This event will start with a 10 minute specially recorded message from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf addressing our Bradford audience. 

The tenth century theologian, writer and mystic Al-Ghazali is one of the
most important and influential Islamic scholars of all time and his
seminal work the Ihya’ Ulum al-Din’ (The Revival of Religious
Sciences), blending critical thought and theology with al-Ghazali’s
mystic experiences of Sufism, had a significant impact on medieval Muslim
and Christian philosophy. Many Muslim scholars consider this work to be
the most important literary contribution for Muslims after the Qur’an and
Hadith.

We are delighted to host the UK launch of the Ghazali Children’s Project
which has been created to impart the beauty of this work to children
through storytelling, guided reflection, and instruction to teach them how
to preserve the pure hearts they were born with. The project has created
beautifully illustrated books and workbooks for children as well as parent
and teacher manuals.

In this event Aisha Gray Henry, head of non-profit interfaith publishing
house Fons Vitae, which has created the series, will be discussing the
project, why the writings of al Ghazali remain important and relevant in
the twenty-first century, and the critical importance of conveying this
message to the next generation.

About The Academic

Aisha Gray Henry

Aisha Gray Henry became an international lecturer and publisher of world religions after completing a programme in Islamic studies at Cairo’s Azhar University (1969-1979). She co-founded and directed the Islamic Texts Society in Cambridge, while completing an MA in Education. In 1997 she founded Fons Vitae, an educational charity, focused on the spiritual heritage of Islam, which was honoured at a 2015 Congress in Morocco.

Contributors

Aftab Malik

Aftab Malik is the former Scholar-in-Residence at the Lebanese Muslim Association, Sydney, and a former Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Ethnicity and Culture (University of Birmingham). He is currently a designated Global Expert on Muslim affairs for the UN Alliance of Civilizations and serves as an advisory board member for the British Council’s “Our Shared Future” project based in Washington D.C., which aims to improve the public conversation about Muslims and intercultural relations in the US and Europe.

Hamza Yusuf

Hamza Yusuf is the current president of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California and for almost a decade, has been consecutively ranked as “The Western world’s most influential Islamic scholar” by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).Yusuf is one of the leading proponents of classical learning in Islam and has also been a strong advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. He has authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), Walk on Water (2010), and The Prayer of the Oppressed (2010).

About The Curator

Dr Muhammad Isa Waley

Curator for Persian & Turkish, Asian and African Studies at British Library
Expertise: Persian, Turkish and Arabic manuscripts: palaeography, codicology, illumination, illustration, cataloguing etc.

Dr Waley is a Member of the Islamic Manuscript Association. Dr Waley co-authored a recent (2014) publication The Mughals: Life, Art and Culture: Mughal Manuscripts and Paintings in the British Library. The publication showcases an extensive collection of illustrated manuscripts and paintings that depict the splendour and vibrant colour of Mughal life. From scenes of country life, including lively hunting parties and formal portraits of emperors, to illustrations of works of literature which manage to convey complex storylines in a single image, many of these works have never been published.