KARBALA, Iraq — The eighth global “Spirit of Prophethood” (Ruh al-Nubuwwah) cultural festival concluded under the holy auspices of the Al-Abbas Shrine in Karbala, with its final communiqué placing the infallibility of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her) as the essential foundation for intellectual and educational studies .
Organized by the Al-Kafeel Women’s Religious Schools Department, which operates under the shrine’s Office of the Legal Custodian for Women’s Affairs, the three-day festival brought together female scholars and delegations from over twelve countries. It operated under the slogan, “Fatimah al-Zahra: A Confluence of Two Lights, Prophethood and Imamate” .
🌍 International Participation
The festival saw significant international engagement, with participants traveling from Lebanon, Tunisia, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Palestine, in addition to the host country, Iraq .
🎤 Closing Ceremonies and Key Addresses
The closing ceremonies featured several pivotal speeches:
- Dr. Afdhel al-Shami, a member of the Al-Abbas Shrine’s board of directors, emphasized the shrine’s ongoing efforts to revive the commemorations of the Ahl al-Bayt (the Prophet’s household) through practical methods and diverse programs .
- Dr. Jinan Mahdi, representing the participating delegations, described the festival as “a space for conscious women to gather and a platform to revive prophetic values” .
- Dr. Wafa Abbas Fayyad, from the festival’s scientific committee, stressed the necessity of strengthening creed-based, educational, intellectual, and Quranic studies rooted in the principle of Lady Zahra’s infallibility .
The event also included devotional poetry recitations and honored the winners of the festival’s research competition .
📚 Academic Focus: Infallibility as the Core Criterion
The festival’s scientific committee explicitly defined its research approach as being centered on the infallibility of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra. Dr. Wafa Abbas Fayyad explained that submitted research was evaluated based on doctrinal soundness and the acceptance of her infallibility as the “interpretive and cognitive starting point” for all other readings .
The committee underscored that her personality should not be examined as an ordinary human experience, but rather as a “divinely protected proof” and the exemplar of divine methodology in all dimensions .
The festival received 159 scientific abstracts, of which 105 were accepted (including two in English). It also gathered 93 full research papers across disciplines: Quranic studies, biography and history, thought and creed, education and psychology, and media and social topics. After rigorous evaluation, 30 papers were finalized as top-tier, with three winning top honors :
- First Place: “Insight Between Perception and Conduct in the Fadak Sermon – Aba al-Fadl al-Abbas as a Model” by Dr. Ban Mohamed Arabi.
- Second Place: “Lady Zahra, Bearer of the Divine Throne Between Authenticity and Inheritance” by Hind Fadhil Abbas.
- Third Place: “Women Between Establishing Identity and the Risks of Alienism; Approaches from the Biography of Lady Zahra in Confronting Contemporary Value Degradation” by Dilshad Hashim Isa .
💡 Key Recommendations for Future Work
The scientific committee issued several forward-looking recommendations to deepen engagement with Lady Zahra’s legacy:
- Practical Emulation: Utilizing her radiant biography as the supreme model of feminine perfection across all educational, intellectual, and doctrinal dimensions.
- Scientific Methodology: The necessity for a systematic, scholarly study of her intellectual legacy, deemed crucial for the success and stability of the Muslim family.
- Strengthening Identity: Fortifying women’s Islamic identity through educational programs focused on values and social roles.
- Moderate Islamic Project: Advocating for a moderate and aware Islamic feminist project that uses her biography as an example of balance between authenticity and positive engagement.
- Academic Integration: A call to include her speeches in university curricula at undergraduate and postgraduate levels .
The Al-Abbas Shrine stated that the festival’s goals were to promote the lofty concepts of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra’s biography, encourage female researchers to focus on her personality, and enrich academic libraries with related research.
From: IQNA