Past Event

Love in the Qur’an and the Sunnah

Islam has been often criticized for not placing sufficient emphasis on love. A common orientalist trope was to characterize Islam as a religion of “law” as opposed to “love.” The natural extension of this position was to argue that Islam lacked a sophisticated understanding or philosophy of love. Love has been acknowledged by many Muslims as holding a central position and playing a crucial role within the overall ethos of the religion of Islam. Love is expressed in many important verses in the Qur’ān, and numerous aḥadīth of the Prophet of Islam. The failure to accurately understand the aims, intentions, and interpretive traditions of Islamic scripture has caused many misunderstandings regarding the nature of Islam. One of these misconceptions relates to the understanding of love in Islam. The aim of my lecture is to shed light on love as mentioned in the Qur’ān and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.

About the Lecturer

Hany T. A. Ibrahim obtained his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Calgary. He has taught at King AbdulAziz University in Jeddah, KSA and is currently teaching Islamic and Arabic Studies at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. He is a specialist in pre-modern Islamic thought, Arabic Sufi literature, Arabic language, modern Arabic literature, and Islamic art and architecture. He has recently published a book on Ibn ‘Arabi entitled Love in the Teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi (2023).