Hawzah News Agency- Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, director of seminaries across Iran, made the appeal during a visit to the museum and documentation center, speaking to a reporter from the Hawzah News Agency.

“I request through the Hawzah News Agency that the grand sources of emulation, prominent scholars and various figures who hold documents concerning the seminary and clergy, or concerning Qom and the developments and evolution of Imam [Khomeini]’s movement and the revolution, hand over either the originals or copies to the seminary documents museum,” he said. “This is our public request.”

Ayatollah Arafi, a member of the Guardian Council’s jurists, said the Hawzah News Agency should conduct promotional work on the initiative to help enrich the collection.

A vast treasure of two million unique documents

Referring to the volume of material gathered, he said: “Thank God, through the efforts of colleagues, they report that nearly two million documents have been collected. These two million documents are absolutely impossible to value or price in terms of their magnitude, and we hope this process and path will certainly continue.”

Museum as a mirror of clerical identity

Describing the center’s functions, Ayatollah Arafi said it is a comprehensive institution capable of advancing both seminary culture and the country’s culture, while serving as a vast resource for research and study.

“The center’s main function is rebuilding the identity of seminarians,” he said. “For students, this museum is identity-building. It means a seminarian comes and sees the past history embodied here and reconstructs that heritage within himself.”

A guiding light for seminary history

A member of the Supreme Council of Seminaries, Ayatollah Arafi praised those behind the initiative, expressing hope that it would become “a guiding light for identity-building, cultural development and enhancing society’s familiarity with the historical institution of the seminary and clergy.”

He expressed hope that scholars, elites and the general public would answer the call, making the national treasure ever richer. Safeguarding the seminary’s written and oral heritage is a firm step toward preserving the country’s authentic Islamic and revolutionary culture, he said, adding that the initiative would help shape future seminary research on a more precise and clearly documented historical foundation.