IIIT UK 2009 Lecture Series (Lecture 2)
Could Today's UK Be a 'Land of Islam?' What is The 'Land of Islam'?
Jointly Organzised with The City Circle
Speaker: Dr. Jasser Auda, Al-Maqasid Research Centre, (UK)
May 1, 2009
The 'Land of Islam' versus the 'Land of War/Disbelief' is a false dichotomy! Black-and-white classifications of the world are almost never true, and a more realistic and 'logical' classification looks at not only the grey levels in between the black and white extremes, but various colours as well. In other words, what counts is the relative achievement of the criteria for considering a certain land to be a 'land of Islam', namely, the application of the Islamic rulings, security, freedom to practice the Islamic acts of worship, and justice, whether in Muslim-majority or Muslim-minority societies. This requires a comprehensive and realistic survey of various countries in order to create a 'ranking' of some sort. However, a rough but very reasonable assessment of how the UK meets all of the above criteria gives it a relatively high score on the 'Land of Islam' scale!
Dr. Jasser Auda is currently the Director of Al-Maqasid Research Centre in the Philosophy of Islamic Law (Markaz Dirasat Maqasid al-Shariah al-Islamiyah) in London, UK, and a visiting lecturer in several academic institutes in Canada, UK, Egypt, and India. He has a colourful multi-disciplinary background, with a PhD in the field of Philosophy of Islamic law and a PhD in the field of Systems, from the University of Wales, UK, and the University of Waterloo, Canada, respectively. He had also received sustained traditional training in Islamic sciences from some distinguished ment ors/sheikhs, especially in Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Although Dr. Auda had written on various topics of Islamic law, this book seems to combine all his different specializations and approaches to knowledge into one extensive and important argument. Dr. Auda is also a member of the AMSS UK Executive Committee.