Launching the activities of the First International Conference on the Holy Qur’an and Contemporary Orientalist Thought

On Wednesday afternoon (5th Safar 1442 AH/ 2020), the activities of the first international conference on the Holy Qur’an and Contemporary Orientalist Thought for Contemporary Orientalist Studies, which is being held by the al-Abbas's Holy Shrine through the (ZOOM) platform, represented by the Islamic Center for Strategic Studies, in cooperation with Dar Rasool A'dham (Allah's prayers be upon him and his family) affiliated with the al-'Ameed International Center for Research and Studies therein, under the slogan: (It is not but a message and a clear Qur'an) and under the title: (The Noble Qur’an in Contemporary Orientalist Studies .. Critical Approaches to the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an "Leiden") and continues for two days.
The conference began with a blessed recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, followed by the speech of the Islamic Center for Strategic Studies by Sheikh Hassan Al-Hadi, saying: “This first international scientific conference on the Holy Qur’an and contemporary Orientalist thought is centered on the criticism and study of an encyclopedic scientific project that contains a set of research and studies about the Noble Qur’an and the topics and issues associated with it. It was written by a group of contemporary Western Orientalists from different countries of the Western world, and it is clear through methodology and research work that they devoted themselves to a focused research process through which they wanted to produce this encyclopedia with the ideas it bears, and issued this The encyclopedia in the name of the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (Leiden), which was published with the support of the Dutch publishing house Brillie. This encyclopedia includes a thousand entries arranged on the basis of well-known alphabets to deal with the many and varied topics in the light of the verses of the Holy Qur’an according to a research process and special approved methodologies, regardless of whether the results of these methodologies are accepted by the methodologies we adopt or not. We are here talking about a scientific effort that draw our attention at the Islamic Center for Strategic Studies, and we deepened our research about it, and when we found that it represents a cross-cutting effort, which will turn into a source in studies centers and libraries and for researchers in the Western world as a reference, it was necessary and even obligatory that we present what we have at the level of curriculum, content and ideas in Arabic and English, and then in other languages, God Almighty willing.
Then came a speech by the head of the Dar rasool A'dham (Allahs' prayers be upon him and his family) Prof. Dr. Adel Nazir, in which he affirmed: “The al-Abbas's holy shrine and all the holy shrines in Iraq have expanded in meeting the community’s need, becoming a haven for thought and science in various aspects of life, and the demand for the latest intellectual, economic, social and health as well as religious activities, which made it a haven for building awareness and paying attention to the cognitive aspect..."
Then came the first session, which included in its first axis (the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (Leiden) ... critical approaches in its methodology and its implementation paths), in which a group of professors and academics participated, and the first of these researches is (The Qur’an in Contemporary Orientalist Studies - The (Leiden) Qur’an Encyclopedia. In light of content analysis) by Dr. Jamil Hamdaoui, the second research is titled: (Selective Choice and Unbalanced Statement of Information in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (Leiden)) by Dr. Sheikh Hussein Lotfy, and the third research is entitled: (The Qur’anic Encyclopedia (Leiden): Notes on Scientific Control and Resource Proof- examples in the Quranic Narrative Presentation) by Dr. Sheikh Faisal Al-Awami.
As for the conclusion of the first session, it was held with the research entitled: (Epistemic bias in the (Leiden) Qur’anic Encyclopedia - Entries of the Prophets as a model) by researcher Yaqoub Barid Al-Mayali.