INFORMATION and COMMENTS
 

Annex I– Int conf 03-Intro 

International Iqbal Conference

Perspectives on Iqbal

A World Survey of Iqbal Studies

The 2003 International Iqbal Conference will take place on April 21-24, 2003, at the Aiwan i Iqbal Auditorium in Lahore under the auspices of the Iqbal Academy Pakistan. The topic of the Conference shall be “Perspectives on Iqbal– A World Survey of Iqbal Studies”.

The focus of the Conference shall be the ways that Iqbal has been received in the various linguistic/cultural zones of the world. Apart from simple and annotated translations of Iqbal’s works, there is a vast secondary literature that has spawned during the last six decades and ranges from exegeses and interpretations to comparative studies. On another plane, Iqbal has influenced thinkers and poets of various areas in different ways.

To consider such questions the Iqbal Academy Pakistan has planned an International Iqbal Conference intended to facilitate exchange of views and information among Iqbal Scholars, thinkers and men of letters from all over the world. The idea is to bring together a select group of International Iqbal Scholars (list attached) with the Pakistani Iqbal Scholars and all those interested in Iqbal and Iqbal Studies in an effort to explore the full implications of Iqbal’s reception and projection abroad. The diversity of views among the small groups shall contribute to the plenary discussions that follow each session, led by one of our participants who guides our common exploration.

The three-day discussion will be held in Lahore on April 21-24, 2003 (detailed program available separately). The inauguration shall be made by the President of Pakistan and the event synchronizes with the grand occasion of the Iqbal Day 21^st April.

The topic of the Conference is “Perspectives on Iqbal– A World Survey of Iqbal Studies”. We also intend to look into the question of Iqbal in Pakistani languages in order to inform ourselves and the international audience present on the issue. Our endeavour shall consist of the following broad parameters:

• Status of Iqbal Studies in various areas, linguistic-cultural zones of Pakistan and other countries. That would mean a survey of the translations, academic and philosophic studies of Iqbal’s ideas, exegeses, comparative studies with past and contemporary literary/philosophic figures etc. accompanied by a bibliography of works on Iqbal Studies in the respective area of study.
• Major Iqbal Scholars of the area with brief information on their life and works.
• Present trends in Iqbal Studies in your area of focus, existing gaps in the corpus of Iqbal Studies and suggestions for further studies and areas of research.

Although the focus of the Conference is on a World Survey of Iqbal Studies our wider objective is to contribute to an in depth understanding of Iqbal’s thought and to the ways it informs issues of a universal and contemporary import.

Papers by the presenters shall be of 15 minutes length. The abstracts of the papers of the International Iqbal Scholars shall be circulated among the discussion groups in advance of the Conference. Expanded and revised versions of the participant’s papers shall be published later in edited book form. Consideration should also be given to distribution of materials through electronic media. The language of the Conference shall be English.

After the inauguration in the morning, the sessions will begin on Monday afternoon, April 21, 2003, and conclude after dinner on the evening of Wednesday, April 24th, 2003.

The shared study at this Conference makes a substantive contribution to achieving our goal of seeking out those aspects of our quest that help to map the future plan of Iqbal Studies in a global perspective.

Together towards Iqbal

Iqbal Academy Pakistan

Mera Payam Aur

Symposium on Mohammed Iqbal (1877-1938) at Oxford University

 Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

Pakistan Discussion Forum, Oxford University

 Pakistanis sometimes claim proprietary rights over Iqbal. But while venerating him to the fullest, they often lose sight of his wisdom and poetical finesse – concentrating only on his vital symbolism as a poet of the nation. This, sometimes transforms Iqbal into a mere ‘courtier poet’. Whereas, his works have been hailed as a great driving force in the revolutionary history of neighbouring Iran, our curricula only pay a muted tribute to his reformist, revivalist and rationalistic appeal. One wonders why Iqbal is subject to this selective appreciation and selective avoidance! The rulers throughout Pakistan’s chequered political history drear his calls of defiance, but use him, at the same time, in upholding their national pride. The imam on the pulpit, cites free-handedly from his verse, but fails to recognize his spirit of reconstruction. School teachers, would relate to their pupils when Iqbal speaks of the past glory of Muslims, but would at best, avoid speaking about his open criticism of eastern political systems. The aversion of the English-speaking high circles to the Muslim thinker is clear – to them, religion is a private, non-communalist undertaking.  The intolerance of the Muslim jurist is clearer – to them, religious jurisdiction is a sacred appointment, beyond the need for any modern reinterpretation.

On the other hand, appreciating Iqbal in the west, is ever more difficult, as people grapple with the very idea of religion and God. As religion plays a diminishing role in the lives of western communities, Iqbal’s message will not be received with much enthusiasm.  With these mixed feelings in mind, the Pakistan Discussion Forum took upon the task of introducing Iqbal in Oxford University in a possibly comprehensive and delicate manner. The motive was to touch upon, both his poetry and philosophy and especially the latter’s relevance to modern times.

Pakistan Discussion Forum, was established in 2001, by some zealous Pakistani Rhodes Scholars studying at Oxford University. The main objective behind its formation was to encourage discussion on the myriad challenges facing Pakistan, and the Muslim and developing worlds in Oxford’s academic settings and also to engender cross-pollination of themes between the eastern and western civilizations.

The symposium on Iqbal, which was titled Mera Payam Aur (My Message is Unique) took place on 24 May, 2003.

As the audience were seating themselves in the Nissan Lecture Theatre in St. Antony’s College, they were greeted by some fine music – recitations of Iqbal’s poetry, prepared and shipped for the occasion, by the Iqbal Academy, Pakistan. The audience were a fine mix of different nationalities; students and academicians. Several groups of Pakistani and Iranian students and researchers from London, Cambridge and Sheffield were also present.

The symposium was chaired by Prof James Morris, Head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Exeter University. His area of expertise lies in Islamic spiritualism and the medieval Sufi Ibn-e-Arabi. 

I had the privilege of introducing the spirit behind the symposium, caressing upon the international relevance and timeless appeal of Iqbal’s message. What makes Iqbal different; his audacious conversations with God; his characteristic poetic terminology; his concept of the self, the khudi; his remarkable blend of honour and detachment, of intellect and love; and his emphasis on human fate augmenting heavenly fate – were some of the concepts I tried to introduce. In my welcome address, I also read from the poem Iltija-e-Musafir (The Prayer of the Wayfarer) from Bang-e-Dara, where Iqbal is embarking on his westwards journey in search of education, and makes a profound prayer[1]:

“I say farewell to my garden, like a rose’s scent,

Now I have submitted myself to the test of patience.

My desire to satiate my thirst of knowledge,

Is pushing me out of the gallery I call my homeland.

I am a solitary tree in a desert, my eyes are clung to the laden clouds,

Their shower can make me flower without the aid of the gardener.

O Lord, always keep me miles ahead of my kindred,

So that they can consider me as their destination.

O Lord, grant me the chance, once again, to lay my head at the feet of my parents,

By whose blessing, I possess the secret of love.”

Prof David Matthews is a renowned scholar on the languages of the subcontinent, especially Urdu and Nepali. His lifelong association with the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Iqbal Academy, speaks of his love and command over Iqbal’s message. He introduced Iqbal’s poetic artistry to the audience. His authority over Iqbal’s Urdu verse, at first, stunned the audience. He gradually traversed the different phases in Iqbal’s poetic upbringing – starting from his early years: the recitals organized by the Anjuman-e-Punjab in his college days, followed by his publications in Sheikh Abdul Qadir’s magazine Makhzan. He presented a historical progression of Iqbal’s metaphor and his poetic themes. He also spoke of Iqbal’s massive popular charisma as he recited his famous Shama aur Shair (The Candle and the Poet), Shikwa (Complaint) and Jawab-e-Shikwa (Answer to the Complaint) at the meetings of the Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam in the Islamia College, Lahore.

Dr Matthews paper was studded with beautiful readings from various poems such as Himala (The Himalays), Saaqi Nama (The Message of the Cupbearer) and Eik Sham (An evening – alongside the banks of River Neckar, Hidelberg, Germany) [2]:

“The moon's light is silent,
The branches of every tree are silent.
The songsters of the valley are silent,
The green trees of the mountain are silent.
Nature has become unconscious,
It is sleeping in the night's lap.

Some spell of serenity does  exist,
That Neckar's flow is also serene.

The caravan of stars is silent,
The caravan is moving without the bell.
Silent are the mountains, forest, river,
As if Nature is absorbed in deep meditation.

O Heart! You should also become silent,
And taking grief in your lap, must go to sleep.”

Iqbal’s poetic appraisal was followed by a dramatic rendition of excerpts from Iqbal’s Urdu masterpieces Shikwa and the Jawab. Ali Abbas rendered the Urdu, while Fasi Zaka responded with succinct interjections in English. Both Ali and Fasi are students at Oxford University.

The translation of all selections being read throughout the symposium, were being projected in the background. The display of the actual verse accompanied by the translation, synchronized with the rendition, gripped the audience’s attention. For the multicultural audience, language seemed to be no barrier! [3]

 “O Lord! The aimlessly wandering nation of Islam faces the Ka‘ba once again,

The wingless nightingale cannot resist its innate urge to fly,

The scent of love simmers in each and every bud in the garden,

The instrument awaits the pluck of the spectrum; so Lord! Please pluck its’ strings!

 The waves of music are anxious to escape the stringed prison,

The mount of Sinai longs to burn in the same effulgence that had once incinerated it.”

Dr. Yahya Michot is a Fellow of Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and the Faculty of Theology, Oxford University. His specialty in the classical Muslim theologians Avicenna and Ibn-e-Taymiyya gives him a sound knack of traditional Muslim thought. He discussed Iqbal’s religious reinvigoration in light of classical thought. In his paper titled “Mohammed Iqbal: Muslim thought for the 21st century?”, Prof Michot claimed that Iqbal was the last great Muslim thinker in the lineage of illustrious intellectuals such as Ghazali, Razi and Shah Waliullah. He skillfully presented an overview of Iqbal’s religious contributions and hailed them as a vitalizing spirit in the enervating pulse of modern Muslim intellectualism.

Dr. Homa Katouzian, who is permanently based in Exeter University, is a multi-dimensional personality with authorship in politics, economics and Persian literature. He shared his heartfelt association with Iqbal, with his Farsi renderings from the magnum opus Javid Nama. His exposition was in the Dervish style, common in Turkey, where artists frequent this style at Rumi’s mausoleum. The Javid Nama is in fact, a journey of ascension taken up by Iqbal, in the leadership of Rumi, during the course of which he comes across several figures of importance. Dr. Homa read from Jamal-ud-Din Afghani’s address to the poet wandering near the firmament of heaven [4]:

 “A world is still lost in my heart,

And a world is still waiting for the call to ‘Rise’,

A world that is cleansed of dichotomies of color and race,

Will set into an evening, brighter than any dawn the West can ever produce.”

 Bihani Sarkar, a young classical singer from Indian Bengal and an Oxford student, grasped the audience with her performance of Iqbal’s Urdu ghazal Wohi Meree Kam Naseebe (My Haplessness is Still the Same) [5] :

 “Is this a world of mine,
Or a magic of Thy art?
Is this the world’ of the body,
Or the world of the soul?

My days and nights are tossed.
In a storm of confusion,
In the yearnings of a Rumi,
Or the bewilderment of a Razi.”

 It was the first time, Bihani was reciting Iqbal, but her skill and inspiring melody was much appreciated.

Dr. Salman Asif, a literary critic, well rounded in Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi and Persian languages,  recited a selection of Iqbal’s Persian quatrains from Payam-e-Mashriq (Message of the East). He also talked about Iqbal’s fondness towards his homeland, and pointed out how he used Sanskrit vocabulary and figures of narrative from Hindu folklore and mythology. His well selected Persian verse, highlighted Iqbal’s concepts of never ending motion and mankind’s supremacy as being the vicegerent of God.

The keynote speaker at the symposium was Revd Keith Ward, a well known author and Chair of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University. His book “God: A Guide for the Perplexed” enjoys wide readership in Britain. His paper was titled “Iqbal from a Western Philosophical Standpoint” – a difficult undertaking, but his clarity and objectivity, simplified complicated theological questions in a befitting manner. Towards the end of the proceedings, his lively style and candid responses kept the audience on the edge of their seats. He took up the novel task of explaining to his audience, how Iqbal viewed God and how his outlook differed from a traditional Greek conception of the divine. Greek philosophy had upheld a static concept of God: who had made the universe once for all, set the laws of nature and then retired into a merely passive supervision of the grand scheme of things. This Greek picture of God is sometimes referred to as Deus Otiesus.

