Visiting Fulbright
Scholar From Bangladesh
Guest Lectures at Cal State Fullerton While Studying Jewish Culture
His Father told him to “Do
something that will help bring Hindus and Muslims together
and promote understanding.”
December 22, 2006:: No. 107
When Kazi Nurul Islam was a senior in high school in Bangladesh,
undecided on what to study, he asked his father for advice.
Born of a Muslim mother but raised by a Hindu woman after
his mother died when he was an infant, Islam’s father
offered this suggestion: “Do something that will help
bring Hindus and Muslims together and promote understanding.”
Islam, chair of the University of Dhaka’s Department
of World Religions, took his father’s advice to heart
and has spent the past few decades working on building bridges
between religions.
Muslim himself, Islam spent five years in the 1970s in India
studying the Hindu religion and culture. He also studied
Christianity and Judaism in England and Buddhism and Shinto
in Japan and Korea. Today, he is a Fulbright scholar, studying
Jewish culture in America. He arrived in Fullerton this month
and will spend the next six months guest lecturing in comparative
religion courses at Cal State Fullerton while researching
Judaism and the significance and historical background of
Jewish festivals.
His goal is to return to his university in Bangladesh and
establish a center for Jewish-Muslim studies. He created
the Department of World Religions there in 1997, 16 years
after having founded a chapter of the Warm Heart Association,
an interfaith organization with a mission to warm hearts
through kind words.
“The
entire world is facing a serious crisis today and religion
is being blamed,” Islam recently told students in one
of the world religion courses taught by Benjamin Hubbard,
emeritus professor of comparative religion. “There
are fanatics in all religions, and these fanatics are causing
problems for everyone; for example, in the Middle East where
Jews and Muslims — though both members of Abrahamic
faiths — are unfortunately in conflict.”
World peace can be achieved through unity between the world’s
religions, Islam said.
“We must respect people of other faiths and learn from
them,” he said. “I hope the day will come when
religious studies will be compulsory for any major. It is
our dream to make our young people enlightened citizens of
the world. Learning about different religions makes us true
human beings.”
As technological advances make global connections possible,
Islam noted, “it’s high time we got to know one
another, respect one another. That will bring peace on earth
and destroy mistrust.”
Hubbard, Islam’s Fulbright sponsor, added: “Religion
is incredibly important in terms of global peace. Building
bridges is a good sign of hope in a world of hatred.”
He said the largest religions in the world are Christianity,
with 2 billion followers; Islam, with 1.3 billion; Hinduism,
with 950 million; Buddhism, with 350 million; Sikhism, with
22 million; Judaism, with 14 million; and Baha’i, with
6 million.
Such diversity makes dialogue between the followers of different
faiths imperative for harmony, Hubbard said.
That’s why Islam’s work is astounding, he said. “It
is quite extraordinary for a Muslim scholar to want to study
Judaism, and Jewish festivals in particular, in such depth.
Dr. Islam wants to establish a center for Jewish-Muslim studies
in Bangladesh — also an amazing goal, in light of the
strained relations between Jews and Muslims. He will be a
wonderful asset to our department and the university as a
whole.”
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