A report from the Information and Communications Unit of the Representative Office of the Supreme Leader at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences:
The ceremony to unveil the poster for the 3rd International Arbaeen Narrative Festival, exclusively for Islamic world students, was held this morning in the presence of Alireza Zali, President of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Ali Khadivi, Head of the Representative Office of the Supreme Leader at Shahid Beheshti University, and members of the university’s executive board.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Hojat-ul-Islam Khadivi emphasized the importance of the Arbaeen pilgrimage, describing it as an interpretation and explanation of the culture of sacrifice and martyrdom. He said: “Today, the Arbaeen pilgrimage has become an unparalleled media in the world, and people from various religions and countries participate in this pilgrimage. We can see the enthusiasm of people who feel this spiritual journey in this religious ceremony, because they learn lessons such as sacrifice, resistance, service, empathy, and unity among the Islamic world in this path.”
This year’s festival is distinct from last year
He considered the recording and documentation of spiritual experiences in this ceremony essential and added: “This is the third year that the Leader’s Office, in cooperation with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, has held this festival. Last year, 1,450 works were received from Islamic countries. Of these, 514 works were judged and 37 people were awarded. In the second year, we witnessed a leap and an extraordinary welcome from students compared to the first year, which indicates a good reception from students.”
Students should be innovative in submitting their works
The Head of the Representative Office of the Supreme Leader at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences continued by referring to several important points in holding this festival and added: “This year’s festival has a special focus on media productions related to the reflections of the events in Gaza and Palestine in the Arbaeen pilgrimage, so the slogan of this year’s festival is in line with the slogan of this year’s Arbaeen pilgrimage, “Karbala is the way to Al-Quds”.”
He explained how to submit works, saying: “Students should be innovative in submitting their works and use artificial intelligence and artistic innovations to create works that are unique and distinguished, reflecting Islamic art in the international community, and also students who need training.”
Hojat-ul-Islam Khadivi announced the cooperation of the همراه اول mobile operator and the social responsibility department of this company and unprecedented public participation, saying: “Last year, the همراه اول mobile operator undertook to send 3 million free text messages to the people, which was very valuable to us.”
He considered the media activities of the Arbaeen Narrative Festival and the reflection of this event as a reasonable flow and, referring to the volume of news coverage of this festival in cyberspace and official news agencies, said: “Last year, we had no costs for holding the festival except for awarding prizes to students, and the active individuals in the institution did the work with minimal costs, and most of the media activities were carried out in the form of media barter and were interactively pursued and managed.”
The Arbaeen Narrative Festival has led to national and international consensus
In continuation of the ceremony, Dr. Zali, President of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, described holding such a narrative as an innovative and artistic work and said: “This festival, using visual, audio, travelogue, poetry, and other capacities, has created an international and national consensus. The important point is the issue of documentation, which has turned Arbaeen into a social, political, ritual, and religious statement in the world that can be addressed in various dimensions.”
He referred to the forgetting of the culture of documentation in national and religious ceremonies and added: “Recording and documenting the holding of national and religious events (documentary) is no less valuable than holding the ceremony itself, so this festival promotes the culture of documentation. This festival is a platform for recording the attractive sidelines of Arbaeen and perhaps part of it is for discovering and revealing Arbaeen.”
Let’s show the culture of Arbaeen through the language of art
The President of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences considered the duty of this festival to be the registration of programs and activities of the Arbaeen pilgrimage and continued: “We witness many kindnesses in Arbaeen, as part of the Arbaeen pilgrimage is providing services to pilgrims. Therefore, it is expected that a significant portion of the works received will be related to this subject. We may realize the points of damage by registering these services and try to improve them.”
Dr. Zali stated that the majority of the activities and presence of this festival are from young people and students and said: “In this religious ceremony, we are not only concerned with our compatriots, but we have also created an opportunity for people from different countries to participate. We intend to share this international festival with the world in a convergent manner.”
He concluded by saying: “On the path from Najaf to Karbala, there are 1,452 pillars, each of which is, in itself, a station for imaging and storytelling. This festival tries to display the essence of the Arbaeen culture through the language of art. Just as the culture of Arbaeen and religious events have been passed down from generation to generation through arts such as poetry and curtain reading.”
It should be noted that interested students can submit their works until the end of Mehr month 1403 by visiting the website www.revayatarbaeen.ir, and these works will be judged in November and the final winners will be awarded at the closing ceremony of the 3rd Arbaeen Narrative Festival in December.
