On Meeting James Frankel

On my trip to NYC I had the good fortune to meet and interview James Frankel. James’ book on Liu Zhi, the famous Chinese Muslim scholar, was recently published and it sounds like a fascinating read. We discussed James’ book and the e literature in general. What is fascinating about this work is that posits this tradition at the intersection of both the Islamic and the Confucian intellectual traditions. It show light on the fact that Islam as a tradition can engage positively with other traditions. What we get from the Chinese and the Islamic civilizational encounter is something which can belong to both and does not seem foreign. I will post James’ interview to the main site later this week. Lastly I should mention that not only is James Frankel contributing to our understanding of the Chinese Islamic intellectual tradition which , but he is also a great human being. His mode of thinking represents a truly universal vision of Islam.

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