Faith and Hope

Abstract

Born in Pakistan, educated in London, a student of physics and communications, after five years of research and study in Jeddah, a global authority on the haj—the most solemn pilgrimage of Islam—Ziauddin Sardar has spent much of his ensuing life thinking about the future, and especially his religion, in which he believes deeply. This is a future where Islam has a role, but alongside other religions in a multi-polar world. It is also a world where Shariah is an 8th century Islamic law adapted for the 21st century, and where jihad has no place at all. Dr. Sardar deeply hopes people of all faiths will come to understand each other and where conflicts based on religion, culture, or ethnicity have no place. Dubbed one of Britain’s top 100 public intellectuals, he is one of a handful of individuals who have thought deeply about the nature of the faith and how best to promote better, deeper and more peaceful understanding today. Currently, he is the director at the Centre for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies at the East-West University in Chicago.From his base in London, he talked by telephone with World Policy Journal editor & publisher David A. Andelman and managing editor Yaffa Fredrick.