User:Nayla Tabbara/sandbox

Prof. Nayla Tabbara is a Lebanese Muslim Theologian, and an activist for Interreligious and Intercultural Relations, for Freedom of Religion and Belief, and for Education on Religious and Cultural diversity.

She is the co-founder of Adyan, Foundation for Diversity, Solidarity and Human Dignity and is currently the President of its board.

She is also an author and a university professor in Religious Studies at Université Saint Joseph. Her teaching and writing focus on Islamic Studies, Sufism, Qur’anic Exegesis and Islamic Feminism.

Born: 21 February 1972

Nationality: Lebanese

Mother: May Chaker

Father: Esq. Mohammad Wafic Tabbara

Early life and education
Nayla Tabbara was born in Beirut in 1972. She was 3 years old when the civil war broke out in Lebanon. Her parents lived in a religiously mixed area of West Beirut. Although Muslim, she and her siblings went to a Catholic School, Carmel Saint Joseph. She also attended high school at College Protestant Français. This background paved the way for her mission towards promoting interfaith dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation.

She started her university years at the American University of Beirut with a B.A. in History, where she had the chance to study with esteemed professors Tarif al Khalidi and Kamal Salibi. She then moved to Université Saint Joseph where she completed her Masters and D.E.A in Medieval History, focusing on The Role of Women in Transmitting Religious Knowledge in Islam in the Middle Ages. She chose that topic because she was looking for role models, and her research proved that women played a much bigger role than one would expect in the transmission of Islamic knowledge in the Middle Ages, and that many of them were teachers of the most famous Islamic scholars. Yet few of them, after the initial phase, played a role in the production of religious knowledge.

It was during her post graduate studies that she started engaging in dialogue between religions at the invitation of her professor in Medieval History, Fr. Louis Boisset, who was in charge of the Institut d’Etudes Islamo Chrétiennes at the Université Saint Joseph. Following that, she received a scholarship from the [https://lacatholics.org/2021/01/05/pontifical-council-for-interreligious-dialogue-rome/#:~:text=The%20Pontifical%20Council%20for%20Interreligious,particular%20the%20declaration%20Nostra%20Aetate. Pontifical Council for Dialogue between Religions] to study Catholic Theology at Pontifical Universities for a semester in 2001, and she took courses at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Gregoriana), the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) and the Pontifico Istituto Orientale. That semester proved later to be a turning point in her life.

She then completed her PhD in both Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes- Sorbonne in Paris and Université Saint Joseph in Beirut on Sufi interpretations of the Qur’an, taking Surat al Kahf as an example, with Professors Jad Hatem and Pierre Lory (2007). This study led her to highlight the difference between Sufi and literal interpretations of the Qur’an, namely when in comes to Qur’anic narratives (qasas), where the Sufis try to understand the story from within, putting themselves in the shoes of the persons in the narrative, or try to transpose the elements of the narrative to their inner faculties in their itinerary towards God.

In 2007, she received a Scholarship for a Summer academy on «Literary and Historical Approaches to the Qur'an and the Bible», organized by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in Istanbul where she studied with Prof. Angelika Neuwirth, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and Stefan Wild.

Career
Since 1999, Tabbara has been teaching Islamic Studies and introduction to World Religions at the Faculté des Sciences Religieuses at Saint Joseph University. In addition, she regularly publishes articles in Compared Religions and Islamic Theology.

She helped set up the Département des Sciences des Religions at the Faculté des Sciences Religieuses, in the early 2000s, and created the Undergraduate Studies curriculum for the department.

In 2004, she also developed  the curriculum for multifaith education at the College Protestant Français, for grades 2 to 5.

Adyan Foundation
In 2006, alongside Fadi Daou, Samah Halwany, Mireille Matar and Tony Sawma, she founded Adyan, a Lebanese Civil Society Organization that works for Pluralism, Inclusive Citizenship, Freedom of Religion and Belief, Religious Social Responsibility, Spiritual Solidarity and Education on Diversity.

Her experience in Rome, studying at pontifical universities, learning in depth about the Christian faith and sharing spiritual experiences with her Christian classmates, had in fact convinced her that she needed to dedicate her life to building bridges and creating mutual understanding.

Within Adyan, she took on school projects related to education on Diversity, then directed the Cross-Cultural Studies Department within the organization, and finally oversaw the Institute of Citizenship and Diversity Management.

In 2019, she stepped down from Management and got elected in 2020 as Adyan’s President.

Other
In 2019, she also became the co-president of Religions for Peace, that nominated her to become part of the International Council of Experts of the International Freedom of Religion or Belief Alliance (IRFBA)

She also writes op. eds in La Croix, a French newspaper, on Islam.

Theological Contribution
Her major contribution is an Islamic theology of religious diversity, which takes into consideration all the verses of the Qur’an on diversity and other religions, be they positive or negative, and studies them in a holistic, chronological and contextual manner. This approach aims to deduce the qur’anic pedagogical message about diversity, moving from a call to unity, to schism with the different, to an acceptance of diversity and a call to build close relations and work together for the common good.

