Summary of Commission “Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) and Islamic Civilization” in International Conference “Tradition and Era of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)”

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Thursday, 03 November 2022

The session of the commission “Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) and Islamic Civilization”, under the international conference “Tradition and Era of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)”, was held on Thursday morning, November 3, 2022, in the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy in Pardisan, Qom.

The session of the commission “Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) and Islamic Civilization”, under the international conference “Tradition and Era of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)”, was held on Thursday morning, November 3, 2022, in the Imam Hussain (a.s.) Hall of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy in Pardisan, Qom.

The Board of Directors of this commission was composed of Dr. Mohsen Elviri, Ali Akbar Zakeri and Dr. Hamed Qeraati.

At the beginning of the session, Hojat al-Islam Ali Akbar Zakeri, in presenting his article titled “Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) and Kendy, the Arab Philosopher” stated, “There are two historical reports about Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) and Kendy, and there are doubts about each of them. I have tried to answer these doubts in my article.”

“According to a famous report, Kennedy was trying to write a book about the contradictions of the Quran. Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) tells one of Kendy’s students to tell him “Don’t you think that the speaker meant something other than what you understood?” After being told this by his student, Kendy stopped writing the book. Ibn Shahrashub has mentioned this narration in detail in his book Manaqib. But there are some doubts about the narration,” he added.

“This narration indicates that Kendy was infidel! While this is not the case. Another problem is that the time of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) is different from Kendy. According to Shahid Motahari, Kendy was a scientific and divine person. I have given many explanations about the problems of this narrative in the article,” the researcher said about the doubts of the narration of Kendy.

Further in the conference, Hojat al-Islam Wafghan Khadhir Mohsen Al-Kaabi, from Iraq, in presenting his article entitled “Jurisprudential Method in the Hadiths of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)” said, “Many jurisprudential questions were asked from Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) about religious and social issues. Also, there are many hadiths of that imam about will, inheritance, Sharia punishments, etc., which are consistent with the hadiths of other Imams (a.s.).”

“In some hadiths, the name of the 11^th Imam of the Shiites is not specified, and instead terms such as Rajol, Faqih, Askari and Abi Muhammad are used. These hadiths also have jurisprudential implications,” he added.

Then, Mohammad Zare Bushehri, in presenting his article entitled “Analysis of the Content of the Letters of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)” said, “In this article, I have checked 130 letters out of 138 letters which attributed to the Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.).”

Stating that Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) had scientific authority, this history researcher added, “In his letters, the Imam explained Tawhid (monotheism), Nabowat (prophethood), the position of Imamate and the introduction of the successor Imam after him. Also, other topics mentioned in the Imam’s letters include solving the problems of the Shiites, confronting deviant movements such as Ghulat, jurisprudential issues, advising to think about afterlife, and moral issues.”

In the continuation of the conference, Ali Ahmadi, in presenting his article entitled “The Holy Shrine of the Two Askari Imams (a.s.) and the rituals of pilgrimage in the travelogues of the Qajar era” stated, “In this article, I have examined some issues, including the description of the Shrine of the Two Askari Imams (a.s.) during the Qajar era and places that do not exist today, the existence of Sunni servants and their taking money from pilgrims, calling the Azan in the Sunni style in that Shrine, and lighting candle in the Shrine by Shiites.”

Another article that was presented in this conference was the article “The Approaches of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) in empowering the Imamiyyah denomination, focusing on confronting the four Sunni sects” by Dr. Asghar Montazer al-Qaem.

Stating that Imams (a.s.) had the ability of planning and had precise cultural management, he said, “In this article, these issues are discussed: explaining the position of the Imam as a cultural leader, explaining the position of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) and the illegitimacy of the Caliphate from the Imam’s point of view, empowering with representative organizations, training staff and creating elite staff, explaining the issue of Occultation and awareness of the Shiites, the scientific development of Shiites, and answering to theological and Quranic doubts.”

At the end of the session, Ms. Azam Abulhassani in presenting her article entitled “The Role of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) in the preservation and development of Shiite Tafsir” said, “Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.) was diligent in preserving Tafsir, and he made many efforts in this direction. With positive approach he did a lot to protect Tafsir opinions, while with negative approach, the Imam fought against false and deviant opinions, contradictions and eisegesis, and expressed the correct opinions.”

Imam Hasan Askari (a.s.) was active in the preservation and development of Shiite tafsir by authoring and composing books, approving the works of Shiite scholars, giving correct Tafsir to students, and referring Shiites to his representatives and Shiite scholars in giving correct interpretation.”

The opening ceremony of the international conference “Tradition and Era of Imam Hassan Askari (a.s.)”, was held on Thursday morning, November 3, 2022, in collaboration of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, in the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy in Pardisan, Qom, with the presence of ulama and scholars.

AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly Imam Hassan Askari (a_s_) Islamic Civilization