Iqbal’s concept of God, remarked Dr Ward, was however, inspired from the Quranic proposition:

“Every (creature) that is in the skies and the earth begs of Him. Every day He appears in a new majesty.” (Al-Qur’an 55:29)

 Keith Ward elaborated the verse and suggested that Iqbal considered God’s creative energy as a dynamic driving force in the universe, unleashing itself in a multitude of ways, each passing day, each fleeting second. So God is present in full glory, for all times. The concepts of “now” and “then”; “past”, “present” and “future” lose meaning in Iqbal’s temporal understanding of God. So God is approachable at all times – the means to approach him, being fervent prayer. In the same connection, Prof Ward also highlighted Iqbal’s meaning of the concept of “prayer”. He pointed out, that Iqbal’s theological understands are in full accord with his pervasive ideas about free human will, never-ending motion and the principle of permanent change in the universe.

The keynote address concluded with his apt epitome, “…and I think whatever Iqbal said of God, he was right”.

 After the keynote address, Burzine Waghmar from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University paid tribute to the late Professor Annemarie Schimmel.

In his concluding address Prof James Morris, spoke of the perfect balance of beauty and content in all great works of art and philosophy. Ali Abbas, principal coordinator of the Pakistan Discussion Forum, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all speakers and audience. The symposium was formally concluded by Bihani’s performance of the famous ghazal Kabhi Ay Haqeeqat-e-Muntazar (O The Awaited Reality!) [6]:

Whenever I place my head on the ground in humble prostration before the Lord!

The earth instantly speaks up: “What meaning does this prayer have, when idols inhabit your heart”.         

International Conference on Iqbal and His Universal Vision

 A one day conference on Iqbal and his Universal Vision was organized by the International Islamic University Malaysia and Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, in collaboration with the Iqbal Academy Pakistan. The conference, which was held on 22 Rabiul Akhir 1423/July 3, 2002, included a seminar on Iqbal, exhibition of Iqbal’s books and memorabilia, multimedia presentation, recitation of Iqbal’s poetry, and presentation of poetry in honour of Iqbal by various poets.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of this international seminar was performed by Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Panglima Syed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar, the Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who congratulated the University for organizing such an important seminar. The Minister emphasized that Iqbal was one of the greatest poet and a philosopher who had an open mind and always willing to accept the inflow of new ideas as knowledge advances. Iqbal

challenged the conventional and reactionary thinking of Muslim scholars and presented a new approach for political, social, cultural and spiritual rejuvenation of Islam. Iqbal emphasized acquisition of knowledge, good governance, social justice and tolerance. Iqbal’s message for Muslims was to forge unity and to acquire scientific knowledge to contribute for the betterment of the world. Iqbal’s message is as relevant and applicable in the contemporary period as it was during his time. Speaking on the occasion, the Pakistani High Commissioner General (R) Nasim Rana said that Iqbal was a revolutionary poet who inspired the slave nations to rise up and steer their ships towards the shores of liberty and freedom. Earlier Prof. Dr. Kamal Hassan, Rector of International Islamic University Malaysia, welcomed the honourable guests.

Seminar

The conference started in the morning with an academic session of papers presented by distinguished scholars from various countries. The first paper was by Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Sanusi bin Junid, President of International Islamic University Malaysia, who spoke on “Iqbal and Muslim Unity.” Tan Sri mentioned that according to the Qur’an, Muslims form one brotherhood because they are fused together by their beliefs. This is one of the major themes emphasized by Iqbal who started as a nationalist but later on, turned into an Internationalist. His internationalism is based on the fusion of politics with higher moral values derived from religion. He started writing on problems beyond that of Indian Muslims. His vision was to have a unified millat composed of individuals who have reached the stage of development of khudi and have gone over the state of be-khudi.

According to the speaker, Iqbal, known as the poet-philosopher of Pakistan, was not a narrow nationalist, and his vision was not limited to Pakistan. Iqbal’s vision was ummatic and hence he should be referred to as “the poet-philosopher of Muslim unity.” Iqbal had a distinct conception of Muslim unity and suggested clear-cut guidelines to attain that cherished goal. These ideas were as much as relevant to his times as they are to the contemporary Muslim world which is characterized by disunity.

The second paper was by Mr. Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Director of Iqbal Academy, Lahore. His paper entitled “That I May See and Tell”: Significance of Iqbal’s Wisdom Poetry. According to Mr. Umar Iqbal was unique among the Muslim poets in the sense that, while almost all of his contemporaries were singing praises of the high ups or indulging in indolent love poetry, Iqbal was concerned with issues that were of vital importance to the Muslim Ummah, both on the theoretical as well as the practical level. It is the “conscious concern” which provides the key to understanding the psycho-dynamics of Iqbal’s mind, and leads us to appreciate the reasons for which Iqbal’s poetry has become significantly important and meaningful to us.

The third paper was on “Iqbal and the Challenge of Reform within the Muslim World” by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar. According to Dr. Muzaffar, fundamental to Iqbal’s reconstruction of religious thought was his challenge to Muslims to understand tawhid and to re-think their entire concept of, and approach to, Islam. He pleaded for the return of the spirit of ijtihad in the interpretation of the law. He was impressed by Western civilization’s passion for self-consciousness, social justice and egalitarianism though he distanced himself from its atheistic strain and from the ideas that were a hindrance to the spiritual and moral advancement of the human being. Iqbal abhorred imperialism, democracy and race-based nationalism. He equally attacked the fossilized religious dogmatism that had sapped the spirit of Islam. Iqbal sketched a blue print of a polity to give life and meaning to tawhidic values.

Dr. Altaf Husain Ahangar, Professor in the Faculty of Laws, presented a paper on “Iqbal’s Approach to Legislation in Islam.” He said that while ijma‘ is an established principle in Islamic legislation, Muslim jurists are divided on the format of ijma‘. According to Ahangar, Iqbal contends that at present ijma‘ is possible only through legislative assembly.

Ustaz Muhammad Uthman El-Muhammady, a Very Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, presented an interesting paper on the relevance of Iqbal to the Malay World. He said that Iqbal attracted the attention of the Malay World as well as the Muslims in Southeast Asia through his prose works and his poetic compositions that were translated into Bahasa Malaya and Bahasa Indonesia. Most Indonesian and Malay front ranking leaders were influenced by his ideal of serving the cause of the Ummah. They used Iqbal’s arguments to mobilize the Muslims for reforms of their respective societies particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Basit B. Koshul, a scholar from the University of Virginia, USA, presented a paper on “Iqbal on Faith in the Modern World.” According to him, Iqbal was acutely aware not only of the fact that modern society was facing a crisis of faith, but he was aware of the root cause of this crisis as well.           Iqbal saw an intimate relationship between the modern crisis of faith and modernist epistemology. Hence, he tried to articulate an epistemology that meets the critical rigour of modern philosophical and scientific thinking and also attempts to account for the reality and verity of religious experience as the most subtle and reliable source of knowledge. Iqbal’s proposed epistemology is rooted in the Qur’anic narrative and the interpretation of this narrative by the “more genuine schools of Sufism.” Iqbal combines the insights garnered from a study of these “religious” sources with his first-hand understanding of modern philosophic and scientific thought to recover and re-present an understanding of “knowledge” that is a companion to “faith” rather than its adversary.

Dr. Azizan Baharuddin, Professor in the Department of Science and Technology and the Director of the Centre for Civilizational Dialogue, University of Malaya, presented the paper on Iqbal’s ideas regarding his perceptions of space and time. According to Dr. Azizan Baharuddin, the subject of science and belief has always been part of the elan vital of Islam. From hundreds of Qur’anic verses, Muslim scholars and thinkers have embarked on the exercise to understand scripture in the light of His creation (the study of nature or science).

When talking about space and time in the empirical and spiritual sense, it is indeed these “signs” that Iqbal was interested in. This paper presents some of the ideas Iqbal had elaborated upon regarding religion and science especially on the subject of the meaning and spiritual implications of the concepts of space and time.

Dramatisation, Poetry Recitation and Exhibition

The seminar was followed by a program of dramatisation and poetry recital in the evening. A multimedia presentation was made to introduce Iqbal and his contributions. This was followed by poetry recitation and nashid. A number of guests, students and faculty members recited poems of Iqbal and on Iqbal. The distinguished participants included Prof. Dr. Kamal Hassan, who recited his poem “Complaining to Iqbal: A Dialogue with the Dead,” and the renowned Malay poet Dato’ A. Samad Said, who recited a special poem on Iqbal composed for the occasion in the Malay language.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azmi Omar, Dean Faculty of Economics and Management and Chief Organizer of the conference gave the closing remarks and congratulated the organizing committee members for a job well done.

During the day, the HUM library held an exhibition of its inventory of books on Iqbal. Another exhibition was held simultaneously in the Central Administrative Building showing the memorabilia of Iqbal, including his books in various languages, his manuscripts, letters, photographs and personal belongings. This exhibition was organized by the Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore.

Zafar A. Ansari

International Islamic University Malaysia

Whose Iqbal ― Ours or Theirs?

A Representative Seminar
at the
 Sahitya Academy― New Delhi

 Zafar H. Anjum

In the evening of November the 9^th a literary and cultural soiree was organized at the Sahitya Academy auditorium in New Delhi. The occasion was the 124^th birth anniversary of south Asia’s famous poet and philosopher, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. The function was organized by the Communicators Cooperative India a collective of media and arts professionals, in remembrance and contemplation of what Iqbal and his works mean to us today, especially as a common heritage of south Asia.

The evening started with the rendition of Iqbal’s poetry in musical/singling form. It was followed by a short seminar on the relevance of Iqbal in which eminent scholars Prof. Mohammad Hasan, Prof. Abdul Haq, and Prof. Naseer Ahmad Khan, among others, participated. Besides, there was an exhibition of Iqbal’s archival photographs and graphic artwork using his poetry in calligraphic form.

The following reportage profiles Iqbal and his life and thoughts in the light of the discussion that took place in the seminar.

Flicking though the television channels last Friday, I happened to pause at PTV for a few moments, as a newscaster was announcing the celebration of the birth anniversary of “their” national poet, Allama Iqbal, across Pakistan. It was being discussed with conviction, how Iqbal was really the originator of the idea of Pakistan. At that moment, I found myself humming the tune of “lub pay aati hai dua ban kay tamanna meri” a prayer song composed by Iqbal that I used to sing when I was a school kid. And then I wondered how Iqbal could be the originator of Pakistan when I always have thought of him to be ours.

As I came to attend the literary evening on Iqbal that day, I heard a similar story. A few years ago, reminisced Professor Naseer Ahmad Khan (of the Department of Urdu, Jawaharlal Nehru Universiy). When he invited a Pakistani Scholar to participate in a seminar on Ghalib, he received a curious reply. The Pakistani scholar wrote back that since Ghalib was an Indian poet, he would not be able to speak on him. However, he expressed his desire to India any way to hear what Indians has to say on this great “Indian” poet. Later, on telephone, Dr. Khan asked him who was “their” poet. “Iqbal,” said the erudite voice from the other side.

With the partition of India, india’s cultural heritage was partitioned too. Ghalib apparently fell on India’s side, and Iqbal was tossed across to Pakistan. When Iqbal died, his grave was in India. After 1947, it became the property of Pakistan.

“If Iqbal belongs to Pakistan just because his grave falls within their geographical boundaries, then what about the Harappan civilization of which the largest number of sites fall on the other side of the border? Does it make Harrapa a Pakistan heritage only?” asked Dr. Khawaja Ikramuddin of JNU’s Department of Urdu, How can a Iqbal who vouchsafed for Hindu–Muslim unity and targeted the exploitative religious figures, be labeled as a Muslim communalist– good enough to be exported to Pakistan? How can an Iqbal who said “Khak-e watan ka mujh ko har zarra devta hai” [Each dust particle of my motherland is god to me], be considered a poet of the Muslims?

Iqbal has described his dream of a new India in these words:

Sach keh doon aye Brahmin gar to bura na mane

Tere sanam-qadon ke b’ut ho gaye purane

Sooni padi huyi hai muddat se dil ki basti

As ek naya shiwali hum phir se yan bana de’n

Shakti bhi shanty bhi bhakto ke geet me hai

Dharti ke waasiyon ki mukti preet me hai

Mullahs had issued a fatwa on Iqbal for daring to see this dream for a new India. Yet, after his death, Iqbal was reviled as an Islamic poet. This was Iqbal’s tragedy. “It is wrong to assume that Iqbal is the poet of Muslims or he belongs to Urdu literature alone. No Iqbal transcends all boundaries. You cannot put him in any category. Like all great poets, he belongs o he whole mankind,” said Professor Abdul Haq.

