Department Of Interfaith Studies

The Department of Interfaith Studies established in Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies in 2019. The department has started the first batch of its BS Islamic Studies with specialization in Interfaith Studies from Spring 2021.

Department of Interfaith Studies of the Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies is an emerging department of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. The department aims to present the universal teachings of Islam and to prepare courses for Interfaith and intra-faith harmony. Today more than ever before, it is extremely important to comprehend the complexity and nature of Interfaith Studies both in public and private spheres in the contemporary pluralistic global world.

Though the inter-religious relations is not a new phenomenon, but the socio-political change both on individual and state levels, in the context of post-colonialism and post-modernism, necessities to revisit the historical legacy and to reinterpret the religious scriptures in order to develop parameters, strategies and ethics for the sustainable interfaith relations, peace and harmony between the diverse religious traditions and between the various sets within a religious tradition. A critical study of the responses of the leading religious scholars is key to renounce extremism, inequality, and discrimination in the perspective of interfaith studies.  The Department is striving to contribute in the field for Interfaith Studies along with its academic programs by organizing seminars, international conferences, training programs and outreach programs. The department has started the first batch of its BS Islamic Studies with specialization in Interfaith Studies from Spring 2021.