The IEA is delighted to host Mustafa Akyol, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and opinion writer for The New York Times, for a private IEA Book Club webinar on his latest book “Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance”. This event will take place on Monday 17^th May from 18:00 – 19:00 BST, and will be chaired by Lord Syed Kamall, IEA Acting Academic and Research Director.

In his latest book, Mustafa both diagnoses “the crisis of Islam” in the modern world and offers a way forward. Diving deeply into Islamic theology, and sharing lessons from his own life story, he reveals how Muslims lost the universalism that made them a great civilization in their earlier centuries. He especially demonstrates how values often associated with Western Enlightenment ― freedom, reason, tolerance, and an appreciation of science ― had Islamic counterparts, which sadly were cast aside in favour of more dogmatic views, often for political ends.

This book borrows lost visions from medieval Muslim thinkers such as Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes), to offer a new Muslim worldview on a range of sensitive issues: human rights, equality for women, freedom of religion, or freedom from religion. While frankly acknowledging the problems in the world of Islam today, Akyol offers a clear and hopeful vision for its future.

This event is exclusive to IEA Book Club members. For more information, follow the link here or contact us directly at bookclub@iea.org.uk