Building a Shared Future: Islam, Knowledge and Innovation

During the last decade, debates on the role of religion in the public space, migration, social cohesion and other issues have revealed increasing social tensions and polarisation in public opinion. Misperceptions and misinformation often dominate public dialogue about relations between Muslims and others. Although they don’t speak with the loudest voice, academics, scholars and thought leaders have a key role to play in helping to rebalance these debates by providing fact-based opinion and informed arguments. In the ‘Building a Shared Future’ series, these opinion leaders offer insights into the issues facing Muslims through American and European communities today.


Despite the pioneering breakthroughs of Muslim and Arab scholars in maths, culture, the arts, humanities and science, the history of ‘Western’ achievements is often written with hardly any reference to the influence of other societies. This volume explores a selection of them.