A public lecture with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
What does it take to change the relationship between the West and the Muslim world?
Presented by
The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre/UniSA International and The Migrant Resource Centre
Tuesday 12 July 2005
Link to official response from the Director of the Hawke Centre to the unauthorised use of the audio of this forum - 25 August 2010
If you would like to purchase the Imam's book "What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America, A New Vision for Muslims and the West" please contact Imprints Booksellers
Audio recording of the Imam's lecture (13Mb mp3 file) Unedited transcript of the Imam's lecture
Muslim
Cleric and leading advocate for building intercultural and interfaith
bridges.
American Muslim spokesman, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will speak on the
relationship between the West and the Muslim world. He will emphasize the
need for representatives of all faith communities to come together to
consider what, in their faiths, invites them and constrains them in seeking
dialogue and common ground with those who hold different religious beliefs.
He will explore strategies to enhance interfaith cooperation for sustainable
peace.
“We have come to affirm the value of dialogue – and especially religious
dialogueboth for the shaping of shared convictions and for the action that
we can accomplish together. Further, we have deepened our belief that
effective public engagement around the major issues of our day can include,
and in fact requires, our religious voices. From our own experience, we
affirm that multiple religious voices, and especially the Abrahamic
religious voices, in dialogue can serve our deepest common good.
“We believe, most importantly, that common religious, moral, and policy
grounds can be found in an exchange among those voices.” Imam Feisal Abdul
Rauf
Associated lectures
Islam and the status of women: delivered by Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri
Biography
Founder and CEO of ASMA Society (American Sufi Muslim Association) and
Imam of Masjid Al-Farah, a mosque in New York City, twelve blocks from
Ground Zero. He has dedicated his life to building bridges between Muslims
and the West and is a leader in the effort to build religious pluralism and
integrate Islam into modern American society. By establishing ASMA in 1997,
he created the first American organisation committed to bringing Muslims and
non-Muslims together through programs in interfaith, culture, arts, academia
and current affairs. As Imam of Masjid Al-Farah, he preaches a message of
peace and understanding between people, regardless of creed, nationality or
political beliefs.
Imam Feisal is the architect of the Cordoba Initiative, an interreligious
blueprint for improving relations between America and the Muslim world and
pursuing Middle East peace. As a tireless advocate for an ecumenical
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he has impressed his vision on
US lawmakers and administration officials, most recently as member of the
National Interreligious Initiative For Peace in Washington DC. Regarded as
one of the world’s most eloquent and erudite Muslim leaders, Imam Feisal
speaks frequently at major international conferences, including the
Fortune/Aspen Institute Annual Conference in Colorado and the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In addition, his ability to motivate religious
novices and experts alike has made him a popular teacher of Islam and Sufism
at many respected institutions, including the Chautauqua Institution New
York Center for Religious Inquiry at St. Bartholomew’s Church and the New
York Seminary.
Imam Feisal is a member of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders
and the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Center of New York. He is also an
advisor to the Interfaith Center of New York. His published writing includes
the books Islam: A Search for Meaning, and Islam: A Sacred Law. His latest
book, What's Right With Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, was
released in May 2004. He has appeared as a commentator in most major
international media outlets you care to imagine.
Imam Feisal was born in Kuwait in 1948 into an Egyptian family steeped in
religious scholarship. He was educated in England and Malaysia and has a
degree in physics from Columbia University. He lives in New York with his
wife Daisy Khan.
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