MONTREAL/September 30, 2004—
JEWS AND MUSLIMS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
The History Department is pleased to announce the inaugural lecture of the Saleh Sassoon Mahlab Lecture Series on the History of Jewish-Muslim Relations.
The lecture, entitled ì Jews and Muslims in the Middle Agesî will be given by distinguished scholar, Mark Cohen, Princeton University's Professor of Near Eastern Studies, and a well-known historian of the Jews in Arab lands in the Middle Ages. His lecture will take place on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 from 4-6 p.m. at Concordia's J.A. De Seve Cinema, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd W.
The series is supported by the generosity of Naim Sassoon Mahlab, who has endowed it in memory of his father, Saleh Sassoon Mahlab, a Jewish merchant who traveled widely in the Arab world. He was a personal friend of the founder of the Kuweiti dynasty of al Sabah, and built the first ice factory there in 1913. The family lived in a Muslim milieu and had a lot of friends who were Muslims.
Mahlab is funding the lecture series to tell the Montreal public, and the student body in particular, that there is a long history of Muslim-Jewish co-operation. He is shocked by the ìdeep anti-Semitismî of some Christian Canadians. ìAnti-Semitism is a creation of Christianity and not Islam,î he says. ìAlthough the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is creating anti-Jewish feelings among Muslims, the Muslim religion, unlike Christianity, does not foster anti-Semitism.î
He hopes to plant a seed that will foster an interest in these groups to delve into the history of Muslim-Jewish relations. He is convinced that once the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, things will, after a lapse of time, go back to normal.
The series is being organized by history professor Dana Sajdi. For more information about the series, please contact her at: dsajdi@alcor.concordia.ca
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