{"id":5713,"date":"2016-03-08T16:37:53","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T22:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=5713"},"modified":"2016-05-06T11:53:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T16:53:52","slug":"muslim-scholar-to-speak-at-canadian-mennonite-university-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2016\/muslim-scholar-to-speak-at-canadian-mennonite-university-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim scholar to speak at Canadian Mennonite University"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali of Qom, Iran to deliver lecture entitled, \u201cThe Impact of Christian-Muslim Relations on World Peace\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A revered Muslim scholar will give a public lecture exploring Christian-Muslim relations at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali, Founding Director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies (IIIS) in Qom, Iran, will present the lecture, entitled, \u201cThe Impact of Christian-Muslim Relations on World Peace,\u201d at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, March 30. Shomali will speak in Marpeck Commons (2299 Grant Ave.). Admission is free, and all are welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016_shomali.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-5714\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016_shomali-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"2016_shomali\" width=\"300\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016_shomali-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016_shomali-662x1024.jpg 662w, https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016_shomali.jpg 776w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\u201cWe are excited to host Dr. Shomali at CMU,\u201d says Dr. Harry Huebner, Director of International and Inter-Faith Theological Initiatives at CMU. \u201cHe has a deep commitment to peace, justice, love, and mercy. It will be interesting to hear him speak on the significance of the relationship between Christians and Muslims on world peace.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A successful teacher and an engaging storyteller, Shomali is a graduate of the Islamic Seminaries of Qom, and also holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Western Philosophy from the University of Tehran. He earned his PhD from the University of Manchester in the UK and wrote his doctoral thesis on ethical relativism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In addition to his work with the IIIS, Shomali is the Director of London\u2019s Islamic Centre of England.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Shomali\u2019s visit stems from an ongoing relationship between Shi\u2019a Muslim scholars from Iran and Mennonite scholars from Canada and the U.S. These scholars first met in 2002 to start an ongoing series of dialogues that aim to improve understanding between Muslims and Christians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The seventh dialogue is scheduled to take place at CMU in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Huebner adds that Islam is often misunderstood in the mainstream media, and hearing from Muslims directly is one way for people to explore new perspectives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The March 30 lecture marks the first time Shomali will make a public presentation as part of his visit to CMU, providing the public with a unique opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe news doesn\u2019t give us a good understanding of what Islam is,\u201d Huebner says. \u201cGetting to know people from Iran is one way of cutting across that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>View a report by Dr. Shomali on the lecture, as appeared in the May 2016 issue of Islam Today, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/docs\/events\/CMU_Dr._Shomali_Report_-_2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>About CMU<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU\u2019s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as\u00a0graduate degrees in theology,\u00a0ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent\u00a0students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For information about CMU visit <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/\"><em>www.cmu.ca<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For additional information, please contact:<br \/>\nKevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications &amp; Marketing<br \/>\nkkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621<br \/>\nCanadian Mennonite University<br \/>\n500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB\u00a0 R3P 2N2<\/p>\n<hr align=\"LEFT\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Footage from the public lecture event<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nwanj71pM7E[\/youtube]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali of Qom, Iran to deliver lecture entitled, \u201cThe Impact of Christian-Muslim Relations on World Peace\u201d A revered Muslim scholar will give a public lecture exploring Christian-Muslim relations at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) this month. Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali, Founding Director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies (IIIS) in Qom, Iran, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,5],"tags":[748,619,618,620,50,583],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5713"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5839,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713\/revisions\/5839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}