SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) —The ninth Islamic Manuscript CONFERENCE Manuscripts of the Mamluk Sultanate and Its Contemporaries  2-4 September 2013, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

The Islamic Manuscript Asso ciation is pleased to announce that the Ninth Islamic Manuscript Conference will be held at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge from 2 to 4 September 2013. The Conference will be hosted in cooperation with the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation and the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge.

The Association invites the submission of abstracts on topics related to the study of Islamic manuscripts, particularly codicology, and the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections. Preference will be shown to submissions pertaining to the Conference’s theme: Manuscripts of the Mamluk Sultanate and Its Contemporaries.

The Conference seeks to explore the full range of manuscript production that occurred from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries  CE: from books produced under royal patronage, such as the Mamluk and  Ilkhanid Qur’an manuscripts that are almost unmatched for splendour,  opulence, and size in the history of the Islamic arts of the book, to  simpler, less lavish manuscripts that are no less essential to  increasing our understanding of Islamic codicology and palaeography.

The Conference will be organised around the Association's four key working areas: cataloguing, conservation, digitisation, and research and publishing; and papers falling into these broad categories will be included in the relevant panel. The Association will also consider submissions on topics that do not fall directly under the purviews of these areas but are yet concerned with scholarship on Islamic manuscripts or the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections.

This is invitation is open to members and non-members of the Association. The languages of the Conference will be Arabic and English, and submissions will be accepted in both languages.

The deadline for submissions is 0900 GMT on Monday, 22 October 2012.Late submissions will not be considered.

The duration of each conference paper is 30 minutes inclusive of 10 minutes of questions and answers. Please note that preference will be given to speakers who have not presented papers at the Association's previous conferences. All authors’ research and analysis should be sufficiently advanced that they can include concrete findings in their abstracts.

The Association will pay for round-trip economy class travel to Cambridge, accommodation in Magdalene College, and College-based meals for authors whose papers are accepted.

Please send an abstract of 250 words, a 250 word biographical statement, and the attached cover sheet to the Association’s executive committee at the following email, fax, or postal address:

The Islamic Manuscript Association Ltd

c/o 33 Trumpington Street

Cambridge CB2 1QY

United Kingdom

Fax: +44 1223 302 218

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Association’s selection committee will inform applicants of its decision by mid - November.—www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed that “Hezbollah is interested in reaching a real defense strategy that protects Lebanon, and that the party does neither intend to boycott the national dialogue table nor to sabotage it, “however, we refuse that the participation of the other team in the dialogue be turned into a material to blackmail the President of the Republic or the cabinet to reach certain goals that have nothing to do with the dialogue itself.”

His eminence believed that “if the aim of the dialogue is serious about reaching a defense strategy to protect Lebanon, we consider this goal more sacred than any other issue, and shouldn’t be impeded for any reason; yet, the dialogue aim was not as such.”

“Today, the state is blackmailed in order to return to the dialogue, which aims at dissolving government.”

Sayyed Nasrallah declared that “should the dialogue table be held at any time, we will not boycott it,” and that “cabinet survival is not linked to holding the table.”

The annual central Iftar hosted by The Resistance Support Association; August 01, 2012Sayyed Nasrallah position was during the annual central Iftar of Resistance Support Association in Beirut, where at the beginning of his speech, his eminence saluted the Army establishment, commander and soldiers on Army Day, asking Allah Almighty to help the Lebanese people to cooperate in order to preserve this establishment, its unity and strength to carry out its goss national duties.”

He called upon all not to argue that in 2000 Israel was defeated and Lebanon achieved victory, adding that “any talk rather than that refers only to the insane or the envious.”

“Also, no one should argue that credit for this victory after Allah is of the Resistance, not of international community of Arab League. Only the arrogant and the jealous who deny this fact.”

“Everybody knows that after 2000 victory, the Resistance didn’t ask for any power or authority, but granted the victory for the Lebanese and demanded the state to assume its responsibilities on the border.”

Sayyed Nasrallah mentioned that after the 2000 victory, an American –Israeli demand emerged which later became the very target: getting rid of the Resistance and its weapons, considering that Hezbollah was seen as the core and largest faction of the resistance.

“they want to disarm the party who defeats Israel,’ he said, pointing out that some political forces in Lebanon has adopted this goal, which putted us before a new political and media battle, and before a battle of negotiation inside and outside Lebanon entitled by: “disarming the Resistance.”

