On Friday 5 October 2007 I traveled to Casablanca in Morocco on the invitation of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to deliver one of the Hasaniyya lectures in the month of Ramadan 1428 AH. On Tuesday 9 October 2007/27 Ramadan 1428 (26 Ramadan 1428 in terms of the Moroccan calculation of the Islamic calendar) I delivered my address to His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco titled "Ethical Challenges to Contemporary Islamic Thought."
The talk was delivered in the ancient Qarawiyin Mosque, built in 859 AD। It was a great honor as well as a humbling experience to sit on the lecturer's chair of the oldest mosque-university in the world and sit in the shadow and specter of the greatest scholars of Islam.
The Hasaniyya lectures were instituted by the late King Hasan II several decades ago, aimed at reviving and honoring an age-old Islamic tradition where scholars address monarchs and rulers on teachings of religion.
For further details see: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/10/moosa.html
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Thanks, Ebrahim. This is really great. We are really proud of you.
I have been introducing Morocco to my students at UCT, and was talking about Ibn Khaldun's complex characterization of the relationship between power and religion. And there you go actually delivering a lecture to the King. Is this providence?
What are your thoughts on this issue?
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