AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Speaking at the unveiling ceremony of the Encyclopedia of Shiite Knowledge on Thursday, December 18, 2025, Hojat al-Islam Ahmad Vaezi outlined a comprehensive framework for engaging contemporary society with Shiite thought and culture.
The event, titled “Introducing Shiism in Today’s World: Necessities and Challenges,” was held at the conference hall of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly. Vaezzi, who heads the Office for Islamic Propagation of the Qom Seminary, delivered a presentation focused on what he described as the opportunities, challenges, and strategies inherent in this engagement.
“The issue of engaging Shiite thought and culture with the contemporary individual is vast and multidimensional,” Vaezi said, noting that the concept of “engagement” can take several distinct forms.
He described a gradual form of engagement already underway through cultural, educational, and research activities, emphasizing a calm, interactive approach aimed at introducing Shiite culture and thought over time.
Vaezi also pointed to what he called imposed engagement, situations in which social or political conditions force an unplanned encounter, requiring intellectual response or defense. Another form, he said, is a challenging and critical engagement, in which Shiite thought actively critiques Western meaning systems and epistemological foundations from its own intellectual perspective.
Turning to interactive engagement, Vaezi said this approach centers on cooperation and intellectual dialogue around shared concerns between thinkers in the Islamic world and the West. He noted that many Western intellectuals are themselves critical of aspects of modern civilization and share overlapping concerns.
Issues such as environmental degradation, social justice, economic inequality, genocides, including the events in Gaza, and racial and religious extremism, he said, provide a basis for constructive dialogue and meaningful intellectual and human interaction.
Vaezi concluded by stressing that foundational scholarly work rooted in rigorous research must ultimately be translated into media products, including multilingual and multimedia content, in order to reach wider global audiences.
**************
End/ 345
