Equality and Difference Series Begins with Speaker Tariq Ramadan

By Erica Turman
September 8, 2017

Tariq Ramadan, HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University, is the first speaker in the 2017-18 Equality and Difference series, sponsored by the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics at Washington and Lee University. This event will be held on Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. in Lee Chapel.

Ramadan will speak on “Equality as a Social Requirement and a Human Ideal.” It is free and open to the public.

Ramadan is a Swiss academic, philosopher and writer. He works primarily on Islamic theology and the status of Muslims in the West and within Muslim-majority countries. Through his writings and lectures Ramadan has contributed to the debate on the issues surrounding Islam.

Active in institutes of higher-ed around the world, Ramadan is senior research fellow at St Antony’s College at Oxford and Doshisha University in Japan. He is also a visiting professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Qatar, director of the Research Centre of Islamic Legislation and Ethics, also in Qatar, president of the think tank European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels, and is a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

The author of several books, Ramadan’s works include: “Islam: A Pelican Introduction” (2017), “The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East” (2012 and he is currently working on a book titled “Islamic Ethics: A Very Short introduction.”

He holds an M.A. in philosophy and French literature and a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva.

Ramadan’s visit is co-sponsored by the W&L Center for International Education.

The Mudd Center was established in 2010 through a gift to the university from award-winning journalist Roger Mudd, a 1950 graduate of W&L. When he made his gift, Mudd said that “given the state of ethics in our current culture, this seems a fitting time to endow a center for the study of ethics, and my university is the fitting home.”

Ramadan’s talk will be streamed live online at https://livestream.com/wlu/tariq-ramadan.

For full details on this series, visit: https://www.wlu.edu/mudd-center.

Angela Smith, director of the Mudd Center, shares her thoughts on the Equality and Difference lecture series:

Upcoming Equality and Difference speaker dates and times are:

• Tuesday, Oct. 3, 12 p.m.: Julie Woodzicka (Hillel Multipurpose Room)
• Thursday, Oct. 26, 5 p.m.: T.M. Scanlon (Stackhouse Theater)
• Wednesday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m..: Maggie Little (Hillel Multipurpose Room)
• Thursday, Nov. 30, 5 p.m.: Laura I. Gomez (Stackhouse Theatre)
• Thursday, Jan. 25, 5 p.m.: Devon Carbado (Stackhouse Theatre)
• Thursday, Feb. 8, 5 p.m.: Suzan-Lori Parks (Stackhouse Theatre)
• Wednesday, Feb. 14, 5 p.m.: Katherine Boo (Stackhouse Theatre)
• Thursday, March 8, 5 p.m.: Miranda Fricker (Hillel Multipurpose Room)