Student:  Mr. Sayyid Isma’il Ghazanfari

Dissertation: “Answers of Islam Regarding the Challenges of Marriage in Developed Countries”

Level: MA- English

Date: 13 January 2015

Advisor: Dr. Hejazi

Referee(s): Dr. Sayyid Ahmad Rahnama’i

Grade: 18.5

On 13 January 2015, Mr. Ghazanfari defended his MA dissertation for Islamic Studies in English.

The title of Mr. Ghazanfari’s dissertation was “Answers of Islam Regarding the Challenges of Marriage in Developed Countries” which studied the possible answers Islam has for different problems of marriage in modern society.

In his introduction, Mr. Ghazanfari pointed out to the challenge of finding books relevant to western societies, since most Persian books focus on the atmosphere existing in Iran.

In addition, Mr. Ghazanfari’s dissertation in English was a new and novel move in the Seminary, which demanded his further research and creativity for the formatting of the dissertation.

The dissertation’s referee, Dr. Sayyid Ahmad Rahnama’i, acknowledged the importance of the topic, and gave his explanation about how important it is. He praised the work for its good introduction, and well organized and rich content and arguments. The referee raised the possibility of publishing the dissertation as a book, which was later acknowledged by the dissertation’s advisor as well.

The advisor, Dr. Hejazi, stressed that Mr. Ghazanfari took the risk of composing his dissertation in English contrary to the obstacles existed. He believed that this was a starting point for others to follow, and emphasized on the importance of the subject. Dr. Hejazi also pointed out to some of the theological challenges existed in this regard, such as whether it is logical for Islam to provide answers for a non-Islamic community.

Mr. Ghazanfari’s dissertation was accepted, with a very good grade of 18.5 out of 20.