Islamic Scholar shares experiences of Egypt Revolution

In the light of recent developments in Egypt, Islamic scholar and orator Fadel Soliman came to Liverpool Hope on Thursday 28th June to give a talk entitled ‘With the rise of the Islamists in Egypt- United Nation Declaration of Human Right and the Islamic Shari'ah’.

In his lecture, Fadel shared his own personal experiences of the Egypt Revolution when he attended demonstrations against President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and the months that followed leading up to the election of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.

In his lecture at Liverpool Hope, he talked about the concerns of the international community and Egypt that this new Muslim president will apply Shari’ah Law to the country. He is well placed to speak about this through his work with the Bridges Foundation.

Fadel established the Bridges Foundation following the 9/11 terror attacks in New York. He is a survivor of the attack, having been on his way to the World Trade Centre at the time the places struck the towers. Since that day, he has worked to reverse the misconceptions about Islam and in turn Shari’ah Law.

Part of his work to do this has been to research the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and compare the rights set out in this document to those in the Quran. He said: “My initial hope would be that I could show that some of the declarations in the UN document would be reflected in the Quran so that I could show that there are some similarities.

“In actual fact, I found that 100 per cent of the human rights laid down by the UN are in the Quran and in fact there are more besides. Everything from Justice, Equality, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion are detailed by both.”

Following Fadel’s presentation, the audience were able to ask him a series of questions about the current political situation in Egypt and the wider Middle East, as well as the implications and reactions from the wider international community.

Event organiser Dr Adel Ahmed, Liverpool Hope University Business School, said: “It was a great pleasure to have Fadel speak to us at this event. The current situation in Egypt is an important moment in history and a step in the right direction for democracy in the country”.

“It has been fascinating to listen to Fadel’s personal experiences of this historic time. His research and study of the Quran and the Declaration of Human Rights and the his work with the Bridges Foundation are important for us to reverse negative preconceptions about Muslims and Islam.”