IIIT hosted the Grand Mufti of Egypt Shaykh Ali Goma and The Grand Mufti of Bosnia Shaykh Mustafa Ceric at its office on Friday, October 9. The two distinguished guests were met by IIIT officers and staff at lunch. Their visit followed their participation in the international Muslim-Christian conference on “A Common Word” at Georgetown University’s Prince Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU). IIIT Board member Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim addressed the conference during the opening session on October 7. After their visit, Grand Mufti Ceric delivered the Friday Khutbah at the nearby ADAMS Center.

Dr. Ibrahim Kalin, chief foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey paid an informal visit to IIIT on the following day, October 10. Dr. Kalin, an assistant professor on leave from Georgetown University, was a co-organizer of the conference with Professor John Esposito, director of CMCU.

According to the program handout, “A Common Word, the largest Muslim interfaith initiative towards Christians, has provided Muslims and Christians with a framework to address religious, historical, social and political issues between two world communities. Muslims and Christian make up roughly 55% of the world’s population; world peace depends to a great extent on establishing peace between these groups.”

Following conferences at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and the Vatican, this was the fourth conference of A Common Word initiative.