Abstract
On 2 July 2011, Ibrahim Abu Rabi passed away in Amman, Jordan, not very far from Nazareth where he was born in 1956, and where he was laid to rest. All those who knew Ibrahim were in shock; the academic community at the University of Alberta, the Muslim community of Edmonton, Canada, his Jewish, Christian and Muslim friends at Hartford Seminary, CT, where a memorial service was held later on, and across the globe in many places where he taught and built friendships, including in Istanbul and in his native city.
Ibrahim was a bridge-builder across the religious and political divides. His generosity, openness and simplicity made it easy for him to connect with people of all backgrounds. During the memorial service that was held at the University of Alberta on 30 September 2012, his friend Nedal Huoseh spoke about the spontaneity with which Ibrahim genuinely engaged people that he did not previously know, including street vendors and religious institutions, with stories that ranged from Damascus to Edmonton.
He finished high school at St Joseph Catholic School in Nazareth. He studied for his BA at the Birzeit University near Ramallah in the West Bank, graduating in 1980 from the Dept. of English Literature, with a minor in Political Science. This was a very courageous decision for more than one reason. Studying in the West Bank under direct Israeli military occupation and rule was extremely rare for Palestinian students with Israeli citizenship. He earned an MA in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati in 1982, and another MA in Religious Studies from Temple University, where he also earned his PhD in 1987 from the Dept. of Religion. His dissertation was entitled, “Islam and the Search for Social Order in Modern Egypt: An Intellectual Biography of Shaykh al-Azhar ‘Abd al-Halim Mahmud.” He was fluent in Arabic, English and Hebrew, with a working knowledge of other languages including Turkish.
Ibrahim was a prolific writer with expertise in contemporary Islamic studies, including Sufism, the Nursi/Gulen movement, and political Islam. He served as senior editor of The Muslim World. Among his scholarly publications, including edited works, are: The Contemporary Arab Reader on Political Islam (Pluto/University of Alberta, 2010); Theodicy and Social Justice in Modern Islamic Thought (Ashgate, 2010); Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur (State University of New York Press, 2008); Contemporary Islamic Conversations: M. Fethullah Gulen on Turkey, Islam, and the West (State University of New York Press, 2008); The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought (Blackwell, 2006); Contemporary Arab Thought: Studies in Post-1967 Arab Intellectual History (Pluto, 2005); Islam at the Crossroads: On the Life and Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (State University of New York Press, 2004); Modernlik ve Cagdash Islam Dushuncesi (Yonelish, 2003); Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World (State University of New York Press, 1996); and The Pearls of Wisdom by the North African Mystic Ibn al-Sabbagh (State University of New York Press, 1996). He left two incomplete projects that the International Council for Middle East Studies (USA) and Al-Zaytuna Center for Studies and Consultations (Lebanon) intend to complete and publish.
Ibrahim was the first holder of the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities Chair in Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta, a position that he held from 2009 until his death. His longest teaching position was at Hartford Theological Seminary (1991–2008), where he became co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, one of three academic centers at the Seminary. He was a visiting professor at many international institutions of higher learning outside North America, including Oxford University and the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilizations (ISTAC) / International Islamic University Malaysia, and he was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and at the Ghadja Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Ibrahim was a Muslim who believed human suffering to be universal. He saw Armenians, Jews, Palestinians, Africans and Latin Americans as people who endured suffering. He spoke about his exiled aunt who died in the largest Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus, Syria, who harbored no hatred towards the Jews, but wanted to return to her house in Nazareth. Within the same context he spoke about the pain of an immigrant Polish Holocaust Jewish survivor who lived halfway between Nazareth and Haifa, and who lost her son in one of Israel’s invasions of Lebanon. Ibrahim saw the same kind of sadness in the eyes of these two women.
Ibrahim was a dedicated teacher, an excellent researcher, but he was also a great storyteller and he wrote poetry, with exile being a recurring theme. When his mother passed away he declared in a poem that he wrote on that occasion: “I was in exile in both cases, when my mom gave birth to me, and when she passed away.” It is only appropriate to include a few more verses:
When Hartford Theological Seminary held a memorial service for Ibrahim, they recognized the Seminary as the home where he spent sixteen years. In addition, he was recognized for his contribution to Muslim–Christian understanding and interfaith work. In one of the corners, there was a picture of Ibrahim and beneath it there was a small fountain with water flowing, alluding to a life of giving. Indeed, in his exile, Ibrahim left enough writings and wisdom to sustain a fountain of knowledge that will ever flow and generate good deeds, in sha’a Allah (i.e., God willing).
Ibrahim Abu Rabi lived in exile and died in exile. He is survived by his wife Fatima, his 10-year-old daughter Jasmine, his 6-year-old son Joseph, and his large extended family in Nazareth.