Lebanon's Dialogue with the West

Lebanon’s Dialogue with the West:

Ameen Rihani and Arab Civilization

June 7, 2006 7:00 pm Kay Spiritual Center American University

Co-sponsored by AMEEN RIHANI INSTITUTE & AMERICAN UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR GLOBAL PEACE

Opening Remarks: Dr. Abdul Aziz Said Dr. Abdul Aziz Said is the Senior Ranking Faculty Member at the American University (AU), the first occupant of the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, the Director of the Center for Global Peace, and the Director and founder of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program at AU. Dr. Said is a frequent lecturer and participant in national and international peace conferences. His deep commitment to global peace and the fundamentals of political coexistence, cultural diversity and ecological balance has furthered the expansion of peace and conflict resolution studies. Dr. Said has written, co-authored and edited more than 15 books including Concepts of International Politics in Global Perspective (4th Ed.), and Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam: Precept and Practice, Minding the Heart (forthcoming).

The Speaker: Dr. Suheil Bushrui Dr. Suheil Bushrui is a distinguished author, poet, critic, translator and media personality, well known in the US, Europe and the Arab world. Dr. Bushrui has done extensive work in Arabic and English on Ameen Rihani and his intellectual legacy as a bridge-builder between the East and the West. Dr. Bushrui holds the Bahá'í Chair for World Peace in the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland, a position to which he was appointed as the first incumbent in July 1992. He is also the founder and director of the Kahlil Gibran Research and Studies Project at the University of Maryland, which is the first academic forum in the world devoted to the preservation of Gibran's legacy and the promotion of EastWest intercultural relations.

Dr. Bushrui is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Lebanese National Order of Merit, London University's Una Ellis-Fermor Literary Prize, the Silver Medal of Merit of the Vatican-sponsored Military and Religious Order of Constantine and St. George, the Life Achievement Award of the Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut, and the Temple of Understanding's Juliet Hollister Award for exceptional service to interfaith understanding, which has honored numerous luminaries such as the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and President Nelson Mandela. In May, 2004, Dr. Bushrui received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin & Marshall College in recognition of his “considerable contributions to the promotion of world peace.” Dr. Bushrui's publications are extensive in both English and Arabic; his work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. In addition to his many books in Arabic and English, Dr. Bushrui is the author of scholarly articles on topics such as interreligious understanding, intercultural communication, conflict resolution and global issues.

About this Lecture Ameen Rihani and East-West Relations In an age of global upheaval and polarizing rhetoric, characterized by some as a ‘clash of civilizations’, the need for increased cultural exchange between the peoples of the world, especially the West and the Arab world, has never been greater. Economically motivated attempts at creating mutual understanding between the East and the West, and politically driven peaceprocesses of recent decades, have failed to produce lasting peace. It is only by transcending the political and materialistic premises of the past century - through a deeper exchange, rooted in the spiritual and cultural heritage of humanity - that we may develop the qualities of appreciation, acceptance, and forgiveness needed in a global age of religious and cultural diversity. Lebanon's tradition of diversity - a microcosm of religious pluralism provides a significant model of study during a time of distrust, strife, and confusion. As no other country in the Middle East, Lebanon has been shaped by the convergence between the traditions of East and West, Christianity and Islam. In the midst of the current realities engulfing the Middle East - including the conflict between tradition and modernity, nationalism and sectarianism, as well as tolerance and exclusivism - the message of the Lebanese thinker Ameen Rihani remains as significant in the twenty-first century as it did during his own lifetime.

“There are some important liberal Arab intellectuals who firmly believe a broader revival of Rihani's work would be a balm for the world... Rihani articulated an inspiring sense of dual identity. He was an Arab and an American, a perspective critic of both worlds, and his writings are a constant dialogue between two identities he refused to collapse with anything so simple as a hyphen... There is an openness and sincerity in his writing that is charismatic. Rihani is the voice that trumps any notion of a fundamental incompatibility between East and West.”

Philip Kennicott The Washington Post

To learn more about Ameen Rihani go to http://www.ameenrihani.org/ 7:00 pm, Wednesday June 7, 2006 Kay Spiritual Center The American University 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016 Free parking available in Nebraska Lot. View map at: www.american.edu/maps_html/maincampus.html