Edited by Dr Roger Boase with Foreword by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal. Essays by John Bowden, Diana Eck, Muhammad Legenhausen, Francis Robinson, William Dalrymple, Akbar Ahmed, Fred Halliday, Jonathan Sacks, Antony Sullivan, Robert Crane, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Tony Bayfield, Norman Solomon, Marcus Braybrooke, Frank Gelli, Murad Hofmann, Roger Boase, Jeremy Henzell-Thomas, Mahmud Ayoub, Wendell Berry.

SPEAKERS

Roger Boase: The question that we are discussing this evening is “What role can religion play in promoting peace instead of war and other forms of violence?” This is the one of the main questions that my book Islam and Global Dialogue seeks to answer.

I began the book in October 2001 after participating in a conference organised by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, entitled “Unity and Diversity: Islam, Muslims, and the Challenge of Pluralism.” Already before 11 September 2001 Islam was widely portrayed in the media as a belligerent and intolerant religion, incompatible with democracy and civilized values. Half of those who responded to an opinion poll in the United States in the year 2000 thought that Islam supported terrorism.

There was, and still is, much discussion about holy war, as if war can ever be holy! I do not now intend to define jihad. That would take too long. Suffice it to say that military jihad is necessary in self-defence, whereas the greater jihad is the struggle to control one’s own ego. In the aftermath of 9/11, when Islam was in the dock and the very concept of religious pluralism seemed to be under assault, I felt that I had to try to set the record straight by compiling a collection of essays by a select group of like-minded Jews, Christians and Muslims.

I would first like to thank the distinguished scholars who generously contributed to this book. The whole project has taken much longer than I had intended, but having been forced by the publishers to cut out 50,000 words, I am delighted with the result, and I wish to express my gratitude to Sarah Lloyd, Barbara Pretty, Sarah Noble, Ann Keirby, Jeanne Brady, Jackie Bressanelli, and all the other members of staff at Ashgate Publishing who have taken so much trouble to ensure that this book is a success. I also want to thank Dr Shehabi of the Abrar Foundation for allowing us to use these premises for this occasion, and I want to thank Asim Siddiqui for publicizing this event as part of the City Circle programme. Finally, I wish to thank Dan Plesch, Rabbi Tony Bayfield, the Reverend Marcus Braybrooke and Daoud Rosser-Owen for agreeing to speak at this book launch.

One of the aims of this book is to demonstrate that Islam has an ecumenical aspect that has not been well understood or explained by Muslims themselves. There is much advice in the Qur’an on how one should engage in dialogue with those whose religious views are different from one’s own. Furthermore, it is evident from certain key passages in the Qur’an that there is in Islam a theological basis for religious pluralism:

And of His signs is… the diversity of your tongues and colours. (Qur’an, 30:22)
To each community among you have We appointed a law and a way of life. (Qur’an, 5:48)
We have appointed for every community a way of worship that they shall perform. Therefore do not allow yourself to be drawn into disputes about this. (Qur’an, 22:67-9)
Truly those who believe, and the Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabaeans – whoever believes in God and the Last Day and performs virtuous deeds – surely their reward is with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them. (Quran, 2:62)

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