Why it matters:
Maintaining strong international partnerships while emphasizing indigenous scholarship, the Farabi Festival reflects humanities research in Iran with global academic visibility.
The big picture:
Over nearly two decades, the International Farabi Festival has evolved into one of Iran’s most prestigious scientific events, playing a key role in recognizing and supporting influential research in humanities and Islamic sciences at both national and international levels.
The event:
The ceremony was attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Minister of Science Hossein Simayi Sarraf, Deputy Minister for Cultural and Social Affairs Vahid Shalchi, University of Tehran President Mohammad Hossein Omid, and a group of distinguished scholars.
What they're saying:
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the responsibility borne by scholars in the humanities and Islamic sciences outweighs that of politicians, stressing that healing society’s wounded mindset depends on the role of academics, students, and religious figures.
Iran’s Minister of Science Hossein Simaei Sarraf warned against nostalgia driven readings of history, saying myth making and historical distortion risk misleading the younger generation, and stressed that only a fair and balanced narration of the past can prevent fabricated narratives.
More on Farabi Festival:
- The Farabi Festival was launched in 2007 by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, with its secretariat based at the Institute for Cultural and Social Studies.
- The festival is held annually in cooperation with UNESCO, ISESCO, the National Elites Foundation, and leading domestic scientific and research centers.
- Its core mission is to honor and promote high-quality “research outputs” in humanities and Islamic sciences through a structured process of submission, review, and evaluation.
Zoom in:
- The festival operates at two levels: Youth (35 years and under) and Adult.
- Domestically, it accepts all humanities-related works produced inside the country.
- Internationally, it focuses on studies related to Islamic civilization and Iranology.
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seyed mohammad kazemi - seyed mohammad kazemi
