An Introduction to Islamic Civilization

Mondays, September 15, 22, 29, & October 6—7 p.m.
St. John’s Episcopal Church
Elm &  Westminster Streets, Walpole, NH

Presenter: Javed Chaudhri

• September 15—The Rise of Islam -- Pre-Islamic Arabia. Muhammad and the Faith. Law, Morality, Politics and the State in early Islam. The Spread of the Empire and the Faith
• September 22—The Apogee -- The Islamic Empire, relations with neighboring empires, peoples and faiths, the development of the Islamic State, the origins of the Crusades, the gulf between Muslims and Christians, and the place of Christians, Jews and other faiths in the Islamic world
• September 29—The Decay -- The Rise and Triumph of the West. Mercantilism, Colonialism and Imperialism and the subjugation of the Muslim World, the Muslim Renaissance, the view of the West in Modern Islam, the Cold War and the choices Islamic countries made, and modernity, social and economic development.
• October 6—Muslims and the Road to Modernity   -- featuring visual images of paintings, photographs from the early history of Islam, the sharing of ideas, themes, styles between the Christian world and the Muslim.

Javed Chaudhri is a gifted speaker. Born  and raised in Pakistan, Javed graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont with High Honors in History, returned to Pakistan for 5 years and worked for Unilever. In 1971, he returned to the US to attend the New School in NYC and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, from where he earned a graduate degree in Anthropology. Javed taught briefly at the Community College of Vermont and then settled down in Montreal. In 1980 he again returned to Pakistan shortly after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and stayed for twenty years, traveling to India, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. He became a well known and successful business manager and consultant, taught business in graduate school and re-established close ties with many of the political and military personalities as well as business leaders whom he had grown up with. He has spoken at various fora, schools, colleges, churches and peace rallies in the United States on Afghanistan, Iraq, Islam and the Muslim World.

Javed is a lay member of a unique interfaith group, the Brattleboro Area Clergy whose members seek to work in unison as inheritors of the Abrahamic tradition.

Javed is returning to Walpole, having been part of the Spring 2008 Lectures. He has a rich understanding of the need for understanding between people of different cultures and faiths.  He will also provide a unique perspective on the current events and political uncertainty in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. We look forward to welcoming him back to St. John’s Church .  

This is a fascinating and relevant community program. Don’t miss it!

Information: 603-756-4533