Dr. Abdul Majid Muballeghi, Director of the International Department of the Research Institute of Contemporary Fiqh, said at the celebration of the birthday of the Holy Prophet (s) and Imam Sadiq (‘a) in the conference hall of the Research Institute of Contemporary Fiqh, he said: “Unfortunately, Shi’ah jurisprudence has a very low frequency of presence in scientific gatherings and events in the world academy today.” If you take a look at Islamic studies departments, you will definitely confirm that these departments are aimed at Sunnis. That is, when it comes to Islam, especially in the field of jurisprudence, they have an opinion on Sunnis. That is, if theology and history are discussed, perhaps Shi’ah should be discussed, but when we are dealing with the field of jurisprudence, it does not seem that the approach to Shi’ah jurisprudence has a place.

He added: You can clearly find Al-Azhar, Al-Zaytuneh, and various Saudi universities, especially Riyadh and Jeddah universities, in the international arena, and they have formed joint study spaces in various formats, including in related fields and in relation to jurisprudence. Of course, this presence can be the result of financial support.

Dr. Abdul Majid said: If you refer to the titles of prominent Islamic studies chairs, such as the bin Salman chair and others, you will see that almost all of these chairs that are named after someone are usually supported by the owners of Arab power and wealth and Arab shaykhs.

He said: If there are some sections that have an opinion on Shi’ah studies, such as Oxford Islamic Studies or Shi’ah Studies at the Harvard Islamic School or Shi’ah Studies at the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies – in which I was also present – again You see that what is happening is from another perspective and from another language. It means that the seminary of Qum does not have an effective presence and is not seen. In fact, Qum as a scientific capacity is unfortunately not very present in the academic scene, and little trace of it can be seen and traced. Of course, some of those who have studied in Qum are present in formats such as study opportunities, which are really infrequent and limited.

The director of the international department of the research institute of contemporary jurisprudence added: It is interesting that if the Shi’ah debate is discussed, it is in theology departments in the occupied territories! That is, we are facing a well-known Shi’ah tradition of studies at Tel Aviv University and centers like this, which, anyway, for friends who work in the field of Islamic studies, the lines of this issue are clearly visible.

He said: According to the stated introduction, the creation of an international department for the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence is very necessary, for which we should thank the effective servers in this matter, especially the honorable director of the research institute. There are several things we are doing here, in all of which the essence of the work is the presence of Shi’ah in the international arena and from the perspective of the capacity and prosperity of Qum.

He explained the activities of the international department and said: an international conference in both English and Arabic will be held next year, which will introduce contemporary Shi’ah jurisprudence, and the aim of that will be to approach contemporary Shia jurisprudence.

He added: The work of translating the encyclopedia of contemporary jurisprudence has almost started and this is a valuable work that is being done here in the field of encyclopedia writing and will be reflected in the international field. Shi’ah is planned in English and Arabic languages ​​and God willing, it will be done.

In the end, he said: In the field of library, collecting Latin sources, classifying, categorizing and presenting them, discussions have started and, God willing, these sources will be presented to researchers in this field.