Conference Honors Mahmoud Ayoub

Professor Mahmoud Ayoub, Faculty Associate in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, was honored at a conference on Shi'a Islam, sponsored by Global Scholarly Publications, on Friday, August 24 in New York City. The title of the conference was "Shi'a Tradition and the New Iranian Vision of the 21st Century."

At the conference, Dr. Ayoub presented a paper on "Shi'ism between the two extremes of exaggeration and misrepresentation."

Attending were Seminary President Heidi Hadsell, who introduced Dr. Ayoub, and Jonathan Lee, Director of Institutional Advancement.

The conference included a series of speakers on Shi'a studies, followed by a second set of speakers on "the 21st century encounter between religion, ecology and diplomacy."

Parviz Morewedge, conference organizer, said of Dr. Ayoub, "There is a general consensus among scholars in religion that Mahmoud Ayoub is one of the world's best scholars in Islamic studies. A remarkable feature of Mahmoud is that he is very well informed about other religious traditions and has very orignal ideas."

Following the conference, there are plans to publish the presentations in a collection of essays.

Also presenting a paper, on the Muslim philosopher Avicenna, was Seminary Professor Yahya Michot, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations.