The Aalulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center

The Ahlulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center is an organization under the supervision of the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [1]. While they themselves include "(as)" in their organization title [1], some omit it [2].

Contents

Goals

Its goal is "to spread the Shi`ite culture through the WEB and create a kind of strong relation between the theological class and the public" [1]

To reach above aim, they concentrate on [1]:

  1. Quick responses to religious questions.
  2. Access to a data bank containing thousands of theological Q & A.
  3. Directly linking you to the prominent scholars of Qom.
  4. Access to a data bank containing information on sectarian differences between the Sunni & Shia faiths.

History

The organization was founded in the spring of 1998, on the anniversary of Eid al-Ghadeer[1], by Sistani's son-in-law "in a small building" in holy Shi'a city of Qom, a scholarly center of Shi'a Islam [3]

Sites

They operate though various internet websites, including:

"available in no less than 27 languages, boasting huge archives, everything translated by a group of students, native speakers, in Qom. There are Afghans, Tajiks, Russians, northern Africans; they have been transferring all Shi'ite textbooks online for three years now. Zadeh says this is considered the number one Shi'ite website, and number seven among all Muslim websites. It has an average of 250,000 visits a month, from as many as 133 countries."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Aalulbayt (About Us)". Al-shia.com. http://www.al-shia.com/html/eng/about-us.htm. 
  2. ^ a b "www.holynajaf.net : Aalulbayt Global Information Center". University Library Saxony-Anhalt in Halle (Germany). http://ssgdoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/vlib/ssgfi/infodata/002867.html. 
  3. ^ Michael Slackman (2006-06-08). "Iraqi cleric deepens religious ties with Iran". New York Times. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/08/news/sistani.php. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
  4. ^ "Humbul full record view for -- Aalulbayt global information center". Humbul Humanities Hub. http://www.humbul.ac.uk/output/full5.php?id=12759&sub=religion&ref=byheading&code=DD.3. 
  5. ^ a b c Pepe Escobar (2005-08-31). "Sistani. Qom: In the wired heart of Shi'ism". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH31Ak03.html. Retrieved 2006-12-31.