On Friday 22 July 2011, as part of its academic lecture series, ISRA presented a unique approach to interfaith dialogue Dr William Emilsen - a Christian philosopher and lecture – who presented on the topic of Jihad while Mr Mehmet Ozalp - a Muslim theologian –discussed on Crusades to a full audience at the ISRA Centre.

Dr Emilsen spoke about Jihad and quoted from a famous journalist Sally Neighbour, ‘after Bali Bombings Australia found itself at war with an enemy it never knew it had’. Interactive discussion took place with the audience. Dr Emilsen went on to describe the word Jihad: Jihad in the Qur’an and Jihad in the Hadith. He said the idea of Jihad formalised around the 10th Century and became increasingly associated with warfare. He further discussed the taxonomy of Jihad – Jihad as propaganda; modern defensive Jihad; anti-colonial Jihad, intellectual Jihad and Islamist Jihad to a captivating audience who were busy formulating their questions to ask the lecturers.

In conclusion Dr Emilsen left the audience with following questions to ponder: what parts of the vast, diverse and historically conditioned tradition of Jihad remains relevant for Muslims in Australia – to their current circumstances and needs? How might the current discussion of Jihad concentrate more on preserving a moral society rather ...?

The packed audience was left gasping for air as they searched for more answers while Mr Mehmet Ozalp took to the podium with another very broad topic – the Crusades.

Mr Ozalp first analysed the motive for the Crusades. He illustrated that contrary to the conventional belief, Crusades were not a reaction to Muslim advances in Christian Europe, rather Crusades were mainly driven by internal circumstances in Europe and Papacy. He continued to describe the negative propaganda and the destruction that resulted as a result of Crusades.

Mr Ozalp then went on to focus on the lasting outcomes of the Crusades. With the Crusades, Europe ventured outside of the continent for the first time since the Roman times. This has triggered a momentum for the exploration of the world which laid the foundations of the European Civilisation. The negative propaganda during the Crusades about Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) left a lasting imprint on the psyche of Europeans which has endured to our time. Europe had an opportunity to get exposed to the Islamic Civilisation which was far more developed than Europe. This has triggered in Europe thirst for knowledge and progress.

In Muslim psyche, Europeans were seen and experienced as barbaric hoards of people who would not hesitate to massacre innocent civilians along with women and children. The destruction of Crusades along with the Mongol Invasion 12th and 13th centuries in the East turned Muslims to spirituality in order to deal with the calamities facing them. Islamic spirituality, Sufism, lived its golden era during the 12th to 14th centuries contributing to the expansion of Islam deep into Asia, Asia-Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa.

The audience were keen to agree and disagree with the speakers. Many questions were asked and the question time went longer than planned.