Hawzah News Agency (Mashhad - Iran) - The book penetration rate is not according to the expectations of an Islamic society, said Hoj. Ahmad Marvi chief custodian of Astan Quds Razavi adding that they must be easily accessible to the people from all walks of life.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 12th International Razavi Book of the Year Festival, Marvi said: “If we want religious teachings and moral principles govern our society, we must make books available for all.”
Referring to some opinions of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution regarding the need for continuation of studies on Islamic philosophy in the society, he stated: “Despite its great richness, the Islamic philosophy has not been able to be present in everyday life and it has been limited to some university classes only”.
He added: “Western philosophy is much poorer than the Islamic one but they have brought it to their own societies and have compiled various books for different age groups”.
AQR chief custodian went on to say: “The situation should be changed in a way that books on Islamic and Quranic teachings and those related to the teachings of Ahl al-Bayt could be found everywhere in the society”.
Pointing to the large number of pilgrims at Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine, he said: “Few are those who know Imam Reza (AS) was the highly learned Imam from the family of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It is the prime objective of Astan Quds Razavi, the body in charge of Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine, to boost the awareness of pilgrims in this regard.”
Noting that pilgrimage must add to the religious knowledge of the pilgrims, Hoj. Marvi said: “Contemplation and reasoning must be tracked in religious and spiritual rituals”.
Pointing to the low per capital of studying in the country and in the holy shrine’s book reading areas Marvi said: “We extend our hands toward scholars and authors to overcome this problem. Visits paid to the holy shrine by around 30 million people from various walks of life are great and unique opportunities which must be used perfectly”.
Marvi criticized viewpoints of most pilgrims of holy shrines about pilgrimage and said that reading supplication books and participating at religious mourning groups are of high importance to most of us while we usually don’t care about taking knowledge on the infallible Imams’ (AS) conduct and character.
Stating that religious faults are results of misconceptions and unsupported religious beliefs, he introduced false religious beliefs as a danger, saying: “Scholars and authors have got a very heavy responsibility concerning this issue”.
He added: “We have no economic views on culture at all, whereas the number of published books is not important to us as well. Quality and quantity are of paramount importance in AQR’s book production and book distribution respectively”.
“Book and knowledge promotion must exist in the holy shrine; therefore, we request all scholars to help us in persuading people to study alongside their supplication readings,” he observed.
Marvi concluded his remarks by saying that his respective organization is ready to do all it can to promote the culture of study at Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine.