Iran’s Seminaries See Major Growth in Quranic Studies: Ayatollah Arafi
Speaking to IQNA during the centennial commemoration of the re-establishment of the Qom Seminary, Ayatollah Arafi said that over the past few years, the seminaries have witnessed "fundamental transformations in the field of the Quran and its interpretation."
He added, “Quranic activities in the seminary cover twenty main areas, and explaining all of them would require much more time. Here, I will briefly refer to a few.”
Among these areas, Arafi pointed to the foundation of approximately ten specialized Quranic journals and the introduction of more than twenty academic programs focused on Quran and exegesis. “Nearly ten comprehensive Quran commentaries have also been compiled by the highest-ranking religious scholars,” he noted.
Read More:
He emphasized the growing body of work in translation, stating that “numerous translations of the Quran and interpretive texts have been produced, along with thousands of academic papers.”
Ayatollah Arafi also underlined the seminary's new focus on integrating Quranic interpretation with the humanities and social sciences. “Specialized interpretations in these areas have been initiated,” he said, noting that diverse tafsir works have been made available in multiple languages.
Read More:
The Qom Seminary, known as Hawzah ‘Ilmiyya Qom, is one of the most prominent centers of Shia Islamic scholarship in the world. Re-established in 1922, it has played a central role in religious education, jurisprudence, and Islamic thought in Iran and beyond.
Located in the city of Qom—an important religious hub—the seminary hosts tens of thousands of students from across the globe. Over the past century, it has been instrumental in shaping contemporary Islamic discourse, training generations of religious leaders, and contributing to academic and interpretive works on the Quran and Hadith.
4281876