She also focuses on the need to promote the role of women theologians, not only in feminist theology that works to redress the wrongs done to women in patriarchal interpretations, but in all other theological fields as well.

Additionally, she works on Islamic social responsibility for citizenship and living together and on the theology of disability.

Last but not least, Tabbara sheds light on the spiritual internal itinerary, from Sufi fundamental treatises and from Sufi qur’anic interpretation.

Contribution to education on diversity
She has worked on curricula development on multifaith education, inclusive citizenship and Freedom of Religion and Belief, both for formal and non-formal education.

Within Adyan, she was the lead creator of an Online course for educators on Diversity Education, an online course on Freedom of Religion and Belief, an online course on Islamic social responsibility for the common good, and an online course on Islam, Diversity and Peacebuilding – all in Arabic

She was also the editor of a training module for trainers from Arab countries on Inclusive Citizenship.

Tabbara   headed the experts’ committees for the creation of a Media Literacy curriculum for Education against Hate Speech for middle school students, Modules for school education on religious diversity for the 4th and 5th grades and educational tools for the promotion of positive memory and pride in  cultural heritage for Syrian refugee children.

She was also a Member of the expert consultative committee of the Lebanese National Strategy for Citizenship and Coexistence Education , that worked on a national curriculum for education on inclusive citizenship adopted by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Center for Educational Research and Development in 2014.that worked on a national curriculum for education on inclusive citizenship adopted by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Center for Educational Research and Development in 2014.

Furthermore, she was a member of the scientific committee of history education reform pilot project, and a Member of the consortium of authors of handbooks for Religious Education on Inclusive Citizenship Values.

She consults international organization for education and training on Diversity, Freedom of Religion and Belief, and inter-communal relations and reconciliation.

Books

 * Tabbara, Nayla (Editor):    Islamic Social Responsibility for Citizenship and Living together, A companion for Higher Islamic Learning. Beirut, Adyan and Dar Al     Farabi, 2021      (in Arabic)
 * Tabbara, Nayla (Editor): Believers on the path of common good (in arabic). Adyan, 2021
 * Tabbara, Nayla: A woman’s interpretation of Islam (in French: L’islam pensé par une femme, avec Marie Malzac). Paris, Bayard, 2018
 * Tabbara, Nayla: The spiritual path according to sufi commentaries of the Qur’an (In French: L’itinéraire spirituel d’après les commentaires soufis du    Coran). Paris, Vrin, 2018.
 * Daou, Fadi and Tabbara, Nayla: Divine Hospitality: A Christian-Muslim Conversation, WCC Publications, 2017


 * Daou, Fadi and Tabbara, Nayla: Göttliche Gastfreundschaft. Der Andere - Christliche und muslimische Theologien im Dialog. Übersetzt aus dem Französischen und mit einer Einführung von Uta Andrée, Werner Kahl und Harald Suermann,  LIT Verlag, 2017.


 * Tabbara, Nayla (editor): Life at l’Arche through muslim voices. L’Arche Internationale, 2017.
 * Tabbara, Nayla (editor): Islamic studies and the challenge of cultural diversity in the contemporary world (Arabic). Collection religions and public    affairs n.2, Dar al Farabi/Adyan, 2016[NT2].
 * Daou, Fadi and Tabbara, Nayla: L’hospitalité divine: l’autre dans le dialogue des théologies chrétienne et musulmane. LIT Verlag, collection «Colloquium Salutis»,    2014 [2013], 183 p.
 * Tabbara, Nayla (Editor): What about the other: a question for intercultural education in the 21st century, Adyan and NDU publications, September 2012, 271 p.
 * Daou, Fadi and Tabbara, Nayla: Divine Hospitality, Christian and Muslim theologies of the other (Arabic). Lebanon, Saint Paul Publications/Adyan, 2011, 247 p.

Awards

 * 2022: Recipient of the Ibn Rushd Freedom of Thought award (Germany)
 * 2019: Recipient of the Special Mention of the Jury Prize of the Fr. Jacque Hamel Award for the book “L’Islam pensé par une femme” (France)
 * 2019: Recipient of the Ecritures et Spritualites award for the book “L’Islam pensé par une femme” (France)
 * 2019: Recipient of the Academie des Sciences d’Outre mer award for the book “L’Islam pensé par une femme” (France)
 * 2019:Recipient of the Golden Prize of the Renaissance Française Award of 2019 (Lebanon)

Adyan Foundation's Awards

 * Elevate Prize (2020)
 * Global Pluralism Award (2019)
 * 35th Niwano Peace Prize (2018)
 * “Living Together Peacefully in a Diverse World” UNAOC Prize (2013)
 * Civil Peace Award (2011)
 * Berytech Award (2008)