“Dispute With Them In The Best Way”

A view from Wikimedia Commons of Manly Beach — While we’re talking about my upcoming trip, there’s one question that I urgently need to clear up: Contrary to widespread rumor, Manly Beach, in New South Wales, near Sydney, Australia, wasn’t, as a matter of fact, named in my honor. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

News about the Middle East and/or the world of Islam:

“Jerusalem mayoral race exposes religious-secular rift”

“The plight of Asia Bibi should have everyone in the West trembling”

“Neighborhood Watch: Will Asian Countries Turn a Blind Eye to Uyghur Issues in China? Will any of China’s neighbors speak out against its abuses at home? A major UN review offers a sobering assessment.”

“What most Americans get wrong about Islamophobia: An expert explains why it’s more complicated than you’d think.”

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Two more passages from the Qur’an that I translated for inclusion in my lecture at the University of Notre Dame Australia on 27 November. I like them, and thought that I would share them with you:

Call to the way of God with wisdom and beautiful preaching and dispute with them in the best way.[1]

And do not dispute with the people of the Scripture except in the best way, except with those among them who commit injustice. And say, “We believe in what has been revealed to us and in what has been revealed to you. Our God and your God is one, and we submit to him.[2]

[1] Q 16:125.

[2] Q 29:46.

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I have to confess that, having considered those who have previously delivered the annual Religious Liberty Lecture there in Sydney — mine will be the seventh in the series — I wondered for quite some time what I might have to offer. Perhaps, I feared, nothing. Unlike my predecessors, I am neither a cardinal nor an apostle nor an attorney nor a professor of law. I actually briefly considered trying to masquerade (for at least about an hour) as a legal scholar. So I began compiling bibliographies of articles and books about Islam and religious freedom. Finally, though, I just decided to be what and who I am. I hope that the audience will find that enough, and that they won’t consider the evening a lamentable waste of their time.

Apparently I’m also going to do a radio interview with Rachael Kohn of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) while I’m there. This will be at least the third time that she’s interviewed me. Maybe even the fourth. Once in Provo and at least once previously in Sydney. I like her. She’s very bright.

“Dispute with them in the best way”