With the approval of the Research Center for Civilizational Islam in 2016, and according to the new approach, the departments “Studies of Islamic Orient” (founded in 1995) and “Religious Literature and Art” (founded in 2005) were integrated and the Department for Islamic Art and Civilization was formed. The department with over two decades of great experience and background has dealt with research activities such as conducting a lot of methodological studies and research in the civilizational and artistic domains with an approach based on the needs of the scientific society including the needs of universities and Islamic seminary, and tries to define the modern Islamic civilization and find the ways to create it through identifying what has happened to the Islamic civilizational world and the great experience that has gained. The mission and goals of the department as well as its capabilities, plans and activities are as follows:

Mission
Carrying out studies on the foundation of Islamic art and modern Islamic civilization is one of the macro approaches in the fields of Islamic art and civilization which includes new approaches related to Islam and civilizational studies such as the relationship of Islam with sciences, Islam and politics, Islam and art, Islam and society, Islam and philosophy, and Islam and mythology.

Short-term Goals (two-year goals)
1. Critical studies of theories related to the foundations of Islamic art and civilization.
2. Philosophy of Islamic civilization, foundation and its nature.
3. The role of Shia architecture in the model of Islamic-Iranian development

Long-term Goals (five-year goals)
1. Interdisciplinary issues in the concepts and foundations of Iranian-Islamic art and civilization.
2. Identifying the capabilities of Islamic resources with an emphasis on Islamic art and civilization.