On the morning of the Friday 16 Rajab 1435 corresponding to 16 May 2014, in the Hall of Imam Musa Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him), started the first conference of safeguarding and reviving the written heritage, held by the Library and House of Manuscripts at Al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine, under the theme: (Keep your books, you will need them ).
The opening ceremony which saw the attendance of religious and academic figures, university lecturers and a number of specialists in this field, started with the recitation of verses from the holy Quran, by Mr. Mohamad At-Tayyar, followed by the speech of the General secretary of the Al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine, delivered on their behalf by The Director of the Library and House of Manuscripts of the Al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine Sayed Nuruddeen Al-Moosawi who welcomed the presence and said:
“When God, The Maker of order graced the human with the Reason, He guided him by the light of Science to seek the truth in order to receive the honour of the knowledge-ability on earth, making then the Science the fuel and tool of the Reason. Thus the Reason needs to benefit from Science, which needed Scholars and students to keep the torch of knowledge enlightening the darkness of ignorance.
Therefore Allah The Creator has chosen from his slaves, the best of bests, the elite, Mohammad and his holy household (Peace and Allah's Mercy be upon them all), whom Quran describe in different verses with: "those of understanding" , "Best of creatures", "people of the message", "allies of Allah", "those in authority" and other expressions implicitly or explicitly meaning them (peace be upon them)...” And to follow up the rest of his speech, click here
After that came the speech of the Director of the National Center for Manuscripts in Iraq, Dr. Ameera Eydan Eddahab who stated: "We meet today so we discuss a very important topic that has a wide international interest and which is characterized by the most important criterion of UNESCO Convention of 1972; the world value of understanding.
The old manuscripts that were written in different period of time, came to document the ideas of scientists and researchers in various disciplines over time, and despite the effect of time on this fragile heritage, the divine care over all human products with a noble nature, saved it so we can preserve it and distribute it in several institutions and libraries, reflecting a rich spirituality of the ancestors who left behind them these treasures as an ongoing charity over the years.
With regard to the House of Iraqi manuscripts, it contains a wide range of written treasures with different themes, calligraphy styles and languages, and it had the privilege of containing large amounts of rare copies of Qurans, with a variety in their age, calligraphy schools and the decorations of the sides and covers. The house contains also within its closets a large number of manuscripts dating back to different periods of time and about various disciplines in science, jurisprudence, literature, etc., as well as large quantities of calligraphy paintings and a lot of written documents..."
At the end of her speech she said: "I thank on behalf of all researchers and interested scientists all the efforts made by the General Secretary of the Al-Abbas's (p) Holy shrine, for setting this conference which we hope to get out of it with clear and efficient recommendations for solutions to a range of problems we face in the National House of Iraqi Manuscripts, so we work together to implement these recommendations on the ground."
Finally the attendees went to have a tour in the centres of manuscripts restoration and the pictured manuscripts and its indexes belonging to Library and House of Manuscripts of the Al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine.
And eventually the Iraqi Ministry of higher education and scientific research gave as a gift ten thousands copies of written heritage on CDs from Baghdad University/ Manuscripts of Islamic sciences faculty to the Library and House of the Manuscripts of the Al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine.
It is worth mentioning that the Hall of Imam Musa Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) hosts a finalizing discussion meeting during the afternoon of Friday 16 Rajab 1435 corresponding to16 May 2014.