June 27, 2012

On Sunday, June 24, Senior Adviser Dr. Maher Hathout shared the core teachings of Islam at The Guibord Center - Religion Inside Out’s "101 Series."

The program started with an warm welcome from the Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord, Founder and President of The Guibord Center, who spoke about her longstanding relationship with MPAC.

In his brief talk, Dr. Hathout addressed the meaning and significance of Islam and the word "Allah," the nature of belief, prophets and messengers in Islam.

Dr. Hathout then fielded questions for approximately an hour-and-a-half on a wide range of topics from the audience. The first half of the discussion involved issues such as apostasy in Islam, the abrogation of verses in the Quran, Islam and the state, the early writing of the Quran, Jesus in Islam and Christianity and Muslim responses to terrorism.

The mood then lightened during the second half of the discussion as Dr. Hathout warmed the crowd with his thoughtfulness, honesty and sense of humor. He outlined different Muslim views towards homosexuality, racism, jihad, Muslim and non-Muslim relations in America, the status of women, domestic abuse, Muslim youth service projects and religious tolerance.   

Among many memorable moments, at one point Dr. Hathout noted that using distinctions such as progressive and conservative, or even Christian, Muslim and Jewish, are often limiting because the real challenge is to overcome ignorance within and across all faiths.

Click here to hear a discussion between Dr. Hathout and the Rev. Dr. Guibod on the Straight Talk podcast about interfaith relations.