Allama Iqbal was born in Sialkot in 1877. He learned Arabic and traditional eastern education under the guidance of famous scholar Meer Hasan. After M. A. in Philosophy, he received Ph. D. from Cambridge and German University. Passing the examination of Barrister, for some time he became professor of Arabic in London University. In 1908, he returned to India and became professor in Lahore. One and half years later he started practicing law. British government bestowed the title of “Sir” on him in 1922. In 1926, on the invitation of Madras University, he delivered series of 6 lectures on Islam. He was appointed as a member of Punjab Legislative Council. He presided over All India Muslim League in 1930. In 1931, he represented India in second “Round Table Conference”. In 1932, on Shah of Afghanistan’s invitation he participated in welcome Celebrations in Kabul, along with Syed Sulaiman Nadwi and Sir Ross Masood. He died on April 21, 1938.

After partition, Iqbal was claimed by Pakistan, so the argument goes, because he is credited to have originated the idea of Pakistan, a holy land for the Muslims. “This is not the whole Truth,” said Professor Abdul Haq, an eminent Urdu critic. “Iqbal foresaw a federal structure for a free India, in which a Muslim-dominated north-western region could be a cultural unit like many others,” he said. As far as the idea of Pakistan is concerned, Iqbal denied that he was the originator of this idea. “Iqbal has clearly denied this in his letters to Raghib Hussain. People don’t talk about these letters since they don’t favour their point of view,” said Dr. Haq.

“When nations begin to diminish in stature and gallop back to their annihilation, they begin to put things in categories: this is Hindu, this is Muslim, this is this and this is that,” said Dr. Naseer Ahmad Khan of JNU’s Department of Urdu. Iqbal’s being dubbed as a Pakistani or a Muslim poet is a reflection of our intellectual poverty. It is not Iqbal’s personal loss but reflective of our own inadequacies, Dr, Khan added.

“I’m not bothered whether Iqbal originated the idea of Pakistan. What matters to me, and should matter to everybody, is how far Iqbal is relevant to us today,” said Professor Mohammad Hasan, an eminent expert on Iqbal. He said that Iqbal’s greatness, as a poet is undoubted. Along with Ghalib, he is the only poet in Indian literature who had equal command over two languages: Urdu and Persian.

Dr. Abdul Haq said that Iqbal is the most misunderstood poet of the 20^th century. “We must look at Iqbal in totality if we want to understand him,” He said. Iqbal’s tragedy was that his poetry was used by different groups to serve their own interests. His poetry had so many facets that he seemed to assume different roles in different phases of his poetry: he was a staunch nationalist, a vocal communist, an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity, a humanist, a believer in Islamic revivalism, a freedom fighter, and an advocate of international brotherhood. “No poet in Urdu, and I’m sure in any other Indian language too. Has shed as many tears on India’s misery and colonial captivity as Iqbal,” said Dr. Haq.

Iqbal warned his countrymen by these words:

Watan ki fikr kar nadan  musibat aane wali hai

Teri barbadiyon ke mashware hain aasmano me

Professor Haq said that in order to under to understand Iqbal, we must see him at three levels: as an Indian, as a Muslim, and as a humanist advocating universal brotherhood. As an Indian, Iqbal’s patriotism is indubitable.” Saare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara,” said Iqbal so blatantly. His poetry is full of patriotic fervor and a pride for India’s ancient civilization. In one of his couplets, Iqbal extolled Ram as the leader of the East.

Professor Hasan quoted from his most mature work, Javid Nama a couplet where he was traveling in the heavens and saw Prophet Jesus Christ, and Gautam Budhha seated side by side before the Lord God. “From a Muslim point of view, what Iqbal says in this couplet is sheer apostasy; yet, Iqbal is unfortunately understood as a communalist,” said Professor Hasan.

Iqbal also seems to be sympathizing with communism. He apparently believed that if you simply add God to the communist philosophy, it becomes Islam. Professor Haq said that Iqbal had the gall to put Marx on the pedestal of prophethood. He quoted a line from Iqbal wherein he had said that though Marx was not a prophet, but he has the book (Das Kapital) like the revealed ones. No wonder then, the Russian Revolution of 1917 prepared the background for themes of capitalist system and jostling of labor class in his poem “Khidr Raah”. He presented revolutionary views before moderate leader. He conveyed the message to class of laborers to get organized and unifed.

Uth kea b daore jahan ka aur he andaz hai

Mashroq-o-Maghrib me tere daur ka aghaz hai

[“Get up now that he syle of the world has changed

it si the beginning of your age in the East and West.”]

Iqbal, while attaining a philosophical height in his poetry, was also writing “Decree of God to Angels” for the youth.

Uthho meri duniya ke gharibon ki jaga do

Kakhe umara ke daro deewar hila do

Jis khet se dehqan ko mayassar no ho rozi

Us khet ke her khosha-ye gandum ko jala do

Iqbal was unhappy with the situation of the Muslims in the world. Everywhere they were lorded over by the colonialists. In one of his poem, depicting the political situation of a particular period, he addresses Muslims and says that Allah has bestowed upon you with all qualities, you are the best people, you have to lead the whole world. So, regenerate the qualities of valor, justice, and truth in yourself.

“Read the lesson again of valor, of justice, of truth

You will be required to lead the world.”

Talking about Iqbal being branded a communalist, Professor Haq said, “it is unjust to label Iqbal a communalist. Every thinker, philosopher and creative artist turns to spiritual resources in his later live. The same also happened with Iqbal. Do we talk about the communalism of Aurobindo? Being religious does not mean being a communalist. You are communal only when you talk about harming the people of other communities. How can you put Iqbal in that category when he dreamt of building a ‘Naya Shivala’. Appreciating Iqbal, Dr. Haq said that Iqbal was the only Urdu poet, and perhaps the only poet in any other Indian literature, who linked the native literature to the world events. He made the events around the world the core of his poetry. Dr. Hasan said that if we look at his verses, we find them reflecting all the major events of the world of his times.

Dr. Hasan said that Iqbal was not without flaws. For example, he did not agree with his views vis a vis women. Iqbal does not allow much room for action to women. However, his poetry and his farsightedness cannot be flawed, he urged.

Dr. Hasan said that Iqbal’s entire philosophy can be summed up in one word: Khudi (which have meanings much deeper than simply, “self”). It is not an Islamic word or Islamic philosophy. It is mantra of action and struggle for any individual or nation to survive and succeed. That is his message to the world. Iqbal believed in action and continuous struggle. He quoted one of his Persian couplets which means:

Someone (supposedly a divine voice) asked me, are you happy with the way this world is I said no.

The answer came, then go smash it up and make it the way you wish (it to be)

Iqbal favours Iblees (Devil) over Adam for his action and his daring to defy Allah’s command. Iqbal’s concept of the Shaitan (devil) is that he is the leader of those who count their destiny responsible for their evil deeds and count their punishment already destined. He complains to Allah.

Harf-e istakbar tere saamne mumkin na tha

Haan magar teri mushiyat me an tha mera sajood

When he is put a question:

Kab khula tujh par ye raaz? Inkaar se pehle ke baad

He answers:

Baad! Aye teri tajalli se kamalat-e wajood

Then he realizes that he has understood it after having denied it and he dared to do it because of his weak nature. When you take it forward, we find out that he has envy and jealousy that is why he dislikes man to sit as the viceroy of God. It means that he considers man superior to himself because he complains in Javd Nama that man easily becomes a prey in his web. This is despite the hope from man that he fights him and tries to dominate him. Therefore, Iqbal sees in iblees a power which helps in the development of man and his world; he alone brings out his best in real life through the struggle of good vs. evil Iblees invitation—“defeat me” –is a clear evidence that establishes that he wants to be the prey of a Mard-e Kamil (Perfect man).

Professor Al-e Ahmad Suroor has explained it this way: Iblees was in search of the perfect man as he refused to bow before a newborn Adam. It seemed as if Iqbal gained freedom from the devil by interpreting him in this fashion. He had achieved the power of action, faith in truth, self-respect, self-dependence and self-defense.

Teri zindagi isi se teri aabro isi se

Jo rahi khudi to shahi na rahi to ru-siyahi

That Khudi is Iqbal’s universal message. It is not only for the Indians or the Pakistanis but for the whole mankind to adopt and learn from. People may deep on fighting about Iqbal being our heritage or theirs. In his own lifetime, Iqbal had outgrown all categories. He is a shared heritage for the whole world.

Dhoondta phirta hoom aya Iqbal apne aapko

Aap hi goya musafir aap hi manzil hun mein

(I keep looking, oh Iqbal, for myself,

As if I am the traveler as well as the destination itself)

Zafar H. Anjum was born in 1975 in India. He studied history at the Aligarh Muslim University and mass communication at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. He is a journalist and a writer based in New Delhi. He has a novel, Of Seminal Fluids, and a couple of short stories published to his credit.

64^th Death Anniversary and Seminar of Allama Iqbal’s 

Allama Iqbal Research Academy, Dhaka

M. S. Umar

 Short Report

On the Occasion of Allama Iqbal’s 64^th death anniversary a Seminar was held under the auspicious of Allama Iqbal Research Academy, Dhaka. The Theme of the Seminar was Iqbal Study in Bangladesh, on which an article was presented by Prof. Dr. Umme Salma, Department of Persian and Urdu University of Dhaka.

Among others who spoke in the seminar were Prof. Anisuzzaman, Department of Philosophy University of Dhaka, Mr. Shahaboddin Daraei, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr. Shawkat Hossain, a journalist of Bangladesh, Mr. Siraj ul Islam, a Rtd. Judge, Mr. Sakhi Sultan a Prominent leading  person of Dhaka and President Urdu Academy.

All the speakers emphasised on the importance of study and cultivation of Iqbal’s works in Bangladesh and they thanked Allama Iqbal Research Academy of Bangladesh to organized this seminar and they also inspired it to introduce Iqbal among the youth community of Bangladesh. The seminar was presided by Prof. Siraj ul Haque, president of this Academy, Guests and audience were entertained.

A brief Introduction and Resume of
Iqbal Institute
University of Kashmir Srinagar

 History

To commemorate and celebrate the 100^th birth anniversary of the renowned poet-philosopher of the East and great son of the soil---Dr Shaikh Muhammad Iqbal, in 1977, the University of Kashmir established a Chair after his name. Prominent academician and noted literary personality of the sib-continent Prof. Ale Ahmad Saroor was appointed as Professor to initiate a systematic, methodical and scholastic work covering all aspects of Iqbal’s life, art and thought.

Keeping in view the fervent influence of Dr. Iqbal’s philosophy and Teaching on the social, Political and cultural fabric of Kashmir, in 1979, the said Chair was elevated to Iqbal Institute with Prof. Ale Ahmad Saroor as its first Director.

The inception of this Institute was a milestone in the History of academic and literary circles, as this Institute is the only institute throughout India, which awards M. Phil and PhDs solely in Iqbal studies and the allied branches.

Aims and objectives of the institute

The aims and the objectives o the institute:

·       It aims the promotion of Urdu, Persian, Kashmiri and Arabic with special reference to Iqbal.

·       It believes that it is in the general interest if the Humanity that the religious and philosophical doctrines of Iqbal should be made available to the world in scholastic perspective.

·       It feels that students trained in the multi and inter disciplinary approach to Iqbal studies can tackle the complex, multi-dimensional contemporary and future problems of Muslim and non-Muslim societies.

·       It further believes to educate and train students who may, by their researches in the various branches of literature and thought, be able to trace genetically the continuity of intellectual life between Muslim culture and modern knowledge.

Iqbal institute is not only compassed to the study of Iqbal alone but also encompasses versatility of Iqbal’s genius. Iqbal’s multi-dimensional personality has drawn the Institute into such areas, which were of special interest for him. Thus the Institute has over the years developed into a Center of whetted intellectual activities, scholarships and research.

Teaching and Research

Being an inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary in mature the Institute admits students from various disciplines like Urdu, Persian, Arabic, English, Political Science, Philosophy, Islamic Studies etc. A Separate Board of Research Studies (BORD) chaired by the Hon’ble vice-chancellor or Dean Academics grants registration to the aspiring research scholars.

The institute gradually developed strong links with various Post-Graduate departments of the University which enables the Institute to Co-opt members of different faculties to diversity its scope and exalt its nature of research.

