Islam and the Experience of Toleration: The Past and the Future

Islam and the Experience of Toleration: The Past and the Future

Public Talk by Arash Naraghi, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Chair, Department of Philosophy, Moravian College, USA

When: Saturday, March 27, 2021, 10 AM-12 noon  (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar. For registration please CLICK HERE.

Abstract:
Muslims have experienced at least two models of toleration throughout their history: The Othman Model and the Akbar Shah Model. Arash Naraghi, in this presentation, offers a philosophical analysis of the foundations of these two models and suggests how the Akbar Shah Model can inspire contemporary Muslims to construct a renewed conception of toleration as a virtue of public life within the context of Islamic law, ethics, and theology. The virtue of toleration, in this renewed version, can provide a religious and moral foundation for peaceful coexistence on the basis of mutual respect among the diverse members of civil society. It would function as an alternative to the reactionary violence that has been prescribed by the zealous advocates of religious fundamentalism.

Bio:
Arash Naraghi is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Global Religions at Moravian College in Pennsylvania, the US. He received his Ph. D. in Philosophy (focusing on Ethics and Philosophy of Religion) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Naraghi’s field of expertise includes Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Islamic mysticism, and contemporary Shi’ism in Iran. Arash Naraghi’s selected publications are as follows: “Divine Command Theory: Al-Ghazali’s Version”, in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Islamic Ethics, Jafar Mahallati (ed.), Bloomsbury Publishing, forthcoming. “Randomness and Providence: Defining the Problem(s)” with Aaron Griffith, in Abrahamic Reflections on Randomness and Providence, Kelly James Clark and Jeffrey Koperski (eds.). Palgrave, forthcoming. “The Problematic of (Male) Homosexuality in the Context of Contemporary Iranian Shi‘ism”, Iran Namag, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2018. and “The Qur’an and Human Rights of Sexual Minorities”, in The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community of Iran: Examining Human Rights from Religious, Social, Legal and Cultural Perspectives, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, 2015.