We learned Jesus and Moses from Mevlana J. Rumi

IDSA hosted a panel titled "Universal Love and Tolerance of Rumi" on campus. Dr. Muhammed Cetin, who was invited to the panel from Houston, gave a speech about Mevlana J. Rumi. Many reknown academicians also attended the panel. Dr. Cetin, after giving a brief biographical information about Rumi, talked about how he also was a scholar, a jurist and a hadith (Prophet Muhammed's tradition) expert along with writing poems. "Among all this work, at age 38, he managed to complete Mesnevi which had twenty thousand lines. Mevlana was a lot thinner than shown in his illustrations, one time he was about to fall down, due to very stong winds in the winter time of Konya" said Dr. Cetin, "When he passed away, there were around 40 thousand people from different nations and religions at his funeral where Christians and Jews were asked, 'Why are you attending this funeral?', and they answered 'We learned Jesus and Moses from him'". When the guests asked the question "Why Islam has a negative image?", Prof. June E. O'Conner, Head of the Department of Religious Studies, wanted to answer this question herself and said that misconceptions occur because of the fact that the radical expressions are portrayed all the time. Panel ended with servings of Turkish food and dessert.

Short Bio of Speaker:

Dr. Muhammed Cetin is a Visiting Scholar at the Religious Studies Department of the University of Houston. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Sociology Department of UT Austin from 2003–2004. He is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at School of Education, Human Sciences and Law of the University of Derby, UK. He received his master’s degree from the Education Department of the University of Leicester and Diplomas in Social Sciences and ELT and a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Ankara. He has worked as lecturer, Vice-Rector and Ministerial Adviser in Turkmenistan. Cetin was a co-founder and editor of The Fountain magazine, and served as editor, translator, and contributor. He is the President of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog and has served as organizer and speaker for Interfaith Dialogue and Tolerance Conferences and cultural activities held at universities and other institutions. He is the author and producer of Rumi and Universal Love, Tolerance and Dialogue and The Adhan: Call to prayer DVD documentaries.

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