Democracy, Pluralism and Political Ethics in Middle East; in an Interview With Prof. Abdulaziz Sachedina

Abstract

Abdulaziz Abdulhussein Sachedina hails from Tanzania (originally is from India) and he was educated in Tanzania, India, Iran, Iraq, and Canada. After completing the school in Tanzania, he traveled to India and did his B.A. General in Philosophy, Political Science, and Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University. Then, he did another bachelor’s degree in Persian language and literature in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and he simultaneously received seminary (religious) education in Iran. During his stay in Iran, he was strongly influenced by Dr. Ali Shariati as one of his students. Afterwards, he traveled to Canada, started his education at the University of Toronto in 1971, and got his MA and PhD in Middle East and Islamic Studies. After graduating in 1976, at the same year he joined the University of Virginia, the Department of Religious Studies, and remained there until 2011. Now, he is Chair, Religious Studies and Professor of Islamic Studies in International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) at George Mason University, Virginia. He has also taught at other Universities and institutes in US, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and so on. He has been teaching courses on Classical Islam, Islam in the Modern Age, Islam, Democracy and Human Rights, Islamic Bioethics and Muslim Theology. Because of his pluralist view on religions, Ayatollah Sistani issued a statement (fatwa) against him in 1998 that advised Muslims not to listen to his talks or to ask him questions about religious matters. In addition to his work at the university, he has been a consultant to the United States Department of State and Department of Defense, regarding the spiritual and moral dimensions, Middle Eastern affairs, and the question of the freedom of religion in Islam and related topics. In this relation, he was also an adviser to those drafting the Constitution of Iraq that was put into effect in 2005. His doctoral dissertation was published under Islamic Messianism in 1980. Some of his other works are The Just Ruler in Shi’ite Islam (al-sultan al-‘adil), 1988, Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures, 1988, The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism, 2002, The Islamic World: Past and Present, 2004, Islamic Biomedical Ethics, 2009, Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights, 2009.