Hawzah News Agency –The Center for African Studies of the Department of Intellectual and Cultural Affairs concluded the second Quranic course for the African students of the Religious Science, which was held in cooperation with the Holy Shrine Scholar Academy, and which was named after Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba (peace be upon him). The course included lessons and lectures on teaching correct reading of the Holy Quran and the rules of its recitation and calligraphy.
The closing ceremony of the course was held on the birth anniversary of Lady Zaynab (Peace be upon Her), which was held this Friday morning in the hall of Imam al-Hassan (Peace be upon him) in the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine, in the presence of a number of its board members and department heads, as well as African students participating in the course.
The ceremony began with reciting verses from the Holy Quran, followed by reciting the Surah Al-Fatiha in memory of Iraq's martyrs, listening to the national anthem and the song "The Pride's Melody," followed by a speech of the director of the cCenter; Sheikh Saad al-Shammari, in which he explained that "the Holy Quran is the foundation of Islamic science, contains various sciences and explains various knowledge. Working to serve it and care for it and for the knowledge of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) is one of the greatest reasons for the revival of the Islamic nation, its progress and development..."
"One of the most prominent goals of specialists is to spread awareness of the importance of the Holy Quran and to teach it through various programs, while developing modern methods in teaching it and honoring talents, and guiding society and reforming it. One of the most important tasks to achieve these goals is to increase the number of courses, councils and Qur'anic evenings..."
Then Sheikh Alaa al-Din al-Himyari, the supervisor of the course, thanked the students participating in the course and praised their hard work and diligence in obtaining their information and their interaction with it, saying, "The Academy always strives to intensify such courses in all its branches, due to their importance. I also thank the officials of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine and their support for the Qur'anic movement."
There was also a speech delivered by Bashir Thani on behalf of the participating students, in which he thanked the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine for holding this course. He explained that "its importance lies in the fact that prayer is the basis of religion and acceptance of works, and prayer without true and accurate reading is not accepted. Therefore, learning correct reading has become a duty, especially over the preacher and the religious sciences student. Also, we should not read Quran superficially but with meditation and reason, and all of this can only be achieved through proper recitation. Thus, we thank the Center for African Studies for supporting African students and helping to hone their talents and develop their skills."
Sheikh Abdullah Yahooda, one of the participants in the course, gave a copy of the Holy Quran that he wrote himself, after he had completely memorized it, to the Center for African Studies. He then reviewed how the memorization was completed, and then he wrote it based on his memorization. This ceremony was concluded by presenting the certificates of appreciation to the participants in the course.