Visiting WFRC and its faculty members, Dr. Yafa Shanneik presented her study approaches in the area of Islamic studies in the subject of “Women’s role in religious rites and marriage development trend among Shiites and the Europe”. She stated that the area of Islamic studies, specifically the Shiites, has not been studied as much as it deserves in the West and the Western knowledge is mostly based on the news they hear, public relations of WFRC reported.
Stating that the British Muslim community consists of a verity of ethnic groups she referred to her research subject “Muslim’s religious acts and rituals” and told that religious rites and specifically mourning rituals for martyrdom of Sayyed al-Shohada (A.S) provide the best opportunity to observe the presence and integration of the whole Shiite community from different nationalities in which the parents try to transfer religious beliefs and teachings to their children.
The professor of Welsh University of England told that due to media attacks in western countries there is a negative atmosphere against Muslims, specifically Muslim women in the west and clarified that all aspects of religious rites specifically the role of women in the formation and holding religious ceremonies have been considered in this research and we are here to see the actual form of the rites in the middle East and Shiite countries, not seeing ,of course, a considerable difference in religious rites in Middle East and the West.
She told that right now we are studying and doing research on the aspects and the way the wedding ceremonies are held among Shiites as well as their development trend. She added that in these researches we gain familiarity with wedding ceremonies, from marriage proposal to other ceremonies, through communicating with Shiite families in Iran and neighbor countries.
Focusing on the great and sometimes deep differences in wedding ceremonies in Iran which exist even in a single town and in different families, Dr. Yafa Shanneik told that we are aware of the different areas and aspects of the research considering ethnic, nationality, and religious complications in Iran and other countries and try to understand and explain the differences well.
Regarding a question about changes occurred in different families and generations in the past, she pointed out that today there is a generation gap in many societies which sometimes lead to struggles between the parents and children, but to keep ,at least, their children’s religious beliefs the parents, especially in western countries, become flexible in the struggles.
Finally, speaking about the great importance of ethnographical and anthropological researches, the professor of Welsh University of England told that we should focus on the aspects of structural changes and differences in the society over the years and having access to the different classes of people and understanding the great complications and differences inside the society we hope to perform a mindful research, not labeling a specific group.