The Book in Arab/Muslim Civilization

- At the Opening Session “The Meaning of the Book in Human Civilization”, Second International Summit of The Book, Singapore

Today, under the theme of “the Book by any Name” we are exploring the role of the Book in Human Civilization. Whatever the topic, whatever the platform, the Book is central to any civilization. Today, I will address two inter-twined aspects: the Book in the Arab/Muslim Civilization and the extension of that in the last 500 years into western Civilization.

Closing Ceremony of The Initiatives in Education, Science and Culture

Enhanced US Muslim Conference Opening Ceremony

Memory, Culture and Hope: Reinventing Relations between the West and The Muslims

- Dublin

Dr. Serageldin delivered this presentation entitled “Memory, Culture and Hope: Reinventing Relations between the West and The Muslims” in Dublin.

Our Arab Culture and the Culture of Knowledge

- Beirut Arab University Awards Serageldin Honorary Doctorate in Arts

يَطِيبُ لي في هذا الموقفِ الكريمِ - حيثُ تُطَوِّقونَ عُنُقِي بِإكْلِيلٍ منْ زُهورِ المحبةِ والتقديرِ الأكاديميِّ - أنْ أنحنيَ أمامَكُم امتِنَانًا وعِرفانًا، وأنْ أحرِصَ في كلماتِي على التزامِ أقصَى درجاتِ الصدقِ والمصارحةِ الودودِ، وأنا أُدْلِي لكم بشهادَتِي في تلكَ اللحظةِ، عنْ رُؤيتِي المتواضعةِ، للأسئلةِ التي تطرَحُهَا ثقافَتُنَا العربيةُ في مواجهةِ ثقافةِ العصرِ الذي نحياهُ، بكلِّ آمالِه وتحدياتهِ، بإنجازاتِه وإخفاقاتِه.

Islamic Civilization and Science

- Alexandria

Dr. Serageldin delivered this presentation entitled “Islamic Civilization and Science” at the Library of Alexandria.

Remaking Our World: The West and the Muslims

- Lisbon

Dr. Serageldin delivered this presentation entitled “Remaking Our World: The West and the Muslims” in Lisbon.

Restructurer le Monde: L’Occident et les Musulmans

- Lisbon

Dr. Serageldin delivered this presentation entitled “Restructurer le Monde: L’Occident et les Musulmans” in Lisbon.

Reflecting on a Glorious Past to Build A Brilliant Future

- An Adress to a seminar organized by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Religions for Peace, Oslo, Norway

Thank you for inviting me to deliver this important address. There has never been a time when the polarization of feelings has been as acute, and the stakes for the promotion of common understanding and mutual respect as great as right now. The advocates of the ostensible "clash of civilizations” who want to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy, find ample comfort in the statements and actions of the extremist few.

Islam and Democracy

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

Thank you for inviting me to deliver this important address. There has never been a time when the polarization of feelings has been as acute, and the stakes for the promotion of common understanding and mutual respect as great as right now. The advocates of the ostensible "clash of civilizations” who want to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy, find ample comfort in the statements and actions of the extremist few. The media amplify the statements and views of those who do not want to know better, and the voices of reason are drowned out in the cacophony of images and messages that preach hatred and destruction.

Islam, Science and Values

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

Consider the paradoxes of our times. We live in a world of plenty, of dazzling scientific advances and technological breakthroughs. Adventures in cyberspace are at hand. The Cold War is over, and with that we were offered the hope of global stability. Yet, our times are marred by conflict, violence, debilitating economic uncertainties and tragic poverty. Globalization and the assertion of local group specificity seem to be everywhere. Worse, we live in a world where the rising inequities between the rich and the poor are everywhere, nationally and internationally. But these inequities are probably even more acute in the domain of knowledge, at the time when the world is hurtling towards the information-based society.

Keynote Speech of Ali Gomaa, Ismail Serageldin & William Vendley

Liberating the Muslim Mind: Towards a Muslim Renaissance

Consider the paradox of our times. We live in a world of plenty, of dazzling scientific advances and technological breakthroughs. Adventures in cyberspace are at hand. The Cold War is over, and with that we were offered the hope of global stability. Yet, our times are marred by conflict, violence, debilitating economic uncertainties and tragic poverty.

Liberating the Arab Mind: Essential Tasks for the Arab Renaissance

- Keynote Speech Delivered at the 28^th AAUG Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.

I am honored to have been invited here tonight to share with you dreams of an Arab renaissance. Our dreams. More importantly the dreams that animate each and every one of the millions that identify themselves as Arab.

Mirrors and Windows

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

Frontiers are an invention of the mind. We set boundaries for ourselves and others by what we choose to see as reality and by what we choose to value.

But men and women are social creatures, and individual behavior is subjected to the control of widely shared social values. These boundaries that define the limits of acceptable behavior also tend to reflect and reinforce limits on acceptable thinking.

The Justly Balanced Society

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

I grew up in a civilized and secure environment where material well-being was taken for granted by the children, the social graces were held in high esteem by the parents, and culture was appreciated by all. Above all, the pursuit of knowledge, in the broadest sense, was idolized. My two sisters and I read English, French, and Arabic, on almost every subject. Conversation was substantive and sharp, almost with a debater's edge, tempered only by the civility enforced by our elders.

Space for Freedom : The Search for Architectural Excellence in Muslim Societies

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

Faith and the Environment

 Ismail Serageldin    Download

As the Muslim world shakes and stirs in a fitful search to reaffirm its independent identity, it confronts the cultural as well as the political realities of a world dominated by the West generally and the United States specifically. This has lead many in the Muslim world to define their identities by emphasizing the "otherness" of the Muslim being from the hegemonic world context.1 Doubtless there is much truth to this "otherness", but emphasizing it at the outset leads to a "rejectionist" approach which, to my mind, is narrow and constrictive and in fact does not do justice to the richness and variety that Muslim culture has achieved in the past, and can achieve again, by the more self-assured process of adaptive assimilation that characterised its confrontations with the Greek and Roman cultures at the time of the early Muslim conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries A.D.

Arab Civilization: From Current Crises to Future Horizons

- Two Lectures at Beirut Arab University