National Seerat Conference

National Seerat Conference and Seerat Book Competition

The Ministry of Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony conducts annual National / International Seerat Conference on the occasion of 12th Rabi ul Awal in order to pay homage and respect to the Holy Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (Peace and Bless be upon him) and to disseminate his teachings. The Ministry also proposes a topic for the Conference and invites scholars to write the Maqalat on that topic.


Besides this, Ministry also holds National Seerat Competition on the Books of Seerat and Naat. The competition also carries a category of books written by the women and books written for the children.  It is a tradition for the last many years that the President of Pakistan and Prime Minister of Pakistan participate in the Conference as a chief guest. The Ulema Mashaikh, scholars and the prize winners of the National Seerat Book Competition are invited in the Conference. Prizes are distributed among the winners in order to encourage the people to write more and more on the different aspects and teachings of the Holy Prophet (Peace and bless be upon him). The scholars, Ulema and Mashaikh make speeches on the theme of the conference.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S. No

Name of Category

No of Total Prizes
  1.  

Seerat Books in Urdu

3
  1.  

Seerat Books for Children

3

  1.  

Seerat Book in Regional Language

each prize for one language
  1.  

Seerat Book Foreign Language

3
  1.  

Naat Books in Urdu

3
  1.  

Naat Books in Regional Language

each prize for one language
  1.  

Book by Women

3
  1.  

Mujallat

3
  1.  

Maqalat for Men and Women

36

 

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (SOP) OF NATIONAL SEERAT BOOK COMPETITION

(In Supersession of SOPs of NSBC dated 19.04.2018)

 

PREAMBLE

 

          A National Seerat Book Competition is arranged by the Ministry of Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony each year in order to propagate and disseminate teachings of Holy Prophet (S.A.W.S) and for the promotion of interest of the public in the study of Seerat-un-Nabi (S.A.W.S) particularly and study of Islamic teachings in general. The following regulations/procedures are hereby formulated:

 

TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT

 

These regulations/procedures will be called Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) of National Seerat Book Competition’s and will be applicable from the National Seerat Book Competition of 2022 or mentioned otherwise.

 

PUBLICATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Advertisements for National Seerat Book Competition in Urdu & English languages will be published in the prominent national and regional daily.

As per policy of the Government, 25% Regional Quota will also be added by the Press Information Department.

Draft advertisements of National Seerat Book Competition (Urdu & English), particularly the theme of Maqalat-e-Seerat will be put up to obtain the approval of Federal Minister. After the approval, the advertisements will be issued for publication in the newspapers and it will also be placed at the website and social media pages of the Ministry. The minimum period for submission of Books, Magazines and Maqalat-e-Seerat will be given at least two months. However, extension in the last date of submission may be granted with the approval of the Secretary.

CATEGORIES OF COMPETITIONS

National Seerat Book Competition will be of the following categories.

COMPETITION OF SEERAT BOOKS

  1. Competition of Books on Seerat-un-Nabi (SAW) in Urdu (Three Prizes).
  2. Competition of Books on Seerat-un-Nabi (SAW) in Foreign Languages (Arabic & English), (Three Prizes).
  3. Competition of Books on Seerat-un-Nabi (SAW) in regional languages (One Prize in each regional language).
  4. Competition of Books on Seerat-un-Nabi (SAW) for children in Urdu (Three Prizes).

COMPETITION OF NA’AT BOOKS

  1. Competition of Books on Na’at-e-Rasool (SAW) in Urdu (Three Prizes).
  2. Competition of Books on Na’at-e-Rasool (SAW) in regional languages (One Prize in each regional language).

COMPETITION OF ISLAMIC BOOKS BY WOMEN WRITERS ONLY

  1. Competition of Islamic Books for women in Urdu (Three Prizes).

COMPETITION OF SPECIAL EDITIONS OF JOURNALS/ PERIODICALS / MAGAZINES ON SEERAT OR NA’AT.

  1. Competition of special editions of periodicals/ journals/magazines on Seerat and Na’at (Three Prizes).

COMPETITION OF MAQALAT-E-SEERAT FOR MEN & WOMEN AT

NATIONAL LEVEL

  1. There will be six (6) prizes, three (3) for men and three (3) prizes for women in the category of Maqalat-e-Seerat at National level

PROVINCIAL LEVEL

  1. There will be thirty (30) prizes, fifteen (15) for men and fifteen (15) prizes for women in the category of Maqalat-e-Seerat at Provincial level.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND CONDITIONS

          Following eligibility criteria and conditions will apply to the participants, taking part in the said competition:

  1. (A)        All those books which have been written or published in the last five years from last date of this competition and have not been included previously in any competition   held under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony will be eligible for the competition     

    (B)         The author of the book or article should be alive.
  2. The books should be comprehensive, based on research, having literary merit and supported by original content and should not be less than 275 pages except for the Naat Books and the Books for children which should not be less than 100 pages. (To be applicable from competition 2023).
  3. The book on Na'at should be in conformity with the Injunctions of   Islamic teachings.
  4. The book should be an original work and not an anthology, rendition, translation or an interpretation in any form of another book or material published previously in any language or a copy of a published material.
  5. The books/journals and articles containing errors in Quranic Verses and Ahadith or having portraits/images including title page of immoral living things or material conveying sectarian bias or showing lack of concern for the spirit of Islamic teachings or containing blasphemous material in the form of manuscript shall not be entertained.
  6. Legible Seerat articles/papers, to be of one's own efforts, should be typed and comprised from 20 to 30 pages (A4 Size) only. Further, the font of the letters and headings should be of 16 and 18 respectively while first page should be used for name of scholars or authors, postal address and theme of the article. Articles /Maqala beyond this limit shall not be entertained.  

