Rasa – Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad Zamani said, “There is a large Spanish-speaking audience is in the world and given the increasing number of Spanish-speaking tourists in Iran, the Islamic Seminaries must make effective decisions to educate the missionaries and promote Islam.” RNA – In an interview, Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad Zamani referred to the impressive presence and welcoming of Spanish-speaking tourists by Esfahan’s Madrassah al-Nasiriyah and said, “The presence of Spanish-speaking tourists has increased significantly in the country over the past several years, especially in Esfahan.”
The director of the International Office of Propagation and International Affairs of the Islamic Seminary of Esfahan stated, “On this basis, we have strengthened the Spanish-speaking missionaries of the Madrassah al-Nasiriyah and decided that a number of Spanish-speaking missionaries at Madrassah al-Nasiriyah must be continuously present.”
He emphasized that the increasing number of tourists from different countries to Iran varies from year to year for several reasons and noted, “For several years, there were many tourists from Germany and eastern Asia and last year, there were many French-speaking tourists.”
Hujjat al-Islam Zamani added, “On a global perspective, the number of Spanish-speaking tourists is large and come from most of the countries of South America, as well as Spain itself.”
His Eminence said, “Fluent Spanish-speaking missionaries have been present every day at Madrassah al-Nasiriyah since the beginning of the new [Iranian] year, and until today, nearly 200 hours of face-to-face conversation with tourists dedicated to introducing Shi’ism and comprehensive Islamic information has occurred. There have been about 1,000 tourists since the beginning of the year.”
He emphasized that the preparation and delivery of specific books and brief brochures with religious content and which introduce Islam in Spanish for the tourists is another specialist measure which we have pursued and these efforts have been well-received by the tourists.
Hujjat al-Islam Zamani explained that, unfortunately, in Iran, there is no official religious place or particular seminary active in the field of propagation of Islam in Spanish and added, “For the first time in Iran, Madrassah al-Nasiriyah has been doing this work with the support of the deputy of the Department of Refinement and Propaganda at the Islamic Seminary of Esfahan for the past several years and has doubled its efforts this year.”
Referring to the fact that the Imam Mosque in Esfahan and Madrassah al-Nasiriyah are the only places in the country who have fluent Spanish-speaking missionaries and that most of the cities, provinces and tourist sites have only English-speaking missionaries, he said, “We have a large Spanish-speaking audience at the international level and due the increase in the number of French-speaking and Spanish-speaking tourists to Iran it’s appropriate and necessary that seminaries and religious organizations make effective decisions in this regard in order to promote Islam better.”
He said, “One of the important points for the seminary officials and decision-making centres of the country is that some of the Spanish-speaking countries have a history of Islam, therefore, the grounds for the audience to receive and accept the religion of Islam and its moral education have been laid.”
Hujjat al-Islam Zamani added, “Therefore, one of the urgent needs for today is for the officials to take immediate and urgent action to train missionaries in specialized languages such as Spanish and French.”
Rasa News Agency
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