Islam and Global Dialogue

Abstract

Edited by Dr Roger Boase with Foreword by HRH Prince Hassan binTalal. 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, MahmudAyoub, Wendell Berry.SPEAKERSRoger Boase: The question that we are discussing this evening is “What rolecan 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 GlobalDialogue seeks to answer.I began the book in October 2001 after participating in a conferenceorganised by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, entitled “Unityand Diversity: Islam, Muslims, and the Challenge of Pluralism.” Alreadybefore 11 September 2001 Islam was widely portrayed in the media as a belligerentand intolerant religion, incompatible with democracy and civilisedvalues. Half of those who responded to an opinion poll in the United Statesin the year 2000 thought that Islam supported terrorism.There was, and still is, much discussion about holy war, as if war canever be holy! I do not now intend to define jihad. That would take too long ...