Where: Heythrop College, University of London
by Ozcan Keles, Director of Dialogue Society, London

Abstract

Ozcan Keles, Executive Director of the Dialogue Society will deliver the afternoon keynote speech at ‘The Human Person’ Postgraduate Research Conference at Heythrop College, Unversity of London on Saturday, 23rd May 2009 at 4pm. The lecture will address the centrality of the human person in the creation of God in Islam and how this relates to the wider issue of dialogue with God, dialogue with each other and dialogue with wider creation. According to Islam, the human person was created to discover, know and love God. The purpose of worship is to achieve the status of loving God. In the words of Gazzali, the famous Islamic thinker, worship of God out of fear is the lowest form or worship while worship out of love of God is the highest form of worship. Existence therefore is to know and love. One cannot love that which one does not know. One attains knowledge of God by knowing oneself, through knowing each other and discovering wider creation. This in turn is achieved by dialogue. The second part of the lecture will emphasise the importance of dialogue in Islam.

Attendance is closed and regulated by the University.