Abdou Filali Ansary

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Interfaith Studies (2013-2014)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Interfaith Studies brings eminent leaders and thinkers from the world’s major religions to the University of Oxford to reflect on the place of faith in society. The Visiting Professorship in Interfaith Studies has been made possible by the generous support of Gil Shiva and Xavier Guerrand-Hermes and is hosted by Trinity College, Oxford.

Abdou Filali Ansary is the founding director of the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations.

Abdou Filali Ansary’s series focused on the theme Beyond Apologetics – Approaching Religious Traditions through Modern Disciplines.

He opened his series with a study of the 12th Century Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd, a great defender of Aristotelian philosophy, who believed in the compatibility of philosophy and Islam and the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to interpreting the Qur’an.

In his second lecture, Filali Ansary built on his previous discourse by exploring the birth and development of Liberal Islam and the intrinsic challenge it posed to the ‘master narrative’ of traditional, conservative Islamic thought.

The question of Sharia law, which he mentioned alongside Salafism, then formed the basis for his third lecture, Two Concepts of Sharia?