(a).  The book / Maqala having deficient document or not complying with the advertised condition will not be included in the competition.

(b). In order to ascertain that the Maqala has been written by the writer himself/herself, the Scrutiny/Apex Committee may interview the writer. In case the committee is not satisfied then it may summarily cancel the participation of the Maqala in the competition and this decision will be unchallengeable.

(c). On the recommendation of the committee, the Ministry may ban the participation of respective writer for ever or for a specific period of time as the case may be.

(d). The Ministry may cancel the award and may confiscate the prize at any stage if it is reasonably established that the writer has not complied with the advertised conditions.

(e)  The similarity index / plagiarism of all Maqalat will be checked and in case it is more than 20% then decision about its participation will be made by Judges / Apex Committee which would be final.

7).  In all cases the amount of award / prize is liable to be increased or decreased according to the availability of funds, or in keeping with the standard of book / articles. The award or otherwise shall be finalized by the Ministry on the recommendation of Apex Committee and no appeal whatsoever against the final decision shall be allowed.

8).  10 Copies of each book and 5 copies of each article will be submitted by the desirous participants for competition.

9).  Minimum qualification for writing an article is graduation or its equivalent.

10.  The soft copy of the Article / Maqala will be sent through email as given in the advertisement.

11). Province of the writers of the article / Maqala will be determined on the basis of their domicile and NADRA NIC. Attested copies of domicile and NADRA NIC must be provided by them for the purpose

12). The employees of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony and its attached and subordinate offices will not be allowed to take part in the competition.

PROCEDURE

      1.  Ministry of Religious Affairs shall announce the National Seerat Book Competition through print or electronic media.
      2. Every Book received in the Seerat Section will be documented as per specimen A and Maqala as per specimen B.
      3. After documentation / entry, the writers whose books / Maqala are complete in all respects will be intimated as per specimen C, those lacking the requisite documents will be asked for documents till a specific date as per specimen D categorically stating therein that in case of failure the Book / Maqala will not be included in competition. Lastly, the writer whose Book / Maqala has been rejected by any forum (Scrutiny Committee, Judges Committee and Apex Committee etc) will also be intimated as per specimen E.
      1. The books/articles shall be scrutinized, evaluated and examined in three phases by three committees as follows:

SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

A scrutiny committee, comprising 4 officers from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, shall examine the books and articles with a view to determine the eligibility of a book/article for competition or otherwise.

The Scrutiny committee will ensure that Books/Mujallat / Maqalat fulfil the following conditions.

     (1)   Whether the Book/Mujallat/Maqala was received within due date.

     (2)   The book was published within the last five years.

     (3)  For books / Mujallat, the copy of the CNIC and contact number of the writer/sender is available in the record.

     (4)  For Maqala, to ensure that the proof of graduation, copy of domicile, copy of CNIC, proforma and contact number are available in the record.

     (5)  That the book is not manuscript.

   (6)  The scrutiny committee will generate ensure the availability of the Turnitin report of every Maqala to be sent to judges committee alongwith Maqalat.                (To be applicable from 2022).

     (7)    The writer has not won prize on Maqala in the last year.

 

  • The Committee shall also see that the books are published in conformity with the provisions of “The Registration of Printing Press and Publication Ordinance 1995” i.e whether the book or Mujalla contains the name of publisher, place of publishing and date of publication. Any violation of law shall render the books ineligible for entry into competition.
  • The minutes of scrutiny committee will invariably be recorded stating therein the number of total books in each category and number of Maqalat and the number of books and Maqalat that were found eligible for competition.
  • Copies of the books received for any competition will be non-returnable

JUDGES COMMITTEE

  • After preliminary scrutiny of books /articles by the Scrutiny Committee, the different Panels of Judges shall examine and evaluate these books/articles.
  • Each book/article will be examined by a panel of   three judges/experts, to be selected by the   Secretary, Ministry of Religious   Affairs & Interfaith     Harmony.
  • All the Maqalat will be sent to a single committee without making any distinction of Maqalat written by male authors or the female authors.
  • Books and Articles of national and international languages (Urdu, Arabic and English) will be examined by judges/experts/scholars having PhD (Doctor) degree in Islamic Studies/Sharia/Language.
  • Books of regional languages (Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Seraiki, Balti,Balochi, Kashmiri etc)  will be examined by judges/experts/scholars having PhD (Doctor) degree in Islamic Studies /Sharia/Language. If the PhD degree holders are not available then M.A or M.Phill scholars will be considered.
  • The names of judges/experts/scholars will be obtained from the universities, institutions and available records in the Ministry.
  • The names of judges/experts/scholars of all categories shall not be disclosed or announced so as to avoid any access to the Judges.
  • Every judge / expert/ scholar shall be paid Rs. 5000/- remuneration for evaluation of each book and Rs. 1000/- per article / Maqala provided that these rates may be increased after every three years, subject to availability of funds.    
  • The decision of the Judges on the basis of assessment of books and articles shall be strictly in keeping with the following: -