Registration for M. Phil and PhD programs is a continuous process and more than thirty-five scholars have been awarded their respective M. Phil and PhD degrees till date. Currently more than eighteen research scholars are pursuing their M. Phil and PhDs in the Institute.

Projects

Iqbal Institute, since its onset, has published more than sixty books, which were highly appreciated in the academic circles, and one of them, Shairiyat-e-Iqbal, was also awarded “Sahitya Academy Award”. Iqbal Institute is also publishing an annual bilingual Research Journal under the title Iqbaliyat.

The Institute has completed number of projects and few more are under progress like Iqbal’s Impact on Kashmir, Nayay Aalmi Tanazuraat Aur Fikr-i-Iqbal Ki Maenwiyat etc.

The Institute considers taking up some more substantial projects, which include a definitive biography of Dr. Iqbal, his contribution to Art, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Education, Political Science Sociology, Comparative Studies of Religion and Literature, Mysticism etc. and also aims to frame an Iqbal Encyclopedia.

Seminars and Other Activities

Besides pursuing research and other literary activities, Iqbal Institute is among few institutes in the Kashmir University which remains active in organizing seminars, symposia, debates, extension lecture, poetic symposia and other literary programs of State and National Level in which Iqbal experts of National and International repute are being invited constantly to share there experiences and new research findings regarding Dr. Iqbal’s contribution and his relevance to the modern world.

So far, more than fifty seminars, symposia, extension lectures, debates, poetic symposia etc. were organized which were highly appreciated in academic, literary, intellectual and social circles because of their academic and literary excellence. The proceedings of various seminars have been published in various international Journals which itself adds to the credibility of the Institute.

In concordance to the tradition, Iqbal Institute organized the following functions in the current academic session.

1. In order to commemorate the sanctity and the holy essence of Prophet’s (SAAS) life and teachings, Iqbal Institute organized “the Seerat Lecture competition” on 08-05-2003 on the eve of the celebrations of Idd-i-Meelad-un-Nabi (SAAS). The huge gathering of Prophet’s (SAAS) Lovers, Scholars, Students and Literary persons attended the grand function held at the lawn in front of historical Arts block of University of Kashmir.

Prof. A. Wahid the senior most Professor of the University Presided over the function and famous personalities of the Valley such as Prof. Margoob Banihali and renowned physician  Dr. A. Q. Allaqb and were present in the function. In the inaugural speech Director Iqbal Institute, Prof. B. A. Nahivi, presented highest salutations to the glory of the holy Prophet (SAAS). While elucidating various aspects of the Prophet’s (SAAS) life Prof. Nahvi said that the only way to achieve salvation is to follow the footsteps of the holiest of the holy Prophets (SAAS). The proceedings of the function were so heart touching that eye of all the persons was full of tears. The cash prize of Rs. 3000, 2000 and 1000 were awarded to first, second and third  positions respectively and in addition consolation prizes were distributed among all the fifteen participants.

2. Iqbal Institute invited the renowned Iqbalian Scholar Prof. Abdul Haque of Delhi University to deliver an Extension Lecture on the topic “Iqbal Key Kalaam main Ishq-i-Rasool (SAAS)”. The lecture was delivered on 28-05-2003 in the Gandhi Bhawan of the University, a full gathering of academicians, scholars and students were present. Prof. Haque in his lecture said that the focal point of Iqbal’s poetry and thought is Ishq-i-Rasool (SAAS), which energizes a Muslim with miraculous feelings. Director Iqbal Institute Prof. B.A. Nahvi himself conducted the proceedings and the lecture was presided over by the renowned poet of the country Hakeem Manzoor.

3. Another renowned critic, Scholar and Urdu literature expert of National repute Prof. Zahoor-ud-Din of  Jammu University was invited by Iqbal Institute to deliver an extension lecture on the topic “Modernity and Post-Modernity in Literature”. The lecture was held on 05-06-2003, which was attended by various Heads of the departments, Dean Faculty of Arts Prof. M. S. Niyazmand and good number of Academicians, Scholars and students from various departments.

In his inaugural speech Director Iqbal Institute, Prof. B. A. Nahvi gave a detailed account of the multi-dimensional activities of the Institute. The lecture delivered by the invited Professor was very informative for scholars and opened new horizons for them. Head of the Deptt. Urdu Prof. Qudoos Javed presided over the function and stressed that such functions are very important to get benefited from and should be organized in frequently.

4. On 12 July 2003 Director Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies Kashmir University, Dr. Syed Muhammad Yunus Geelani, delivered an extension Lectire on “Research Methodology” in the Seminar Library of Iqbal Institute  and urged Iqbalian Scholars to adopt the doctrines of research methodology in its true letter and spirit while pursuing their researches.

Faculty Strength

The institute was launched with just three positions presumably with the intention of increasing the number gradually. The faculty strength of Iqbal Institute is presently as under:

Name                                      Designation

1         Dr. Bashir Ahmad Nahvi          Professor/Director

2         Dr. Taskeena Fazil                   Reader

3         S. Iqbal Quraishi                      Teaching Assistant

4         Moyeed-ul-Zafar                      Teaching Assistant

5         Muhammad Aijaz Ashraf          Guest Lecturer

Library

Building Bridges through Scriptures in Dialogue
Christian-Muslim Seminar in Qatar
(7-9 April 2003) 

From 7-9 April 2003, 25 Muslim and Christian scholars gathered in Doha, Qatar, for a seminar convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury and hosted by the Amir of the State of Qatar. Their purpose was to explore the contribution which a joint reading of their scriptures, the Qur’an and the Bible, could make to Christian-Muslim dialogue. The seminar was the second in a series entitled ‘Building Bridges’. The first had been held at Lambeth Palace, London in January 2002 - a record of which was published as The Road Ahead: A Christian-Muslim Dialogue (ed. Michael Ipgrave; London: Church House Publishing, 2002). Like that earlier event, the Doha seminar involved Muslim and Christian contributions on a basis of equality and mutuality. It broke new ground in carrying out most of its work in small group discussions which focused on the reading side-by-side of biblical and Qur’an passages. In addition, the programme included public lectures on paired themes by Muslim and Christian speakers, as well as plenary discussions.

The Amir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani inaugurated the Seminar by the following remarks.

“There is no doubt that the convening of this seminar takes place under extremely difficult circumstances ― namely the war now going on in our region. We have done our best to avert this war, and to limit its complications as much as possible. This grievous situation adds deep dimensions and noble meanings to this seminar since it is a meeting for the sake of peace and reviving the sublime values and ideals of both Islam and Christianity, which religions together believe in the oneness of the Almighty God, and call for fraternity, equality, tolerance, moderation, the rejection of violence, respect for human rights, and the maintenance of man’s dignity, life and property. These sublime principles have for centuries formed the original common denominators between the two religions and cultures.

Perhaps it is useful to recall that the Holy Qur’an ordered us not to argue with Jews and Christians except in the best and most gracious ways, and to preach the right path with wisdom and good advice. Therefore, we beseech God to bestow success on your work so that dialogue between civilizations overcomes the challenges and obstacles. We are quite sure that your high status and enlightened thoughts will address in this seminar the obstructions that hinder the course of civilized cooperation between the followers of the two faiths.

Perhaps among the most evident obstructions are two major problems: first, the diversion of the course of the heavenly religions from the essence of their message and manipulation of their tenets to serve political purposes; and secondly, passing judgement on a whole nation because of the behaviour of a minority of extremists or ignorant people, and so distorting its civilization, threatening its interests and offending its established principles. In our view, these are the two original causes of the distorted and false stereotypes of Islam and Christianity, which we see here and there, as portrayed by the media and propagated by racist writers, and which only serve to widen the gap between the followers of the two religions, and make discord replace harmony and clash replace dialogue.

In face of the turbulent events of recent times, we should not forget to point out that our Arab region is honoured by God the Almighty with the revelation of the messages of Moses and Jesus Christ, peace be upon them, and the daybreak of the Muhammadan message. The Arab Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived together in peace, security and fraternity of faith, striving to excel in beneficence and common good. But the land of prophets has for half a century been suffering, and continues to suffer, from the lack of security, peace and stability, as a result of persistence of the Arab-Israeli conflict without a just settlement due to the absence of international legality. We look for much from this seminar, hoping that its discussions and papers would go deep into the roots of those obstructions, and find the effective mechanism to activate dialogue. I would like to take this opportunity to propose the formation of a permanent body for dialogue between Islam and Christianity, to be based in Qatar. We believe in the significance of such dialogue between civilizations and in the principles of affection, tolerance and consultation among societies and nations, and will be honoured to contribute to the efforts aimed at deepening understanding and promoting rapprochement and cooperation among Muslim and non Muslim countries. Peace, mercy, and the blessings of God.”

Introducing the Seminar, the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Rowan Williams said:

“My first duty, which I discharge with the most sincere pleasure, is to thank His Highness the Amir of Qatar for welcoming us to his country and doing so much to facilitate this meeting. From earlier days when my predecessor was welcomed here, His Highness has shown exemplary commitment to this dialogue and has pursued it with an energy and vision characteristic of all he has done as ruler of this small but rapidly evolving country. He has shown precisely the kind of enthusiasm for honest exchange and deepened understanding which meetings such as this are designed to assist, and we are all profoundly grateful. It is a kind of openness that is also making possible significant gestures towards the Christian community here, and for that too let me express my gratitude. I have mentioned my predecessor, and I cannot let the opportunity go past of paying tribute to the courage and imagination with which he addressed these issues of mutual understanding across the frontiers of our communities of faith. I hope to continue such work, conscious all the time of doing no more than building on foundations which he laid through much labour, much thought and prayer, and much tireless fostering of relationships in many lands.

For many, a real dialogue about what we specifically believe and the thoughts we have about our faith ought to take second place to discussions concerning the practical tasks we can share, whatever our faith - and this is thought to be especially true at a time of tension. But this dialogue has been conceived rather differently. Christians are Christians and Muslims are Muslims because they care about truth, and because they believe that truth alone gives life. About the nature of that absolute and life-giving truth, Christians and Muslims are not fully in agreement. Yet they are able to find words in which to explain and explore that disagreement because they also share histories and practices that make parts of their systems of belief mutually recognizable - a story reaching back to God’s creation of the world and God’s call to Abraham; a practice of reading and absorbing scriptures and of shaping a life in response to the Word God speaks to creation. We are here to discover more about how each community believes it must listen to God, conscious of how very differently we identify and speak of God’s revelation. It is a significant meeting not primarily because it coincides with a time of such conflict and anxiety but because it highlights again a deeper and abiding need― a need which the run-up to this present conflict has made all the more urgent.

Listening to God and listening to one another as nations, cultures and faiths have not always had the priority they so desperately need. So this space for reflection is all the more important; it is both a symbol and an example of this kind of engagement.

In this dialogue, we are not seeking an empty formula of convergence or trying to deny our otherness; indeed, as we reflect on the holy texts we read, we shall be seeking to make better sense of how we relate to the other, the stranger with whom we can still speak in trust and love. As we do this― experience shows us― we learn more of the depths of what nourishes us in our own faith; and we hope to go from this dialogue better equipped to witness in a deeply troubled world, to witness to what faith and humble obedience to God and patient attention to each other might have to offer to struggling and suffering nations throughout the globe.”

Michael Ipgrave reported on the Seminar:

“The Doha Christian-Muslim seminar was held from 7-9 April 2003. On the three working days of the programme, the following general themes were addressed in turn: ‘Listening to God, learning from scripture’; ‘Legacies of the past, challenges of the present’; and ‘Scripture and the other’. Each day’s programme included two public lectures, the texts of which are included in Chapters 2-4 of this book. These chapters also aim to provide some record of the major part of the seminar’s work, which was carried out in four parallel small groups, each composed of Christian and Muslim scholars. These groups met on a total of six occasions for intensive reading of paired passages from the Qur’an and the Bible. Participants were greatly assisted in this study process by notes on the scriptural passages prepared by Kenneth Bailey, Vincent Cornell, Ellen Davis, Salwa el-Awa, Muhammad Abdel Haleem, Esther Mombo and Tom Wright.”

