Imam Faisal arriving in Edinburgh

A PROMINENT American Muslim leader, author and activist involved with the creation of a peacemaking Islamic community centre near Ground Zero in New York, arrives Scotland on Friday 26 August for a series of talks and events connected with the 2011 Festival of Spirituality and Peace in Edinburgh.

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf will be speaking at a discussion on 9/11, entitled ‘The Day the World Changed’, on Saturday 27 August, from 9.30 to 10.30am at St John’s Church, Lothian Road, and on Wednesday 31 August, from 6.30 to 8.00pm. at Wellington Church, University Avenue, Glasgow.
He will also be receiving a Peace Award at the closing event of the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, on Sunday 28 August, at 6.00pm at St John’s Church, and will be meeting religious and civic leaders while he is here.

Tickets for the Edinburgh conversation (£6 or £4 concessions, free to under1 8s and claimants) from Hub Tickets, Castlehill, Edinburgh (http://www.hubtickets.co.uk/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=1188), or on the door - though getting advanced tickets is highly recommended.

Sowing and reaping after 9/11

SAMUEL Huntingdon postulated in 1992 that we were facing a 'clash of civilizations' between 'the West' and Islam. 

Many contested that analysis but than worried that with 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' the prophecy was coming true. But with the killing of Osama Bin Laden the democratic Arab revolutions, can we now be more hopeful about the future? Here Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, journalist and author, is in conversation with David Pratt, foreign editor of the Sunday Herald.

Islam is not monolithic, says Alibhai Brown

THE idea that Islam is monolithic, violent and universally opposed to democratic values is a simplistic but persuasive notion that suits hardliners, including al-Qaeda sympthisers and the neo-conservative right, says journalist and author Yasmin Alibhai Brown.

Ms Alibhai Brown was in conversation with David Pratt, foreign editor of the Sunday Herald newspaper, at the Festival of Spirituality and Peace this morning.

Rehearsing the contours of a complex and variegated history of Islam over the centuries, Ms Alibhai Brown said that the contribution of Muslims to modern society was often overlooked. For example, many top IVF doctors in Britain are Arabs, she pointed out.

Full report here.