On April 1st, 2014, Pacifica Institute was honored to host Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl. Dr. El Fadl is one of the most important and influential Islamic thinkers of this time. He is a Professor of Law at the UCLA school of Law where he teaches Islamic Law, Immigration, Human Rights, International and National Security Law. He holds a B.A. from Yale University, a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a M.A. Ph.D. from Princeton University. Dr. El Fadl was previously appointed by President George W. Bush as a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. In 2005 he was named a Carnegie Scholar in Islam and in 2007 he was a recipient of the University of Oslo Human Rights Award, the Lisl and Leo Eitinger Prize. Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is a strong proponent of human rights and a world renowned expert in Islamic law.
Dr. El Fadl began the evening referencing his book titled “The Great Theft: Wresting Islam from the Extremist” and his sequel to that book which will be titled “Reasoning With God”. The sequel represents Dr. El Fadl’s thoughts after The Great Theft. He talked about extremism and how it does not pertain to only one faith, especially Islam. Almost every faith and/or belief can have a form of extremism which is based on theological and/or ideological forms of dogma. Faith and belief can be very narrow minded, meaning that things are seen in one perspective and nothing else. What people have struggled with is that while they make their claim about their faith and belief, they should not ignore or dismiss other belief systems and their teachings.
He referenced philosophical debates that existed in pre-Islamic times in Greek, Persian, and Jewish Philosophy. Morality, right and wrong, good versus bad and divine being have long existed. El Fadl also went on talk about Wahabism which is particular historical movement founded on the idea of cleansing sociological and anthropological practices in areas in which it spread. He informed the audience on the history of Wahabism and how they assigned themselves the duty to cleanse Mecca and Medina from corruption and heresies.
Dr. El Fadl then ended the event with Q and A from the audience. Pacifica Institute would like to thank Dr. El Fadl for a memorable and informative presentation and its guests for attending.