“The Qatar seminar was distinctive in building its dialogue around the joint reading by Christians and Muslims of passages from the Bible and the Qur’an. Held at a time when dramatic events in the region were impinging on Muslim-Christian relations globally― coalition troops were entering Baghdad at the time of the meeting in Doha― this way of dialogue through engagement with scripture made deep sense. For Muslims and for Christians, the scriptures are central to identity, beliefs, ethics, worship and ways of living. As great changes affect our world and our communities, there is an urgent need continually to remember, study and interpret these formative texts in order to be faithful to God in new circumstances. Christianity and Islam both have long traditions of scriptural understanding, and many ways of developing these traditions further to meet new situations and questions. But there are almost no places and occasions where Christians and Muslims can learn from each other and engage in dialogue around the scriptures together. It is also sadly true that many of the most disturbing things that happen in the name of Islam and Christianity are justified by reference to the Qur’an and the Bible. Any progress towards deeper understanding and peacemaking between the two faiths must, therefore, take these scriptures seriously, because they are linked to the best and the worst in history and in the current situation.

The textually based method shaped the pattern and the character of the dialogue in Qatar. With scripture at the centre of reflection, discussion and deliberation, it was the scriptural narrative that identified the parameters within which particular issues and concerns were discussed. In contrast to some other modes of inter faith discussion, where scripture may be almost incidental to the discussion, or be brought in only sporadically and haphazardly, one participant observed that here it felt that it was the living breath of the revealed Word that was the moving spirit behind the discussion, rather than abstract conceptual constructs of academic or theological discourse. Once the scriptures were opened and read, he said, an air of familiarity seemed to pervade the room; a peaceful and trustful atmosphere emerged, seemingly out of nowhere. It was this sense of shared intellectual and spiritual striving in response to the Word which made it possible for Christians and Scriptures in dialogue Muslims together to address some pointed and difficult issues in forceful yet positive discussions. As our scriptures permeate our lives, so listening to each other grappling with texts offered us all a glimpse of each other’s hearts as well as minds.

It was notable that a dialogue based around scripture led as much into the exploration of differences as into the identification of common ground. This was even true of passages which at first appeared to share a common focus― those relating to Abraham, for example. More generally, in both scriptures we found passages which are `inclusive’, in the sense that they show God’s universal purposes, but in both also we met more demanding passages, which emphasize the need for response to a specific revelation and the threat of judgment to those who proved faithless.

Differences are also apparent at a methodological level, in the ways in which Christians and Muslims approach their respective scriptures, and at a theological level, in the ways in which they receive them as conveying the divine Word. It is clear that, by and large, Muslims and Christians view the inspiration of scripture in very different ways. For the one, it is possible to take account of the history of a text’s transmission (including its background in oral tradition) as well as its later redaction, and at the same time to hold to the text’s inspired status. For the other, divine inspiration is understood more directly and precludes literary and historical considerations regarding the text of scripture, even if other elements in the tradition are not exempt from such study.

Reading scripture in the company of the Other underlines the importance of a certain humility in exegesis. It reminds the reader that there are many things in his or her ‘own’ scripture which he or she will never fully or definitively comprehend. The Bible and the Qur’an speak to Christians and Muslims as texts which are full of meaning at many different levels, and as texts whose meaning will elude them at many levels also. The Qur’an affirms of itself that it includes ‘ambiguous’ verses whose import is known only to God. Augustine describes the Bible as a great and high room, but with a door so low that one must stoop in humility to enter into it. In an age when many in both faiths brush aside the very possibility of any uncertainty in their interpretation of scriptural truth, this lesson of exegetical humility is a valuable one for us to learn from one another. None of us has, and none of us ever will have, explored all the riches of our scriptures.

There is clearly ample scope for further engagement of Christians and Muslims together in a dialogue grounded in their reading of the scriptures together. One long and pressing agenda for such a dialogue is set for us by the massive transformations of recent centuries. This is especially obvious in relation to gender issues, but in other ways too dialogue cannot be only with one another (and with people of other religions); it must also engage with the secular understandings and forces in our religious and secular world. Guided by their engagement with the scriptures, Muslims and Christians face the challenge of discerning together what in these tendencies is to be affirmed, what rejected, and what reformed. Nevertheless, the greatest ‘issue’ which draws us into dialogue must be the reality of God and the seeking of his will for our world. Unclear as the way ahead may be, it does seem to be God’s purpose that Muslims and Christians should continue to follow through a dialogue of truth-seeking and peace-making. It is for the sake of God, and in line with God’s will and wisdom, that we come together to engage in study of scriptures together. Each of us loves our scriptures above all as writings through which God is revealed. As one participant at the Qatar seminar said, ‘Long-term devotion to God is the best context for understanding our scriptures.’

The beginning of the twenty-first century is a time when there is an urgent need for Christians and Muslims to engage with each other more deeply for the sake of understanding, peace-making, the blessing of the world, and the glorifying of God, and also a time when there are unprecedented conditions and opportunities for such engagement. We have found in the Qur’an and the Bible texts that can sustain us in a deep and searching dialogue with one another. The challenge facing us now is to develop ways of continuing this in the future so that each of our traditions and all of our societies can be shaped by the wisdom to be gained from our scriptures.

A record of the Seminar has been published in Michael Ipgrave, Scriptures in Dialogue― Christian and Muslims Studying the Bible and the Qur’an Together, Church House Publishing, London, 2004.

 Participants 

Professor Muhammad Abdel Haleem,

King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Dr Salwa el-Awa

Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Department of Theology, University of Birmingham

Sheikh Dr. Zaki Badawi

Principal, The Muslim College, London

The Revd Canon Dr Kenneth Bailey,

Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Professor Vincent Cornell

Director, King Fahd Centre for Middle East and Islamic Studies, University of Arkansas

Professor Ellen Davis

Associate Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina

The Most Revd Michael Fitzgerald

President, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican City

Professor David Ford Regius

Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge

Dr Ida Glaser

Senior Teaching and Research Fellow, Edinburgh Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies

Dr Riffat Hassan

Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies, University of Louisville, Kentucky

The Revd Canon Dr Michael Ipgrave

Inter Faith Relations Adviser, Archbishops' Council of the Church of England

Dr Assaad Kattan

Institute of History, Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies, University of Balamand, Lebanon

Dr Basit Koshul

University of Virginia and Lecturer in Comparative Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota

Dr Jane Dammen McAuliffe

Dean of Georgetown College, Georgetown University, Washington DC

The Revd Dr Daniel Madigan sj

Director, Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

Dr Maleiha Malik

Lecturer in Law, King's College, University of London

Professor Mustansir Mir University Professor of Islamic Studies, Youngstown State University, Ohio

Dr Esther Mombo

Academic Dean, St Paul's United Theological College, Limuru, Kenya

The Rt Revd Dr Michael Nazir-Ali

Bishop of Rochester

Dr Mona Siddiqui

Head of Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow

Mr. Muhammad Suheyl Umar

Director, Iqbal Academy, Lahore, Pakistan

Mr Timothy Winter

Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

The Most Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Rowan Williams

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Rt Revd Dr Tom Wright

Bishop of Durham

Professor Frances Young Edward Cadbury

Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham

Program

Christian-Muslim Seminar in Qatar

(7-9 April 2003)

MONDAY 7 APRIL

Day One of Seminar: Listening to God – Learning from Scripture

08.00               Breakfast

09.00-10.30     Meeting with participants to introduce themselves

and be briefed on practicalities

10.45               His Highness the Amir of the State of Qatar arrives and meets participants.

11.15               Official opening ceremony. 

12.00-13.00     Lunch reception with the Amir

13.00-14.30     Break

14.30-15.45     Lectures (open to wider audience)

Canon Tom Wright to give the lecture from a Christian perspective.

Prof Mansoor Vincent Cornell to give the lecture from a Muslim perspective.

15.45-16.15     Responses in Plenary to the lectures

16.15-16.30     Break

16.30-18.00     Session One in study groups (see details for all

sessions below)

18.00-19.00     Break for dinner

19.00-20.30     Session Two in study groups

20.30-21.30     Feedback from groups and plenary discussion.

 TUESDAY 8 APRIL

 Day Two of Seminar: Interpreting the Scriptures: Legacies of the Past

           and Challenges of the Present

08.00               Breakfast

09.00-10.15     Lectures (open to wider audience)

Dr Mona Siddiqui to give the lecture from a Muslim

perspective.

Dr Esther Mombo to give the lecture from a Christian perspective.

10.15-10.45     Break for refreshments (wider audience leaves)

10.45-11.15     Response in Plenary to the lectures

11.15-13.00     Session Three in study-groups

13.00-16.00     Lunch and Rest

16.00-17.45     Session Four in study groups

17.45-18.00     Short Break

18.00-19.00     Feedback from groups and Plenary discussion

Evening           Reception/Dinner

  WEDNESDAY 9 APRIL

 Day Three of Seminar:           Scripture and the ‘Other’

08.00               Breakfast

09.00-10.15     Lectures (open to wider audience)

Prof Frances Young to give the lecture from a Christian perspective.

Dr Basit Koshul to give the lecture from a Muslim perspective

10.15-10.45     Break for refreshments (wider audience leaves)

10.45-11.15     Response in Plenary to the lectures

11.15-13.00     Session Five in study groups

13.00-16.00     Lunch and Rest

16.00-17.30     Session Six in study groups

17.30-17.45     Short Break

17.45-19.15     Feedback from groups and Plenary discussion – and also final session for reflecting on the seminar as a whole and considering the next seminar

New Practices Of Scriptural Reading― Towards A Common Feasting
Meetings of the Society for Scriptural Reasoning
Toronto, Canada
21-24 Nov. 2004

In the quiet days building up to the American Academy of Religion (AAR) meeting in Toronto this year a group of Jews, Christians and Muslims met together in a series of meetings which many will remember as having been the climax of the whole event.  While the AAR did not begin its activities until November 23^rd, the meetings between the Jews, Christians and Muslims began the day before on Thursday, Nov. 22^nd.  The first took place in the private house of Robert Gibbs, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto.  Graciously hosted by the said professor and his family, this meeting involved both the sharing of good food and a feasting upon the scriptures: Jewish and Christian sacred texts, side by side with Qur’anic ones.  The purpose of the meeting was both to cement friendships and to see those with whom we have walked the strange path of ‘scriptural reasoning’. At the centre of this activity was the ‘feasting in common’ which takes place where scriptures are shared and the discourse and practices of traditions other than one’s own are valued and explored. The texts that were discussed were Genesis (28:10-22), Luke (9:28-36), and the visit to Medina by the Christians of Najran from the Seerah of Muhammad (saw).  The common theme in the three narratives was the unexpected eruption of the Divine Word in the midst of an “ordinary” human activity.

There was a radical shift in the venue of the meeting the next day.  From the warm, gracious and personal ambiance of the Gibbs residence, the meeting of the following day was held in one of the prime teaching rooms of the University of Toronto. This was a place of academic privilege: the centre of the highest intellectual and pedagogical values of the university system – where disinterested detachment and cool objectivity are considered the prime values. Even though there was a significant change in the character of the venue, there was an undoubted continuity at work. The purpose of this meeting was not now to get down to the serious business, nor was it to forget about the proceedings of the evening before. Rather there was a carrying over of the hospitality of the preceding evening into the academic forum.  The meeting on Friday morning centred on a document in the making titled “The Tent of Abraham.”  Prepared by the founders of the SSR, Peter Ochs of the University of Virginia, Dan Hardy and David Ford of Cambridge University – with contributions from Basit B. Koshul of Concordia College – this document will be the most coherent statement to date on the principles underlying the activity and methodology of Scriptural Reasoning.  Besides being a statement of principles, it will contain a detailed description of the environment/principles of modern/secular academic inquiry in which SR has emerged and to which it is a response – and to which Scriptural Reasoning is an alternative/corrective.

The momentum of the Thursday and Friday meetings which was maintained at the formal session of the Societies of Scriptural Reasoning on Sunday night. This formal session was a part of the proceedings of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion.  That session focused upon readings within the Abrahamic faiths of the key theme in the Song of Song – love, divine and human and the relationship between the two.  The presenters were Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School, Alon Gottstein of the Elijah Institute in Jerusalem and Qamar al-Huda of Boston College.  The papers delivered at this session and the responses to them (as well as the proceedings from previous SSR meetings) can be viewed at the following web-site: www.depts.drew.edu/ssr/nationalssr.   Indeed, the combination of ideas which emerged from this session to do with feasting, community, sharing, the love of God and textuality itself as it becomes present to us in the reading of sacred texts seemed to sum up the experience and adventure of the group as a whole.

The Societies of Scriptural Reading is a new religious and intellectual movement which is grounded in a new way of sharing and enjoying the sacred texts of the Abrahamic tradition. It finds expression both at the highest intellectual level, and, importantly, also in the practice of reconciliation and peace resolution (through CHAI, or Children of Abraham Institute). One of the many things that makes this movement distinctive is precisely this link between the two arms. This is based not upon a determination or decision that the one must be seen in terms of the other: there is nothing of an ideology here. But it is grounded rather in the discovery that scriptural reasoning entails peace-making of and in itself. This configuration is at the heart of the scriptural reasoning enterprise, which cannot be understood without some reflection upon what the intertwining of scriptural reading and peace-making mean.

Historically, the way that we Christians, Jews and Muslims have read our own scriptures has proved as divisive as it has been reconciliatory. Christian history, for instance, is severely marred by deep-seated and often violent oppositions around different ways of understanding scripture. The Protestant Reformation with its Catholic Counter-Reformation would be only one instance of this. One can also cite a myriad of examples from Jewish and Muslim history that shows partisans within each community condemning/fighting each other due to differing interpretations of the same sacred texts.  And yet no true believer within an Abrahamic faith could hold that the divine self-communication in their own scriptural tradition is about anything other than the rule and triumph of peace. Is it not peace, the peace of God on earth (whether structured as Kingdom, Law or loving submission) which is the foundational movement of each of the three religions?  And yet there are many matters of belief and practice that continue to divide us. No one – and certainly no one in the field of Scriptural Reasoning― can begin to claim to have solved such problems. The differences between us remain, and are likely to remain for the foreseeable future, quite intractable. But there is nevertheless the possibility of a different way of relating with each other, through the common practice of scriptural reading, or what we might call ‘scriptural sharing’. This is to read our own scriptures in the company of others and to read their scriptures together with them. The bedrock of this sharing is the common presupposition that these sacred texts communicate the divine presence and will. The outcome of this practice is not easily quantifiable in terms of things learned as data, but is experienced rather as a process of enrichment. Paradoxically, one of the key elements in that enrichment is the sense of a rediscovery of the scriptural inheritance in one’s own tradition. The practice of engaging in scriptural reading with others from different Abrahamic faiths does not efface one’s own scriptural tradition therefore, by forcing it into some common ground with other traditions in terms of articles of faith (or philosophies of religion). This is not a modernist enterprise.  But it seems rather to strengthen our own scriptural sources by laying bare the call to peace, and asking us to submit ourselves to it, as common feasting, which drives through all our scriptural traditions. Part of that is actually a return to our own sacred texts in a new way and with a new attentiveness to its message of peace, and to the fellowship of peace which Scriptural Reasoning sponsors and affirms.

It is impossible to know what the future of Scriptural Reasoning will be. But it is clear that the Abrahamic faiths are critically involved in many of the world’s most damaging conflicts. It seems right therefore that a new way of peacefulness and sharing might emerge which draws not upon a common inheritance rooted in the secular order, but rather upon the calling to ‘common feasting’ which is rooted in our scriptural traditions themselves, and which is the ground of our common scriptural practice.

Oliver Davies,

University of Wales Lampeter

Basit B. Koshul

Concordia College

The Science of Non Locality and Eastern Approaches to Exploring Ultimate Reality

A Symposium by Templeton Foundation

Geneva ― 21^st to 23^rd June 2002.

Religion is relevant to the chief concerns of our century. It can no longer be assumed with impunity that religion was a primitive superstition outgrown by civilized, rational man. One has also to take into account the fact that contemporary mind is science-ridden and for it science has become a sacral mode of knowing, the court of ultimate appeal for what is true, occupying today almost exactly the place that Revelation enjoyed in the West in the Middle Ages and in the East fairly recently. Through a misreading of science, our contemporary mindset suffers from a loss of faith in transcendence, in a reality that encompasses but surpasses our quotidian affairs. The loss is considered to be serious, and also (ironically) unnecessary, for our loss of the Transcendent World has resulted from a conceptual mistake. We assume that the modern world has discovered something that throws the transcendent world into question, but that is not the case. It is not that we have discovered something. Rather, we have lost sight of something. For reasons that are completely understandable but nonetheless regrettable, we have unwittingly allowed ourselves to be drawn into an enveloping epistemology that cannot handle transcendence.

Science studies the empirical world. Religion seeks to understand and bind us to the entire scheme of things in which God is pre-eminent. There can not be any conflict between the two if, and when, each sticks to its proper task. A conflict arises when either oversteps its proper limits. Religion does this if / when it interferes with science’s attempts to understand the empirical world, the physical world of nature. Science oversteps its limits if / when it claims to be able to access, and give definitive answers (without the help of religion) to ultimate questions, such as who are we, how did we get here, what is the meaning of life, and is there life after death? Historically, both have overstepped their proper bounds. In the West, theologians were guilty of this when (in the 16-17^th centuries) they interfered with scientific pursuits. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Today, most of the transgressions come from science’s side. Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative is a different enterprise, however. But before I come to it, a word about the “tunnel vision” of our present epistemology seems called for.

Our loss of the Transcendent World has resulted from a mistake. In various ways perceptive observers have been saying this for a century or so. It could be summarised in a way that can strip the mistake to its bare bones, reducing it to virtually a syllogism as follows: -

1.         Science has become our sacral mode of knowing. As court of ultimate appeal for what is true, it occupies today almost exactly the place that Revelation enjoyed in the West in the Middle Ages and in the East fairly recently and which it still holds for a vast number of believers outside the fold of the modern academia and its intellectual offshoots. An intellectual historian has pointed out that already a hundred years ago Westerners had come to have more confidence in the periodic table of chemical elements than in anything the Bible asserts. The Orientals have followed suit.

2.         The crux of science is the controlled experiment. I am speaking of course of modern science. Generic science (old as art and religion) relies on reasoning from careful observations, but what distinguishes modern science is its introduction of the controlled experiment and reliance on it as decisive. It is this addition that has caused modern science to take off from generic science and remake our material and conceptual worlds. It explains our confidence in science as well, for the controlled experiment delivers proof, winnowing hypotheses and retiring those that fail its test.

3.         We can control only what is inferior to us. Intentionally control, that is, for chains can fetter my movement without being my superior. Also, this principle holds only between orders of existence, for within the same species variables can skew the picture: the Nazis controlled the Jews without being superior to them. By superior/inferior I mean by every criterion of worth we know and probably some we know not. Many things are superior to us in size (the moon) and brute power (an earthquake), but neither are superior to us in all respect, including intelligence and freedom. Human beings controlled the American buffalo more than vice verse—it’s that kind of correlation between intended power and orders of existence that this third point flags.

4.         The conclusion follows inexorably. Science can disclose only what is inferior to us. Have we ever in any science course or textbook encountered anything that exceeds us in every positive attribute we possess? The question is rhetorical —the answer is not. What might beings that are superior to us be? Disengaged from matter or discarnates? Angels? God? The point is, if such beings exist, science will never disclose them for the sufficient reason that it is they who dance circles around us, not we them. Because they possess perimeters we are not even aware of, let alone able to control, it is impossible for us to reduce the variables that pertain to them to the point where experiments could produce on/off, clear-cut proofs.

Nothing in this “syllogism” proves that there is anything superior to us, but it does prove that if there is, science cannot bring it to light. It proves that conclusively, I would think, save to those whose enthusiasm for science leads them to associate that word with truth in its entirety rather than with truths that are discovered by a particular method. This confuses things to no end. It also does science the disservice of rendering it amorphous and forcing it into the impossible position of trying to be all things to all people, eventually where it falls short of that goal now.[1]

If we liken the scientific method to a flashlight, when we point it downward, towards the path we are walking on say, its beam is clear and bright. Suppose, though, we hear footsteps. Someone is approaching, and to see who it is we raise the beam to horizontal level. (This represents the social sciences and the light they cast on our species). What happens? The light starts to flicker; a loose connection has developed. The social sciences can tell us some things about ourselves—the physiological substrates of experience and how people behave on average. The complete person as an individual, though, eludes its clutches. Replete with idiosyncrasies, freedom, and commitments, to say nothing of soul and spirit if such components exist, she/he slips through the meshes of science as sea slips through the nets of fishermen. To tie this directly to our syllogism’s conclusion—that science can disclose only what is inferior to us—it is axiomatic in the social sciences that in investigating areas where freedom figures, subjects must be kept in the dark about experimental design. This places them in a tilt relation to scientists who know more about what is going on than they do. Finally (to complete the analogy), if we tilt our flashlight skywards— towards the heavens may we say in present context— its light gives out completely. Its batteries drop to the bottom of the casing leaving us completely in the dark. Once again this does not prove that the heavens are populated. It argues that if it is, science cannot apprise us of that fact, much less introduce their denizens.

And science is what now provides us with our sense of reality— we are back to where our syllogism took off. And back to why it is imperative that we get rid of the tunnel vision of modernity and, to carry the analogy forward, consider an other than flashlight world to live in. Unaware of what has happened— blind to the way method has vectored metaphysics and epistemology constricted worldview— modernity with a stroke of its methodological pen has all but written off the region of reality that religion up to the last century or so has been riveted to. As E. F. Schumacher reflected toward the close of his life: most of the things that most of humanity has most believed in did not appear on the map of reality his Oxford education handed him as it launched him on life’s adventure!

Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative is informed precisely by the realization that we briefly outlined in the foregoing remarks. The assumption of classical physics that physical reality is local― that a point in space cannot influence another point beyond a relatively short distance― was challenged by Nicolas Gisin’s 1997 experiments involving twin photons in which light particles were shown to communicate with one another instantly. Linked to research in atom optics conducted by Alain Aspect in the early 1980s, the revelation led some scientists to argue that physical reality on the most basic level is an undivided wholeness. Does it also imply that the stark division between mind and world is an illusion? The mystical traditions of all major religions have conceived of spiritual reality as, in some measure, a unified essence. Sufism, an Eastern approach to the divine rooted in Islamic faith and practice, has stressed the centrality of tawhid, the assertion of God’s fundamental unity, to our understanding of the world and ourselves. God’s love for creation gave existence to the universe, according to Sufi teaching, and human love for God closes the gap between the Creator and His creatures. The philosophic expression of Hinduism known as the Vedanta emphasizes the substantial and essential identity of the individual soul with the unqualified and unqualifiable Absolute (Atman is Brahman). Can the scientific concept of non-locality aid us in exploring the ultimate reality beyond time and space and causation? Can Eastern approaches to divinity help us, in turn, to find meaning in the fantastic and ongoing revelations of modern science beyond the thrill of the chase and of discovery itself?

To consider the broad implications of correlations between properties of quanta, thirteen scientists, theologians, and philosophers met in a symposium on the northern shore of Lake Geneva from 21^st to 23^rd June 2002. They came together to explore the implications of quantum non-locality for the character of physical reality, as well as the uses of the concept of complementarity― Niels Bohr’s logical framework for acquiring and comprehending scientific knowledge― in understanding the relationship between parts and wholes, the fundamental unity of creation from Eastern perspectives, and the search for meaning in modern science and mystical traditions.

The symposium was a part of the Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to bring about the discovery of new spiritual information by furthering high-quality scientific research. The “humble approach” is inherently interdisciplinary, sensitive to nuance, and biased in favour of building linkages and connections. It assumes openness to new ideas and a willingness to experiment. Placing high value upon patience and perseverance, it retains a sense of wondering expectation because it recognizes, in Loren Eisley’s haunting phrase, “a constant emergent novelty in nature that does not lie totally behind us, or we would not be where we are.” A fundamental principle of the Templeton Foundation, in the words of its founder, is that “humility is a gateway to greater understanding and open[s] the doors to progress” in all endeavours. Sir John Templeton believes that in their quest to comprehend ultimate reality, scientists, philosophers, and theologians have much to learn about and from one another. The humble approach is intended as a corrective to parochialism. It encourages discovery and seeks to accelerate its pace.

Quantum non-locality and its implications for the character of physical reality, or what has been termed the “quantum reality” problem, is an enigma that has tantalized physicists, philosophers, and an ever-widening public for decades. The pertinent literature is vast, and it would appear that just about every conceivable avenue of approach to the problem― no matter how seemingly farfetched― has been advocated somewhere and explored. Gone are the days when the authority of physics could be invoked in support of a single established world-view! What has happened is that the pre-quantum scientistic world-view (now termed “classical”) has come to be disavowed “at the top”: by physicists capable of grasping the implications of quantum theory. And this in turn has called forth an abundance of conjectured alternatives, competing with one an other, as it were, to fill the ontological void― a situation that has prompted one recent author to speak of a “reality market place”. Quantum mechanics, if you will, is a scientific theory in search of a Weltanschauung. The search has been on since 1927.[2]

Meanwhile the spectacle of a dozen top-ranking scientists promoting twelve different world-views is hardly reassuring; and there is the temptation to conclude that truth is unattainable, or, worse still, that it is relative, a matter simply of personal opinion.