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan NasrallahSayyed Nasrallah noted that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad looks at the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine as part of the Arab nationalist security strategy, recalling that a settlement had been offered for Syria before resolution 1559 was issued, but Assad refused it because the price was disarming Hezbollah and the Palestinians.

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah has been refusing to participate in any official discussion regarding the Resistance weapons, but we agreed upon discussing Hezbollah arms in order to assure the Lebanese people, which was translated by the treaty signed with the Free Patriotic Movement in 2006.

His eminence narrated the dialogue occurred during the first national dialogue about the defense strategy, where Hezbollah presented his views to the table and the Lebanese people.

“I ended my word then by what former PM said once a day: “the real cause is how to protect Lebanon. Resistance is an urgent need, but the problem lies in that Resistance arms have been limited to only one category of the Lebanese. We want a strong army and a Resistance, along with coordination between both of them”,” his eminence said.

“Every word that we do not want to present a defense strategy is insolence,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed.

Hezbollah Secretary General believed that “dialogue table was not designed to protect Lebanon, but to lead the other team to make up his mind to hand over arms.”

“March 14 didn’t sit to the table to discuss how to protect Lebanon, but there is only one theme: the U.S. wants the weapon and they gave it to her.”

Sayyed Nasrallah noted that one of March 14 officials said a few days ago: do not bother yourself discussing the strategy. Assad regime will fall and Hezbollah will hand over arms. “Thus the goal is to disarm Hezbollah,” he stated.

“Some say there are two solutions: Are the political system and the state ready to take the decision and let Iran equip the army – which is ready for? Our political system is afraid of the Americans. If we hand over Resistance weapons to the Army, where would the army put those weapons and missiles?” he asked.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah“Whom who talks about handing the Resistance weapons to the Army is forfeiting the first and abandoning the second. Their demand to hand over weapons aims at getting rid of the Resistance weapons, not at protecting Lebanon,” Sayyed Nasrallah stated.

What protects Lebanon most is a balance of terror and deterrence with the Zionist entity.

“What resides the balance of deterrence is the fact that Israel fears of any party possessing weapons. Once the weapon became under the state control, it will lose its deterrence capability,” he said.

“In the balance of deterrence, the enemy must remain afraid,” he stressed.

During his speech, his eminence made clear that liberation strategy is not a new theme, since a part of our land is still under occupation. “It is a matter of sovereignty,” he said.

“If the state refuses to formulate a liberation strategy, residents of south Lebanon have the right to consider it occupied territory. And if the state abandons developing a liberation strategy, it should entrust this task to the people.”

“Discussing a liberation strategy proves the efficiency of the Resistance, for this they do not want to form it.”

Sayyed Nasrallah went on to say that the Resistance represents today all of this heritage and enormous sacrifices of our people, resistance and the Lebanese Army.

“We are not slaves of weapons, territories or entities, we are the slaves of Allah. When He created us, we were touched by honor, pride, refusal to live humiliated, or our land be occupied.”

“We agree to cooperate and discuss. We are keen to get to a positive result once the dialogue participants demand the dignity and interest, and for the Lebanese the dignity and honor,” Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah concluded.—www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: Abna

SHAFAQNA (Shia international Association) — Millions of Muslims who are considered a minority in Myanmar have faced many problems over the past two years as the government of Myanmar refuses to recognize them.

Releasing a statement, Iran's Pen Association has condemned the recent massacre of thousands of Myanmar Muslims by the country’s Buddhists.

A part of the statement says: “We, Iranian poets and authors, have heard the cries for justice raising from the bereaved land. Condemning the unforgiveable crimes, we hereby ask for firm action to stop the killing of Muslims in Myanmar.”

Moreover Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyeed Ali Khamenei strongly condemned the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, and lashed out at the US and the western states for ignoring ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in the Southeast Asian country.

According to unofficial reports, more than 20,000 Muslims have been killed, tortured, and displaced by the extremist Buddhists in Burma’s Rakhine province, the worst sectarian killing in this part of the world over the years, the Pakistan Observer has reported on July 13.

Reports say 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed as of June 28 alone during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced.

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

The government of Myanmar does not recognize Rohingya Muslims and has denied citizenship to them, claiming that they are illegal migrants.—www.shafaqna.com/english