Dr. Shomali started by explaining the verse 34 of Surah Nur, where God makes an analogy of Himself to light.

His reference was to verse 35 of Surah Nur (light):

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونِةٍ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ نُّورٌعَلَى نُورٍ

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp —the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star— lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon light.

Upon clarifying various dimensions of this verse and that it expresses maximum exposure.

He said that this light of God can be found in places which God has allowed to be elevated; special places which have become places for God’s remembrance.

Dr. Shomali explained that for a place to become special, the inhabitants must be special, and the house of the Prophet (s) is this mentioned place. He then narrated the question which the second caliph asked the Prophet (s) after the Prophet (s) explained this, about whether the house of Ali (a) is one of them, to which the Prophet (s) replied, “yes, and it is one of the best of them.”

Dr. Shomali concluded that the houses of the Ahlul Bayt (a) are like the house of the Prophet (s), both are special houses which God has permitted to be elevated.

After describing the significance of Qom according to the Hadith, and its proven accuracy through history, Dr. Shomali narrated the story of how Lady Masuma (s) came to Qom. He then gave a brief introduction to Lady Masuma (s), her name, and the value of visiting her shrine, for Imam Reza (a) has said that visiting Lady Masuma (s) is like visiting him, in the sense that you should expect anything you would have expected from Imam Reza (a), from Lady Masuma (s) too.

His reference was to verse 35 of Surah Nur (light):

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونِةٍ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ نُّورٌعَلَى نُورٍ

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is a niche wherein is a lamp —the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star— lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, whose oil almost lights up, though fire should not touch it. Light upon light.

Dr. Shomali stated that everyone has been given some light to begin their journey with, enough to start the journey. Referring to this verse, he explained that it is our decision whether to use this light to move towards higher levels of light, or lower levels of light, if we do not take Allah as our guardian.

Dr. Shomali stated that although the light of some of the creation may not be visible to us now, such as the light of the Earth, but all will be clear on the Day of Judgment, where God says the Earth will shine with God’s light. He explained that we can feel the light in the face of the pious in our worldly life, but on the Day of Judgment it will be obvious, even to the hypocrites, who will request to take some of the pious peoples’ light.

He continued to explain the other parts of this verse as well.

On February 22 2011, IIIS held a lecture with Dr. Alayi. Dr Alayi has an Islamic University in America and since he has been deeply involved with computers from the very beginning of their creation, He has a rich experience on IT and how it has developed. This session was for the students to know how they can benefit from this modern technology.

Dr. Alayi started his session by explaining the base of computer technology, and how it all started in 1951 in Germany, where a kind of microcomputer was built. Later on, in 1962-64, IBM introduced the board. Microsoft started Windows in 1989-90.

Dr. Alayi explained how IT evolved and Internet became important. He stressed on the new technologies that when combined with the eagerness, thirst and potentials, which exist in the west, could create a powerful preaching platform. Pointing out to the problems in preaching, such as limited scholars with actual capability to teach Islamic basics, Dr. Alayi explained his plan on how to spread the message.

In the end, Dr. Alayi reminded that although some technologies may be expensive, but it is worth the results it brings.