The First Ever Academic Conference of Khoja Studies sponsored by The Khoja Heritage Project of The Word Federation - French
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26 April 2024 / 17. Shawal 1445
Our recent trip to Iraq
The Office Bearers Team were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Iraq to meet some of the most senior Marajas in the Shia community, witness the World Federation projects in action and also, Alhamdulillah, visit the shrines of our Imams (as).
The trip began in Holy Karbala, where the full team spent the evening in the haram of Imam Hussain (as), performing Ziyarat and praying for the community.
The next day, whilst travelling to Samarra & Kadhmain, the team met with our partners on-the-ground who, on our behalf, have been facilitating the support of widows, orphans and displaced families. The team visited a housing project on the outskirts of Karbala, which will be completed in the coming months and will house 100 families who have lost their homes as a result of on-going conflict.
As the trip continued, the team arrived in Najaf Al-Ashraf, they visited Ayatollah Bashir Najafi where they passed salaams from our community to him and we gained a lot of insight into leading communities during testing times. He prayed for the communities’ enhancement in line with the teachings of the Ahlul Bayt.
They finished the meeting with Sayed Ala Musawi and thanked him for his support and assistance during the Yemen crisis. They ended the meeting with an excellent discussion around philanthropic work in Iraq.
As the trip continued, the team had the honour to pray in the Haram of Imam Ali (as). Following this , the entire team had a detailed and highly positive meeting with Ayatollah Sistani who gave great advice to the team. Ayollah Sistani spoke about the values and foundation laid out by Marhum Mulla Asghar MM Jaffer.
The team also met with Ayatollah Ishaq Fayyadh who spoke about the contribution that The World Federation are collectively making as a community to humanity at large and the importance of maintaining our values for generations to come.
Next, the team were humbled to meet Ayatollah Sayyid Saeed Al Hakim. Discussions were centred around the importance of humility and unity and spent a great deal of time discussing work the World Federation are doing together for Humanity as well as importance of maintaining our values.
Special prayers were made for the whole of the Khoja community throughout the trip and we ask for your continued dua’s and support as we look to do even more work in the year ahead.
We are working on a number of projects and we are all very excited about what the future holds! We will be bringing you weekly updates to keep you informed.
Reflections from the Shan E Abbas Hassam, Secretary General
"Going to Karbala is a bitter-sweet journey. On the one hand, Momineen are able to fulfil their heart’s desire of visiting Imam Hussain (AS) and the Shohadah of Karbala. On the other, it is a place of immense and unparalleled grief, poignantly evident, although we spent only one day in the city."
Experience the journey through the eyes of Shan E Abbas who shares his personal reflections of the trip in the first part of his blog.
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