Dialogue in Islam Course: The Historical Basis for Dialogue
When: Thursday, 13th of April 2017 6:30-8:30pm
Venue: Dialogue Society, 201A Church Road (Entrance is From Sackville Road) Hove BN3 2AH
Dialogue Society and Fellowship Educational Society are pleased to announce a three-session course titled “Dialogue in Islam” which explores the theological and historical justification for dialogue in Islam. Accessible to Muslims and non-Muslims, the course content is interactive and follows a question and answer format, ensuring a lively and to-the-point format.
The course demonstrates the case for interfaith and intercultural dialogue in Islam through reference to scripture, Sunnah and Islamic interpretive methodology. It directly addresses elements of Islamic sources and traditional interpretation which are sometimes taken as contradicting the case for dialogue and even exploited by violent extremists
This event is FREE and open for everyone, but registration is required.
Refreshments will be available.
- Dr. Hasan HORKUC was a Research Fellow in Islamic and comparative studies and was the Director of Durham University Risale-i Nur Studies Programe between 2006-2013 and now based at the Dialogue Society of London. He specialises in Nursian studies, the origins and development of Nursian exegesis. He has a keen interest in the evolution of Sufi thought and discourses of Gahazali, Al-Rumi, Al-Arabi, Shirazi, Al Jilani, and Ahmed Sirhindi. He has written and contributed to a number of papers among which the latest one is “Is Justice Binary?: Absolute and Relative Justice in the Teachings of Said Nursi.” Asian Journal of Social Science Brill no. 38 (2010): 583-610. Among his publications are “Said Nursi: Makers of Islamic Civilisation” by Oxford University Press, 2009 and Horkuc, Hasan, ed. God, Man and Mortality: The Perspectives of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2015.
Some Questions to be explored During the Sessions
- What does the Qur’an say about dialogue?
- Which verses command dialogue with non-Muslims generally?
- How should we understand the Qur’anic verses which seem to warn against trusting Jews and Christians?
- How should we understand the verses in the Qur’an which command war against unbelievers, such as “Kill them wherever you encounter them” (Al-Baqara, 2:191)?
- What are the main features of the Prophet’s (pbuh) relationship with the People of the Book?
- Is the Medina Charter a project for co-existence, a basis for dialogue activities?
- What place do the Jews have in the Medina Charter
- Is the Prophetic hadith ‘I was ordered to fight with people until they say ‘There is no god but God,’ evidence that unbelief can be a cause of war?
- What did the Prophet (pbuh) teach about the significance of ethnic difference?
- In Islamic law, apostasy from Islam (irtidad) is punishable by death. How can this be reconciled with freedom of religion and the spirit of dialogue?
- The significance of examples from Islamic history?
- Are there any events or treaties from Muslim history that lend support to dialogue?
- Did Muslims ever force others to convert to Islam in the past?
- Under the dhimma treaty system, what were the rights of non-Muslim dhimmis?
- Why is violent extremism and terrorism forbidden in Islam?
- How can one religion yield so vastly different interpretations?
- Can we speak of a true Islam?
Course objectives
- To give a clear, accessible and Islamically sound introduction to what the Qur’an and Sunnah have to say about dialogue and intercultural/interfaith relations.
- To demonstrate how Islamic interpretive methodology refutes divisive and extremist misinterpretations of contentious passages in the Islamic sources, giving participants confidence to reject and challenge those misinterpretations on a sound Islamic basis.
- To offer an Islamically-anchored positive and proactive narrative.
- To demonstrate that good intercultural and interfaith relations and dialogue are integral to the religion of Islam.