What is called for, however, is a closer look at the foundations of scientific thought: at the hidden assumptions that have conditioned our contemporary intellectual perceptions. A modest probe into matters generally ignored suffices to reveal a startling fact: it happens that every quantum-reality position thus far enunciated hinges upon one and the same ontological presupposition, a tenet which moreover derives from the philosophical speculations of Galileo and Descartes, and which, surprisingly enough, has been sharply and cogently attacked by some of the most eminent philosophers of the twentieth century. It may indeed seem strange that an ontological assumption that has thus become suspect, to say the least, should have remained unchallenged throughout the length and breadth of the quantum reality debate; but one must remember that the notion of which we speak has become ingrained in the scientific mentality to the point where it can hardly be recognized as a presupposition, let alone as a spurious premise that must go.

If we can remove this error, try to emerge from the “tunnel vision”, and expose this virtually ubiquitous assumption as the fallacy it is, the pieces of the quantum puzzle begin to fall into place. The very features of quantum theory, in fact, which, prior to this ontological rectification had seemed the most incomprehensible, prove now to be the most enlightening. As might be surmised, these features bear witness, on a technical level, to an ontological fact, a truth which had hitherto been obscured. We have to identify this elusive and fallacious premise, and refute it with optimum cogency and, following this, we need to give a revised account of the modus operandi by which physics is defined, an account which no longer hinges upon the now disqualified axiom. This done, we shall be in a position to reflect anew upon the salient findings of quantum theory, to see whether these strange and puzzling facts can at last be understood. And this is the task which, partly at least, was accomplished at the symposium entitled “The Science of Non Locality and Eastern Approaches to Exploring Ultimate Reality”.

At the top of the list of “strange facts” that demand an explanation stands the phenomenon of state vector collapse, which could well be termed the central enigma of quantum physics. It poses a fundamental problem that cannot be ignored or by-passed if one would understand the nature of the physical universe, and its relation to whatever other ontological planes there be.

Considerations of this kind, meanwhile, need not detain the working physicist, nor do they alter the fact that quantum mechanics is beyond doubt the most accurate, the most universal, as well as the most sophisticated scientific theory ever advanced by man. In a thousand hair-splitting experiments it has never yet been proved wrong. But quantum theory does more than answer a multitude of questions: it also raises a few of its own. And whereas classical physics, which by comparison is both crude and inaccurate, generally inspires dreams of omniscience, the new physics counsels caution and a becoming sobriety; hence the Templeton Foundation’s Humble Approach Initiative.

It also needs to be emphasized that despite its seemingly “specialized” nature, the quantum-reality problem is beyond doubt the most universally significant question hard science has ever posed. What it demands, clearly, is an integral world-view that breaks radically with the accustomed the “classical” world-view; and that is what the symposium tried to achieve.

But some where, during the course of its historical development, western thought took a sharp turn in another direction. It branched off as a tangent from the collective heritage of all humanity and claimed the autonomy of reason. It chose to follow that reason alone, unguided by revelation and cut off from the Intellect that was regarded as its transcendent root.^[3]  Political and social realms quickly followed suit. Autonomous statecraft and excessive individualism in the social order were the elements that shaped a dominant paradigm that did not prove successful.^[4]  A few centuries of unbridled activity led Western phi­losophy to an impasse.^[5]

Commenting upon the situation, Huston Smith remarked, “the deepest reason for the crisis in philosophy is its realization that autonomous reason― reason without infusions that both power and vector it― is helpless. By itself, reason can deliver nothing apodictic. Working, as it necessarily must, with variables, vari­ables are all it can come up with. The Enlightenment’s “natural light of reason” turns out to have been a myth. Reason is not itself a light. It is more than a conductor, for it does more than transmit. It seems to resemble an adapter which makes useful translations but on condition that it is powered by a generator.”^[6] The nature and direction of these “infusions” is still being debated.^[7] It is with this end in view that thirteen scientists, theologians, and philosophers met in the symposium. Their brief introductions are given below. Collected papers of the Symposium are in preparation.

Participants of the Symposium

Bruno Guiderdoni is a director of research at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics (IAP) and an expert on Islam. A graduate of the University of Paris where he earned a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1986, he held a post-doctoral fellowship at the French Academy of Sciences for two years before receiving an appointment to the research staff of the IAP, which is supported by the French National Center for Scientific Research. He was promoted to his present position in 1992. Dr. Guiderdoni’s research has focused on the birth and evolution of galaxies. He has produced a number of key papers that have contributed significantly to the elaboration of the paradigm of “hierarchical” galaxy formation, the theory that galaxies are the result of mergers and collisions between smaller star swarms, and participated in the discovery of the uniform glow of the cosmos at far-infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye. He is currently working on simulations of galaxy formation that are used to interpret observations made of the universe’s most distant large-scale structures. Dr. Guiderdoni is an associated scientist on the European Space Agency’s two scientific satellites, Herschel and Planck, that will be launched in 2007 to survey the full far-infrared and submillimeter waveband and measure the fluctuations in the temperature of cosmological background radiation with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. He has published more than 100 scientific papers and organized eight international conferences in his field. Before undertaking his graduate work, Dr. Guiderdoni fulfilled his national service obligation as a physics teacher in the French high school in Casablanca. Introduced to Islam in Morocco, he embraced the faith in 1987, and from 1993 to 1999, he was in charge of a television program, “Knowing Islam,” that is broadcast by the state TV channel in France. Under the aegis of the Islamic Institute for Advanced Study, he has lectured widely on spirituality and on his views about the connections between science and religion. He has played an active role in promoting inter-religious dialogue, particularly among the Abrahamic traditions. Since the tragic events of September 11, he has spoken out often on the values of humility and tolerance in any search for truth. Dr. Guiderdoni’s paper was entitled: “Islam, Contemporary Issues in Science and Religion”

*****

Anindita Niyogi Balslev, an expert on classical Indian as well as Western thought traditions, is an associate research professor of philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. Born in Calcutta, she received her bachelor’s degree with honors from Calcutta University, took a master’s degree in philosophy there, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Paris in 1968. She has been a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study and a research lecturer at the Center for Cultural Research at Denmarles Aarhus University, as well as a senior lecturer at Aalborg University in Denmark and a visiting professor at the University of Kentucky, Rutgers University, and Aarhus’s Institute for the History of Ideas. Dr. Balslev was a senior advisor to the Danish National Institute for Education Research in 1996, and in 1998, she held the Asutosh Mukherji Chair at the National Institute of Advanced Study in Bangalore, India. Dr. Balslev has organized a number of international conferences around cross-cultural and interdisciplinary issues and delivered invited talks in Asia, Europe, and North America on the interface between science and religion. Her articles in academic journals explore, among other issues, the problem of time, notions of self, and the meaning of consciousness in the context of Indian thought. In addition to editing two volumes, she is the author of A Study of Time in Indian Philosophy (1983 and 1999) and Cultural Otherness: Correspondence with Richard Rorty (1991 and 1999). Dr. Balslev is currently writing a new book entitled “I-Consciousness: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry.” Anindita Niyogi Balslev’s paper was entitled:  “Ultimate Reality and Subjectivity”.

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Physicist Raymond Y. Chiao is widely known for pioneering experiments in the twilight zone of quantum mechanics where objects can pass through solid walls. His recent work involves investigations of faster-than-light phenomena. He has measured how long photons take to “tunnel” through a barrier that ought to be impenetrable and found that they appear to outpace the speed of light when they are successful in reaching the other side. Born in Hong Kong and educated in the United States, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. After teaching at MIT for two years, he joined the physics faculty of the University of California, Berkeley and was named a full professor in 1977. Dr. Chlao has held a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and an Alfred P Sloan Fellowship. A member of Sigma Xi, he won the second prize of the Gravity Research Foundation in 1981 and the Scientific Innovation Award for Outstanding Work in Modern Optics from the Center for Advanced Study at the University of New Mexico in 1986. He is a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. Dr. Chiao has published some 125 papers in major scientific journals. He edited Amazing Light (1996), a volume dedicated to the Nobel laureate Charles H. Townes on the occasion of his eightieth birthday.

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William C. Chittick, a professor of comparative studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, has written extensively on Islamic philosophy with special emphasis on the Sufi tradition. A graduate of the College of Wooster in Ohio, he received a Ph.D. in Persian language and literature from Tehran University in 1974 and later studied at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy in Tehran, where he also served as an assistant professor in 1978-79. Dr. Chittick had begun his teaching career at the Center for the Humanities at Aryamehr Technical University in Tehran. He returned to the United States just before the Iranian Revolution and in 1981 accepted an appointment as an assistant editor of Columbia Universitys Encyclopedia Iranica (1982-85). In 1983, he was named an assistant professor of religious studies at SUNY Stony Brook. He was promoted to his present position in 1996. Dr. Chittick has been a visiting professor of Arabic literature at Harvard University. A former member of the board of editors of the SUNY Press, he has held a Fulbright Fellowship and two fellowships awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2000, he was awarded the Mevlana Ozel Odula by the Kombassan Foundation in Turkey. In addition to numerous articles in scholarly journals and contributions to encyclopedias, histories, and collected works, he has translated a dozen major Persian and Arabic texts into English and is the author or co-author of eleven books. His most recent studies are Sufism: A Short Introduction (Oneworld, 2000) and The Heart of Islamic Philosophy: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in the Teachings of Afdal al-Din Kashani (Oxford University Press, 200 1). William C. Chittick’s paper was entitled: “The Search for Meaning in the Islamic Intellectual Tradition”.

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The director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore for the past decade, Ramanath Cowsik has made wide ranging contributions to theoretical physics, experimental physics, and science management. He formerly headed the Gravitation Group at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay with which he was associated for forty years. His papers pointing out the astrophysical and cosmological consequences of finite neutrino masses contributed to the basic paradigm for studying galaxy formation and dark matter. Dr. Cowsik also has advanced knowledge of the behavior of cosmic rays at low and high energies, and his discussion of non-thermal particle populations inside supernova remnants have led to a physical understanding of their spectra. In the course of his experimental searches for new feeble forces and tests of Einstein’s principle of equivalence of inertial and gravitational masses, he designed a new kind of torsion balance with which he performed the first laboratory experiment searching for the so-called “fifth force”― a hypothesized addition to the four fundamental interactions between objects in nature. Investigating the dust of presolar diamonds, rubies, and carborandum embedded and preserved in meteorites, Dr. Cowsik has been able to infer the formation of these materials in stellar winds and to estimate by a completely new method the age of the Milky Way. Recently he explored the Himalayas to establish a unique site for optical infrared astronomy in Ladakh on the border of Tibet. Dr. Cowsik was born in Nagpur in central India and took his baccalaureate degree at the University of Mysore. He earned a master’s degree in physics at Karnatak University and, after further graduate work at the Atomic Energy Training School in Mumbai, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bombay in 1969. He had joined the Tata Institute as a research associate in 1961, and he subsequently became a research fellow, a fellow, a reader, an associate professor, a professor, and a senior professor there. Named a Distinguished Professor in 1996, he retired from his faculty position earlier this year. Dr. Cowsik has held a research fellowship at the University of Chicago and been a visiting lecturer and assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, a senior visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich, and a distinguished visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently serving on the governing council of the Commission on Cosmic Rays of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, he is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian Geophysical Union, and the Third World Academy of Sciences. In addition to invited lectureships, he is the recipient of many other honors, including the Vikram, Sarabhai Award for Space Sciences, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Sciences, a NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award, the Third World Academy of Sciences Award in Basic Sciences, the Vainu Bappu Memorial Award of the Indian National Science Academy, the S.N. Bose Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress Association, and the Padma Shri Award from the President of India. Dr. Cowsik has published some 180 papers in scientific journals and is the editor of Cosmic Pathways (1985) and two other books. Ramanath Cowsik’s paper was entitled: “A triad of non-localities”.

