Oman gift to promote religious understanding

Her Excellency Dr Rawya Saud Al-Busaidi, the Omani Minister of Higher Education (pictured left), led a distinguished Omani delegation to meet the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (pictured right) and other senior members of the University.

They signed and sealed agreements in both Arabic and English to endow permanently, through a generous benefaction from the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, a new professorship that has been established by the University. The “Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values” will be a member of the Faculty of Divinity and will become the Academic Director of the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme (CIP).

CIP undertakes high-level research and creative public education about and between religions, with a focus on the Abrahamic faiths. The world has recently witnessed the re-emergence of religion as a key force in the public sphere. The need for such a programme, fostering inter-faith understanding, is rapidly evolving into a global imperative for both religious and secular society.

The ten-strong Omani delegation included His Highness Sayyid Taimur Al Said and the Vice-Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University, His Excellency Dr Ali Al Bimani.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked Dr Rawya for making time to come to Cambridge for this signing, for her exceptional vision for higher education and for forging this important link with the University of Cambridge which he acknowledged as a most significant development for both Cambridge University and for the Faculty of Divinity through its Inter-faith Programme.

Professor David Ford, the University’s Regius Professor of Divinity, said: “We are deeply grateful to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin-Said for this generous and visionary benefaction. The Sultanate of Oman is esteemed for its tradition of scholarship and learning, and renowned for its commitment to policies of peace and reconciliation between the Islamic world and other nations.

“The Cambridge Inter-faith Programme is at an exciting point in its development. In a world situation where many view religious difference as a source of antagonism and conflict, it is a bold and enduring response promoting religious understanding.”

In July this year, thanks to additional support by the Sultanate, CIP will pilot a Summer School for 20 young Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders on the subject of inter-faith encounters past and present

There are already strong links between the University of Cambridge and Oman with the endowment in 2006 of the His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Professor of Modern Arabic, in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (currently held by Professor Yasir Suleiman). A further gift from the Sultanate has enriched the development of Oriental Studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Cambridge has a significant relationship with Oman’s leading University, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) with student exchange programmes and academic relationships in many fields including Arabic language, Language Centre expertise, Mathematics and Earth Sciences.