On Monday, February 9, 2026, the Center for Reviving Cultural and Religious Heritage, affiliated with the Department of Intellectual and Cultural Affairs at the Holy Husseini Shrine, in cooperation with the Bahr Al-Uloom Charitable Foundation, Al-Alamein Institute for Graduate Studies, and the Kufa Academy in the Netherlands, organized a research seminar entitled “The Encyclopedic Scholar Jaafar Al-Khalili and His Pioneering Role in Documenting the Holy Shrines,” at the Sheikh Al-Tusi Hall in Al-Alamein Institute, in the presence of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Holy Husseini Shrine, Mr. Muhammad Ali Bahr Al-Uloom, His Excellency Dr. Ibrahim Bahr Al-Uloom, President of the Bahr Al-Uloom Charitable Foundation, Engineer Youssef Kanawi, Governor of Najaf, and a large number of scholars, dignitaries of the religious seminary, academics, researchers, graduate students at Al-Alamein Institute, and citizens.
The symposium included a speech by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein, Mr. Muhammad Ali Bahr al-Uloom, who praised the efforts of the encyclopedist Jaafar al-Khalili in documenting the history of the holy shrines and his significant achievements in this field. This was followed by a speech from the Head of the Media Department at Al-Alamein Institute for Graduate Studies, Professor Dr. Ahmed Abdul-Majid Amin, who spoke about al-Khalili as a pioneer of journalism and one of its leading figures in Najaf and Iraq, and his books that enriched the country's literary and journalistic landscape. He called for the transfer of al-Khalili's remains from the UAE to his birthplace in Najaf.
The Secretary-General of the Bahr Al-Uloom Charitable Foundation, His Excellency Dr. Ibrahim Bahr Al-Uloom, delivered the Foundation’s speech, in which he spoke about the importance and symbolism of honoring creative and great people in their lives and after their deaths, and the Foundation’s efforts in this field now and abroad. He also reviewed the relationship that linked the encyclopedist Jaafar Al-Khalili with three generations of the Bahr Al-Uloom family, and the contribution of the late scholar Sayyid Muhammad Bahr Al-Uloom, may God have mercy on him, in documenting a part of the history of Najaf and the holy shrines in cooperation with the writer and encyclopedist Jaafar Al-Khalili.
A research session was then held, chaired by Professor Dr. Ali Hajji. Speakers included historian Professor Muhammad Saeed Al-Turaihi, head of the Kufa Academy in Denmark; Assistant Professor Dr. Ali Shamkhi; and Dr. Abdul-Hadi Al-Khalili, who participated via video recording from Washington. The speakers discussed Al-Khalili's life, career, and contributions. Al-Turaihi also addressed the extensive efforts he dedicated over the years to completing the "Al-Khalili Encyclopedia," of which thirty volumes have been published to date, with the expectation that it will reach fifty volumes in the future. At the end of the session, the new edition of the Encyclopedia of Holy Shrines project, to be implemented by the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein, was unveiled. The researchers were honored, and an exhibition of rare photographs, organized by historian Professor Muhammad Saeed Al-Turaihi, was inaugurated.
