The Mizan Thesis
Rethinking Islam & The West: The Mizan Thesis
Ahmed Paul Keeler introduced the Mizan Thesis in an illustrated lecture at Cambridge University on April 27th 2014. Keeler’s proposition was well received and he was invited to become a Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Islamic Studies, so that he could further develop his thesis. His work has culminated in two publications Rethinking Islam & The West: A New Narrative for the Age of Crises (2019), and A Life’s Journey: The Story behind a Book (2022).
Mizan is an incredibly rich term and can be translated as “balance, scale, measure, justice or harmony”. Keeler proposes that in order to understand the multiple crises we are facing, and the tension that exists between the West and Islam, it is necessary to change our perspective from one based on the principle of progress to one informed by the criterion of Mizan. When the world is viewed through this lens a completely different picture of Islam and the West emerges.
His challenging paradigm has been taken up by a group of students at the University who have formed the Mizan Study Circle, and who are now engaged in a critical study of the Mizan Thesis under the supervision of Keeler. Their examination of the thesis will conclude on 27th November, when Ahmed Paul Keeler, members of the Study Circle and several scholars well versed in the thesis, will give a multimedia presentation of the thesis in the auditorium of the Old Divinity School, St John’s College, Cambridge University.
Timetable
5.30 – Introduction
5.40 – Paul Keeler presents the basics of his theory of Mizan
6.00 – Presentation begins – six people from the Mizan Study Circle
7.15 – Break with food and discussion
8.00 – Paul Keeler and Yusuf Chaudury discuss the problems in presenting the theory and some solutions to the issues
8.45 – Finale, recitation from the Quran on mizan, then declamation of mizan by Yusuf Chaudury
