TEHRAN-The 5th Global Congress of Imam Reza (AS) will be held from May 15 to 16 in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Province.

Speaking at the press conference for the congress, held in Malek National Museum and Library in Tehran last week, the congress secretary Hojatoleslam Saeid Reza Ameli pointed to the 40-year-long history of the congress and said: “The first round of the event was held in 1983, and four rounds were organized up to 1993, with very high standard and well-known scholars in attendance. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei was also one of the speakers of these events, whose speeches were reflected in the book ‘250-year-old Human’”.

The congress secretary further talked about the initiative taken by the custodian of Imam Reza Holy Shrine in 2022 to resume the congress after a 30-year hiatus as a flag bearer and identity of the shrine.

“Fortunately, some 50 preliminary sessions have been held in the past year and a half – 17 sessions abroad and 33 ones inside the country”, he added.

About 30 countries have participated in the meetings outside Iran, including Latin American and European countries, Pakistan, Iraq, and Turkey with prominent Shia scholars and Iranologists in attendance.

The 5th and 6th rounds of the congress, which is scheduled to be held every two years, are titled “The Civilizational Though of Imam Reza (AS)”. 

“We have done our best to look at global challenges. The topic of the congress is, therefore, ‘Justice for Everyone, Injustice for No One’ as justice and discrimination are the most fundamental issues of today’s world,” Ameli noted. 

Further in his talks, Ameli referred to the sagacious letters written by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to the youth in Europe and North America in 2014, saying: “The Leader’s main point in the two letters was raising awareness. And while so many were doubtful about the impact of the letters, today we witness that awareness”.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the secretary of the international section of the congress Zohreh Nosrat Kharazmi said that so far, some 200 articles have been submitted to the secretariat. “In the international section, we have tried to start Imam Reza’s discourse in dialogue,” she stated.

Gathering focal thoughts around the oneness-based and justice-based thought of Imam Reza (AS) to plant divine truth instead of evil dominance is among the main agendas of the congress.

The creation of a convergence and mutual understanding about general themes such as justice, truth, dignity, discrimination, tyranny, conflict, and conflict resolution are other agendas of the fifth congress.

The sub-topics on which discussions and viewpoint exchanges will be formed include nature and monotheistic ontological views towards the truth of rationality and science in the path of establishing universal justice, concrete examples, and strategies to strengthen monotheistic justice in the daily life of faithful people at national and transnational level, and establishment of justice based on tolerance and respect through strengthening opportunities for social and religious solidarity as well as cultural adaptability at national and transnational levels.

Some additional sub-topics of the event include understanding mechanisms of normalization as well as forms of discrimination, oppression, and hatred alongside appropriate measures for confronting them, development of the culture of resistance to establish justice and its connection with Jihad to repel oppression and social discrimination, and extraction of Razavi prudence for solving new social and intellectual issues.

A limited number of scholarships will be granted to the innovative and selected articles.

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