As part of its ongoing efforts to highlight important cultural and scientific works, the Al-Alamein Library at the Al-Alamein Institute for Graduate Studies hosted Professor Dr. Kamel Hassoun Al-Qayem, a professor in the Media Department at the institute, on Sunday, April 5, 2026. Professor Al-Qayem presented his book, "The Position of the Supreme Religious Authority's Discourse in Crises and the Paths of State-Building," in the presence of a select group of professors, students, and guests. The session was moderated by Dr. Nahda Abdul-Hussein Al-Khafaji, Director of the Al-Alamein Library.
The researcher discussed the methodology of the book and the methods of dealing with topics that carried great importance, considering that Friday sermons carry utmost importance within the compass of the crises of 2014, which was called the year of crises (as it witnessed the holding of elections, then the difficulty of forming a government, and then the page of the ISIS terrorist invasion). The researcher highlighted the importance of discourse and personal communication after analysis, as the audible or visual discourse – according to the researcher’s opinion – does not carry a great capacity for active and complete reception except after it is broken down and analyzed into small units so that it can be understood and classified. The book included an analysis of (24) sermons delivered at the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein in the year (2014). The researcher conducted a statistical analysis of each sermon according to its categories (major ideas), the main and then the sub-ideas it contained, the intended parties, and the measure of its intensity. He concluded by building statistical tables of the entire Friday sermon for the year under analysis, in addition to scientific recommendations, which indicated the benefit in studies and research of the outputs and indicators of the ideas, diagnoses, and warnings of the Supreme Religious Authority on many issues that were mostly predictive and extremely important.
The attendees discussed some of the methods and ideas addressed in the book, and the possibility of benefiting from it in our present time. The seminar concluded with honoring the researcher for his efforts in completing the book.
This activity comes as part of ongoing and specialized activities carried out by the Al-Alamein Institute to increase the accumulation of students' experience with some political, social and media phenomena so that they can benefit from it in the field of research, cultural dialogues and academic development. The institute's administration is also keen to involve students in dialogue mechanisms and to activate them as part of the academic education that the institute is keen to promote among its students.