How should Muslims address moral arguments to non-Muslims? If there is no moral knowledge outside revelation, then it seems such arguments, which are saliently addressed by Muslims to non-Muslim interlocutors on topics including justice for Palestine, anti-Muslim prejudice, and many other issues, must be something other than good faith appeals to reason. This has disturbing implications for co-operation in pursuit of justice along religious lines.

However, many Muslim theologians have held that humans can, independently of revelation, at least discern in broad outlines the goodness or badness of certain features of the world. Does this position permit sufficiently determinate knowledge to ground a shared moral standpoint between Muslims and others? If so, what is the content of this standpoint and what are its political implications?

Dr Ramon Harvey, Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Cambridge Muslim College, is a leading expert in the Maturidi school of Islamic theology and in the philosophical tradition of ‘natural law’, which holds that determinate knowledge of right and wrong, grounded in God’s wisdom, is accessible outside revelation and can serve as the basis for a shared moral standpoint across religious lines.

Dr Harvey will address the Seminar (in person), followed by open discussion and questions.

To gain maximum benefit from the session, participants are encouraged to read a short paper by Dr Harvey beforehand, which will be provided upon registration. Additional readings will also be provided for those wishing to go deeper into the topic.

This Seminar is part of the Oxford Islam and Justice Programme, which explores fundamental questions about the relationship between the Islamic intellectual tradition and conceptions of justice appropriate for religiously plural societies.

More information on the series can be found at:

docs.google.com/document/d/10KAf2zssJd8J1KquEDTcC2WRBtWn45KLkvkqNMbVBio/edit?usp=sharing