.
So, these individuals should be benefitted from. There are some individuals in the world of Islam who are valuable. Sometimes, they bring us books written by certain individuals from North Africa, from West Asia and from Arab countries. When we look at them, we see that they contain good thoughts. They have really worked on these issues. They have really studied these matters and they can be benefitted from. We are not aware of many of these thinkers.
They too are unaware of many tasks which have been accomplished here. Good tasks have really been carried out in the past 30, 40 years which have passed from the Revolution. Of course, we are not satisfied and we feel a lack of enough work. You honorable gentleman pointed this out as well. I too believe that we have not worked enough, but despite this lack of enough work, good tasks have been carried out. We have good books. Valuable tasks have been accomplished. When one takes a look at Qom Seminary and other seminaries, one sees that some of the articles and books that have been written and the classes that have been held are really good and valuable. The thinkers from the world of Islam are not aware of our works either. Most thinkers in the world of Islam are not aware of the tasks that we have carried out here. In my opinion, this international cooperation is one of the very good areas that can be developed in this conference.
The honorable gentleman in the meeting [Hujjatul-Islam Wal Muslimeen Muhammad Ali Rezayi Isfahani, the secretary of the conference] proposed that I discuss two, three other matters in the conference, but I do not remember them. However, you have a lot of time until Azar. Fortunately, there is a lot of time. If something crosses my mind, I might discuss it later on.
In any case, I pray that God will make you successful. The tasks that are being carried out today by young and innovative scholars in Qom are really and truly very valuable. They are very valuable. When I sometimes look at motives, ideas and tasks, I sincerely thank God. There was a time when such ideas would cross the minds of some people – it was not the case that they were free of any idea: they did have some ideas – but they looked like dreams. They really looked like dreams to us and we did not really cherish the hope that we could attain them in Qom or outside Qom and in Islamic seminaries.
Fortunately today, these dreams have been achieved. Today, a public movement has begun. Of course, there are some shortcomings and flaws. We ourselves, Islamic seminaries, and officials and great personalities in Islamic seminaries sometimes make legitimate criticisms, but what has happened is really valuable. In any case, I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow success on you and to help you carry out this task in the best, most meaningful and most presentable way as possible so that we and everyone else can benefit from it.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy
