Hadi Ghiasi
Abstract
The Islamic world has always suffered from the fire of division. One of the solutions to overcoming the divergent forces is the idea of convergence of the holy shrines to use ...
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The Islamic world has always suffered from the fire of division. One of the solutions to overcoming the divergent forces is the idea of convergence of the holy shrines to use the great capacities of the pilgrimage organizations. The convergence of the holy shrines pursues the ideal of unity through the idea of the unity of the Muslim world. Convergence is one of the concepts that has attracted a lot of attention, especially in international relations, but this paper takes a cultural-civilizational view of this concept and considers it a kind of conformity in values, policies and actions. The purpose of this study is to examine the convergence dimensions of the holy shrines as Shiite pilgrimage organizations, which are responsible for pilgrimage. The method of data collection is documentary study and interview, and the analysis of the data was done with the content analysis method. Based on the findings, according to thematic analysis of collected data, the six major themes and organizer of the "advantages", "foundations", "backgrounds", "barrier", "consequences" and "strategy" for the central theme of "the convergence of the Holy Shrines" was identified. Given the ultimate goal of integration organizations of the holy shrines, understanding the organizational convergence of holy shrines as the first step of a more general process whose next step is the integration between cultures and civilizations, understanding the true relationship between pilgrimage and tourism, set aside organizational desires, and given the complementary role of the holy shrine in the convergence process, considering the historical geography of the sacred sites, not considering the organizations as central axis to the integration process, convergence and contextual diplomacy and paving the way to bring the Sunnis together, and finally the strategic understanding of the holy shrines organizations of their role in the convergence process, are the most important strategies for the convergence of the holy shrines as Shiite organizations, which are responsible for the pilgrimage.