 

Parts

Books

Maqalat

Name of the Book

05

-

Quality of contents/material

40

40

Literary style and presentation

20

10

Evidence of original research

25

30

Quality of referencing

10

20

 

  • While judging/evaluating the subject matter, separate marks will    be allocated to each of the items above. The result of the evaluation shall be on the basis of marks obtained in aggregate.
  • The judges committee in addition to the already prescribed job will also check that the book / journal / article does not contain errors in Quranic Verses and Ahadith, does not have portraits / images including title page of immoral living things or material conveying sectarian bias or showing lack of concern for the spirit of Islamic teachings and does not contain blasphemous material.
  • The feedback from the judges may be taken after the evaluation for further guidance either through meeting or mail.
  • A five-year record of the original results should be kept in the office of Director (Seerat) and the copy of it in the section (To be applicable from 2021).

APEX COMMITTEE

Term of Reference:

An Apex Committee shall be constituted. The Terms of Reference of the Committee shall be:

    1. to examine and consider the evaluation reports / result sheet of the panel of judges of the Seerat/Naat book. etc. competition and particularly those of prize-winning positions.
    2. to recommend award to the winners of the position, under Seerat book competition and
    3. to suggest/recommend to the Government such steps, as shall ensure fair and just conduct of Seerat Book Competition.

 

Composition and precedure of APEX Committee

  • The Apex Committee shall comprise not less than eleven members and quorum should not be less than seven members, to be selected by the Secretary, Ministry of Religious Affairs out of renowned scholars/Ulema. All members of the Apex Committee shall have the qualification of Ph.D. level.
  • The Committee shall have a Chairman from its members who shall be nominated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
  • The Committee shall appraise the reports of the Judges Committee and finalize the recommendations for awards which shall be final
  • Meeting of the Committee shall be convened by the Ministry of Religious Affairs at least 12 days before the National Seerat Conference, and the Ministry shall ensure provision of relevant material/ reports of the Judges Committee to the member of the Apex Committee.
  • The Chairman and 10 members of the Committee shall be entitled to TA/DA equal to a Joint Secretary (BPS-20) and Rs. 7000/- each as remuneration.

WORKING PAPER

Working paper to Apex Committee should be given at least four days prior to the commencement of meeting assigning each category of prize-winning position to one of the members enabling him or her to take his / her considered decision on the merit position of the book / Mujalla / Maqala etc.

MINUTES OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

Minutes of the Scrutiny committee should be elaborate and comprehensive.

NUMBERS AND AMOUNT OF P R I Z E S

The detail of number and amounts of prizes for each category of National Seerat Book Competition are as below:

Books on Seerat in Urdu:

1st        Rs. 150,000/-

2nd       Rs. 100,000/-

3rd       Rs. 75,000/-

Books on Seerat in regional languages:

One Prize in each language  Rs. 50,000/-       


Books on Seerat in foreign languages (Arabic & English):               

1st     Rs. 125,000/-

2nd     Rs. 75,000/-

3rd     Rs. 60,000/-


Books on Seerat in Urdu for children:                                        

1st     Rs. 100,000/-

2nd     Rs. 75,000/-

3rd     Rs. 50,000/-


Books of Naat in Urdu language:                  

1st     Rs. 100,000/-

2nd     Rs. 70,000/-

3rd     Rs. 50,000/-


Books of Naat in regional language:

One Prize in each language  Rs. 50,000/-


Books on Islamic Topics written by women:

1st     Rs. 150,000/-

2nd     Rs. 100,000/-

3rd     Rs. 75,000/-

Magazines/Journals on Seerat& Na’at in Urdu:

1st     Rs. 75,000/-

2nd     Rs. 50,000/-

3rd     Rs. 40,000/-

Competition of Maqalat-e-Seerat at National Level, SIX prizes (Men and Women):

1st  Rs. 75,000/-

2nd  Rs. 50,000/-

3rd   Rs. 45,000/-

Competition of Maqalat-e-Seerat at Provincial Level, Fifteen prizes (Men and Women):

1st     Rs.45,000/-

2nd     Rs. 40,000/-

3rd     Rs. 30,000/-

Note: Special consolation prizes will also be awarded on the recommendations of the Judges/Apex Committee to any book/Maqalah. The decision of Judges Committee to this effect, therefore, shall be final and not questionable.

PUBLICATION OF MAQALAT

The Publisher will be given original script of Maqalat alongwith list and their soft copies. It would be the responsibility of the press to proofread and send draft to Ministry for authentication prior to its publishing. In case the publisher does not carry out the work order in proper way then it should be banned for any work by the Ministry.

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