The AMSS UK is pleased to announce that its prestigious Building Bridges Award for 2008 has been given to ‘A CommonWord’ project. The announcement was made in a message by Dr. Anas S. Al-Shaikh-Ali, Chair of AMSS UK, and conveyed by his eminence Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia and member of the AMSS UK Advisory Board, at the Opening Lectures of ‘A Common Word and Future Muslim-Christian Engagement’ conference convened by the Rt. Hon. Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, arranged in collaboration with Cambridge University Interfaith Programme and hosted by the University of Cambridge on 12-15 October 2008.
A Message from Dr.Anas Al-Shaikh-Ali, Chair of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (UK):
I would like to express my thanks and deep appreciation for having been invited to attend this Conference. Although entirely committed to A Common Word project, regrettably circumstances and prior commitments have prevented my attendance.
The importance of A Common Word Between Us and You, and Dr. Rowan Williams’ esteemed support and letter, A Common Word for the Common Good, signal a new era of mutual respect and harmony between our two Abrahamic faiths. In recognition of this outstanding effort to unify communities separated by race, ethnicity, culture and religion it is with great pleasure that we announce that the Executive Committee of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS UK) has decided to give its prestigious 2008 Building Bridges Award to A Common Word project.
Living and working together in diversity is a challenge and religious beliefs and differences in cultures can sometimes give rise to deep-seated negativities. A Common Word project is a superb initiative to not only generate awareness, understanding, and respect, but also, and most importantly, establish trust through promoting interfaith dialogue, conflict resolution and intellectual discourse.
The Building Bridges Award was inaugurated in 2002 by AMSS (UK), a non-profit organization based in London and committed to the development of perspectives on contemporary local and global issues through research, scholarship, conferences and publications. The award is given for outstanding accomplishment by individuals, groups and organizations. Previous distinguished recipients have been, in date order, Charles Le Gai Eaton (2003), Karen Armstrong (2004), the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams (2005), Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero of Spain and Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan of Turkey (2006), and Professor Ekmeledin Ihsnaoglu, Secretary General of the OIC (2007).
The Award will be presented at an appropriate venue and time to be decided. We wish the conference every success.