Lecturer examines Muslim society and the challenge of the Qur’an


A recognized authority on comparative study of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations, as well as inter-religious dialogue, will present this year’s second instalment of the annual York-Noor lecture series. Professor Mahmoud M. Ayoub of Temple University will give two lectures on Nov. 6 and 8, at the Noor Cultural Centre and at York University, titled, “Muslim Society and the Challenge of the Qur’an” and “The Qur’an and Its Exegesis: Principles of Tafsir”.


Right: Mahmoud M. Ayoub of Temple University


Ayoub is a professor and director of Islamic studies in the Department of Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, an adjunct professor at the Duncan Black Macdonald Center, Hartford Seminary, and a Research Fellow at the Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania. He received his BA in philosophy from the American University of Beirut, master’s in religious thought from the University of Pennsylvania, and PhD in the history of religions from Harvard University.


He has previously taught at San Diego State University, the University of Toronto and McGill University. Since spring 1999, he has also been a visiting professor at the University of Balamand, Lebanon, where he helped devise and launch a master’s program in Muslim-Christian relations and comparative religion. He is the author of Redemptive Suffering in Islam, The Qur’an and Its Interpreters; The Crisis of Muslim History: Religion and Politics in Early Islam; Islam: Faith and History; and Dirasat fi al-‘Alaqat al- Masihiyyah al-Islamiyyah (Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations).


Details of the upcoming session of the York-Noor Lecture Series


Saturday, Nov. 6, 7 to 9pm
Muslim Society and the Challenge of the Qur’an
Noor Cultural Centre
123 Wynford Drive, Toronto (DVP/Wynford Drive)


Monday, Nov. 8, noon to 2:30pm
The Qur’an and Its Exegesis:Principles of Tafsir
Room 021 Winters College
Keele campus, York University