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Nicolas Gisin is the group leader for the Optics Division of the Group of Applied Physics at the University of Geneva. He is also a professor of physics at the Swiss university. His research is at the crossroads between modern optics and quantum physics, and he works both on conceptual issues and on their application. Dr. Gisin’s experiments in long distance quantum entanglement are at the heart of quantum information processing and have made him an international leader in the emerging field of quantum cryptography-a technique using single photons of light to send secret messages with the assurance that no one has eavesdropped on them. A graduate of the University of Geneva, he took his undergraduate degree and earned master’s degrees in mathematics and in physics there as well as a Ph.D. in physics in 1981. His dissertation was awarded a prize by the Louis de Broglie Foundation. Dr Gisin did post-graduate work in optics at the University of Rochester and upon his return to Switzerland in 1984, he joined a start-up company, Alphatonix, dedicated to the development of fiber instrumentation for the telecommunications industry. Four years later, he joined a Swiss software company. In 1988, he accepted an invitation to return to his alma mater as head of the optics section of the Group of Applied Physics. His work won worldwide attention in 1997 when he reported the results of an experiment in which he split a light beam in two, at a facility near the Geneva train station, and sent the resulting pair of photons in opposite directions over fiber-optic cables to detectors located more than six miles apart. Dr. Gisin confirmed that a stimulus applied to just one of the twin beams instantly determined the state of the sibling photon as predicted by quantum theory. What Albert Einstein called “spooky action at a distance” has been the focus of much of Dr. Gisin’s subsequent research. It is increasing our understanding of the information content of quantum states and holds promise not only for encryption but also computation among other applications. Dr. Gisin has published some 200 papers in scientific journals. Once a nationally ranked field hockey player, he also finds time to work with Swiss youngsters interested in the sport.

University Professor of Interdisciplinary Science and a professor of physics at George Mason University, Greek-born Menas Kafatos has explored the implications for physics and for philosophy of particle “entanglement” over long distances in two books. Written with his George Mason colleague Robert Nadeau, The Non-Local Universe (Oxford University Press, 1999) and The Conscious Universe (Springer-Veriag, 1990 and 2000) consider the potential of nonlocality to transform our understanding of the nature of reality. Dr. Kafatos, who is a native of Crete, received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. After three years of post-doctoral research in astrophysics at the University of Colorado and the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Centre, he joined the George Mason physics faculty and was promoted to full professor in 1984. Dr. Kafatos won international attention for his early work in theoretical astrophysics, particularly his work on black holes, those “ghosts” of massive dead stars whose gravitational imprint, frozen in space, challenges physicists to broaden their cosmological perspective. His current research interests include Earth observing and Earth systems science, foundations of quantum theory, the nature of consciousness, and cosmology. In 1991, he founded George Mason’s Institute of Computational Sciences and Informatics, which evolved into its School of Computational Sciences. Four years later, he founded the Centre for Earth Observing and Space Research (CESOR). He still serves as director of CESOR and as principal investigator of several federally funded George Mason programs for the effective use of data anticipated from the next generation of space platforms among other activities. Dr. Kafatos is an honorary member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and currently serves as vice president for education of the American Astronautical Society. He has published some 165 scientific papers and is the co-editor of six books and the co-author of four others. Menas Kafatos’ paper was entitled: “Non-locality, Consciousness and the Emerging New Science”

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Azim A. Nanji is director of the Institute for Ismaili Studies in London. Born in Kenya, he took a first-class degree with honours in literature and religious studies at Makerere University in Uganda and received a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from McGill University in 1972. After spending a year as a post-graduate research and teaching fellow at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies, he joined the religious studies faculty of Oklahoma State University, where he became a full professor in 1983. In 1988, he was named professor and chair of religion at the University of Florida, a position he held for the next ten years. Dr. Nanji also has been a Visiting Killam Fellow at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Margaret Gest Visiting Professor of Religion at Haverford College. He has received a Rockefeller Fellowship, an American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Research Fellowship, a Canada Council Award, and a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. An elected member of the American Society for the Study of Islam, he delivered the plenary lecture at the National Conference on Religion, Philanthropy, and Civil Society in Washington in 1994. He is a member of the steering committee for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and was previously co-chair of the Islam Section of the American Academy of Religion as well as a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Nanji has published some forty scholarly articles and book chapters and is the editor of three books and the author or co-author of two others. His 1978 study, The Nizari Ismaili Tradition, won the Council of Canada Publication Award. Azim Nanji’s paper was entitled; “The Science of Nonlocality and Eastern Approaches to Exploring Ultimate Reality ― A Perspective from the Muslim Philosophical Tradition.

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An investigator probing images of galaxy clusters produced by the Hubble Space Telescope for clues to the distribution of “dark” matter, the dominant but unseen gravitational influence on the cosmos, Priyamvada Natarajan is an assistant professor of astrophysics at Yale University with an abiding interest in the philosophy of science. Born in the south of India, she received bachelor’s degrees in science and in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology then pursued graduate work in MIT’s program in science, technology, and society before taking a Ph.D. in astrophysics at Cambridge University in 1998. Awarded a research fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, she continued her work in England for the next several years before accepting an appointment to the Yale faculty in 2000. Dr. Natarajan’s research focuses on a range of topics in astrophysical cosmology. Among other questions, she is investigating the role of gamma-ray bursts in star formation, how groups of galaxies may form and change over time, and the evolution and scale of the massive whirlpools, known as black holes, in their centres. She serves on the advisory committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion and on the board of advisors of the John Templeton Foundation. In addition to some thirty papers in scientific journals, Dr. Natarajan has published a collection of poems.

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Ravi Ravindara is a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where, until his recent retirement, he had been professor and chair of comparative religion, professor of international development studies, and adjunct professor of physics. Born in Patiala in the Punjab area of northwest India, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Toronto in 1965. Subsequent to a post-doctoral fellowship in physics at Toronto, he held a post-doctoral fellowship in philosophy at Princeton University and a postdoctoral fellowship in religion at Columbia University. He began his teaching career as an assistant professor of physics at Dalhousie in 1966. Formerly a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a visiting member of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Simla, he has been the visiting Kern Professor of Science and Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Korett Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Medicine at the Pacific Medical Centre in San Francisco. The founding director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge given by the Swiss Threshold Foundation, he formerly served as chair of its selection committee. Dr. Ravindra is the recipient of numerous research grants and a John Templeton Foundation Science and Religion Course Program grant as well as fellowships from the Canada Council the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. He formerly served as a director of the International Theosophical Society’s School of the Wisdom in Madras, India, a member of the board of advisors of the John Templeton Foundation, a member of the board of judges for the Templeton Prize, and a member of the advisory committee for the Program of Dialogue Between Science and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Ravindra has had a long and deep interest in the metaphysics and practical spiritual disciplines of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Among contemporary spiritual teachers, he has been influenced by Jiddu Krishnamurti and Jeanne de Salzmann, who was a pupil of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. In addition to publishing more than 120 articles in scientific and scholarly journals, Dr. Ravindra is the author or co-author of ten books. Among them are the highly influential Whispers from the Other Shore: Spiritual Search East and West (1984 and 2000) and The Yoga of Christ in the Gospel According to St. John (1990 and 1992). His most recent study, Science and the Sacree4 was published by the Theosophical Publishing House in 2000. A new book, Krishnainurti in the Long Line of Rishis in India, will be published next year by Munshilal Manoharlal Publishers in its Builders of Indian Philosophy Series.

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The founding director of the Center for Quantum Philosophy, a division of the Zurich-based Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS), Antoine Suarez conducts and promotes research on the foundations of quantum theory and seeks to stimulate discussion of its metaphysical implications. He is a native of Spain and graduated from the University of Zaragoza before pursing graduate work in experimental physics at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Dr. Suarez took his Ph.D. in natural science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zērich or ETH) in 1975. While at ETH, he not only became interested in the philosophical significance of quantum mechanics, but also in genetic epistemology. For more than a decade, he was engaged in research on cognitive growth that led to the development of improved methods for teaching mathematics and science to children. Dr. Suarez directed the Swiss think tank, IIS, from 1985 to 1993, and with major support from the Leman Foundation, he undertook studies that brought the insights of philosophers, theologians, and ethicists to bear on advances in science. Since assuming his current position in 1989, he has conducted and facilitated, with support from the Odier Foundation, experimental research on correlations of nonlocal quantum, that is, faster-than-light influences on phenomena. With Valerio Scarani, he was the first scientist to propose experiments using moving measuring devices to investigate the tension between quantum mechanics and relativity, especially whether there is a real time ordering behind nonlocal influences. Dr. Suarez actively collaborated with Nicola Gisin’s Group at the University of Geneva in carrying out the work. Recent results suggesting that relativity’s tools for dealing with the flow of time are irrelevant in the realm of quantum processes have strengthened his interest in exploring possible links among levels of reality. In addition to articles in scientific journals, chapters in volumes of collected works, and an early study on the relation of thought to action in adolescents, he is the editor (with Alfred Driessen) of Mathematical Undecidability, Quantum Nonlocality and the Question of the Existence of God (Kluwer, 1997).

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Muhammad Suheyl Umar is the director of Pakistan’s Iqbal Academy in Lahore, a research institution devoted to the works and teachings of the Muslim poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, a political activist known as the father of modern Pakistan. Suheyl Umar is also the founding editor of Riwayat, an intellectual journal in the Urdu language that has published articles on science, philosophy, and mysticism for the past twenty-one years, and the editor of Iqbal Review, an academic quarterly published alternately in Urdu and English, which has both Persian and Arabic editions. A graduate of Government College in Lahore where he took both a baccalaureate degree and master’s degree in English, he earned an M.Phil. in Iqbal studies at Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad and, after nearly two decades in educational administration and academic publishing, a Ph.D. in philosophy from Punjab University in Lahore is in progress. Umar began his editorial career as managing partner of Suhail Academy, a publishing company in Lahore, and in the early 1980s served as secretary general of Al-Manara Academy and as vice principal and head of the English department at Al-Manara Public School. He was named deputy director of Iqbal Academy in 1984 and assumed the directorship in 1997. Formerly chief editor of Al-Ma‘arif and editor of Studies in Tradition, he served as academic director of the Institute of Islamic Culture in Lahore for two years and was named an honorary fellow in 1992. The next year he was a visiting scholar at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. In addition to articles published in scholarly journals, he has edited a number of volumes of Iqbal’s writings and collections of various literary works in Urdu. He also has published bibliographies and descriptions of extant manuscript collections in Pakistan and has several new works in preparation. Muhammad Suheyl Umar’s paper was entitled: “The Science of Nonlocality-Perspectives and Implications”. [8]

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One of the world’s leading researchers in the field of quantum physics, Antone Zeilinger is professor of physics and director of the Experimental Physics Institute at the University of Vienna. His work first received international attention in 1997 when he and his colleagues at the University of Innsbruck, where he was then directing the Institute of Experimental Physics, confirmed the possibility of quantum teleportation by demonstrating, through the use of pairs of entangled photons, that the properties of one particle can be instantly transferred to another over an arbitrary distance at the speed of light. More recently, Dr. Zellinger’s quantum interference experiments with “buckyball” molecules (whose shapes resemble the geodesic domes designed by R. Buckminster Fuller), so far the largest objects to have demonstrated quantum behaviour, have attracted the notice of the scientific community. By proving that clusters of seventy carbon atoms obey quantum-mechanical rules, he has extended the quantum domain further than ever before. Born in Austria, Dr. Zellinger studied at the University of Vienna and earned a Ph.D. in physics and in mathematics in 1971. After a lectureship at the Technical University of Vienna, a Fulbright fellowship at the Neutron Diffraction Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and professorships at MIT, the Technical University of Vienna, and the University of Innsbruck, he accepted his present position in 1999. Dr. Zeilinger has been a visiting professor at the University of Melbourne, the Technical University of Munich, and the College of France, as well as an adjunct professor at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and a visiting research fellow at Merton College, Oxford. The former president of the Austrian Physical Society, he was named Austrian Scientist of the Year in 1996. His many other honors include the Senior Humboldt Fellow Prize, Germanys Order pour le Mḥrite, the 2000 Science Prize of the City of Vienna, and the 2001 World Future Award. Dr. Zeilinger is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary professor of the University of Science and Technology of China. He serves on the editorial boards of the Foundations of Physics Letters and Physical Review A. The author of more than 200 papers published in major scientific journals, he is co-editor (with Dirk Bouwmeester and Artur Ekert) of The Physics of Quantum Information (2000) and most recently (with Chiara Macchiavello and G. Massimo Palma) of Quantum Computation and Quantum Information Theory, which was published last year by World Scientific. Mindful of the practical applications of his research for the processing and transmission of information, including quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography, and quantum computing, Dr. Zellinger is also intrigued by the epistemological implications of quantum physics. He has met with the Dalai Lama to discuss them and has challenged his scientific colleagues to consider which notions appearing distinct and even opposed today will turn out to be so for future generations.

All things by immortal power,
    Near or far,
    Hiddenly
    To each other linked are.
    That thou canst not stir a flower
    Without troubling of a star.

   The Mistress of Vision

               Francis Thompson