The Parliament of the World’s Religions is honored to announce the participation of Mustafa Abu Sway, Nivedita Bhide, and Brian J. Grim as luminaries of the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, coming to Chicago, USA from August 14-18, 2023.
Luminaries Answering the Call to Conscience
The featured luminaries at the 2023 Parliament Convening are a diverse cohort of faith, spiritual, civic, and governmental leaders answering the call to conscience to defend freedom and human rights.
Mustafa Abu Sway
Mustafa Abu Sway is the first holder (2012-2020) of the Integral Chair for the Study of Imam Ghazali’s Work at the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and at Al-Quds University (HM King Abdullah II Endowment). He was Dean at the College of Islamic Studies, Al-Quds University (2014-2020).
Abu Sway has been a Professor of Philosophy and Islamic Studies at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, Palestine, since 1996. He taught at the International Islamic University in Malaysia (1993-96) and was a visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University (2003-4), as well as a visiting professor at Bard College, New York (2008-2010).
Prof. Abu Sway is author of three books on Imam Al-Ghazali: “Islamic Epistemology: The Case of Al-Ghazali”, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1995, and in Malay in 2004; “Fatawa Al-Ghazali” (Arabic) (Al-Ghazali’s Religious Rulings) (ISTAC, Kuala Lumpur, 1996); and “A Treasury of Al-Ghazali” (Kube Publishing, London, 2017).
He contributed to several interfaith publications on prophets Abraham (1999), Moses (2003), Jesus (2007), and Ishmael and Isaac (2019) by PASSIA, Jerusalem, Palestine.
Prof. Abu Sway is a member of Hashemite Fund for the Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and the Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem.
Nivedita Bhide
Nivedita Raghunath Bhide is a Jeevan Vrati (Life Worker) from Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, India where since 1977 has the responsibility of All India Vice President. She trains the dedicated full-time workers and teachers of Vivekananda Kendra and serves as the coordinator of Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, Guwahati. Nivedita is a regular faculty in Yoga and spiritual camps, having participated In the Seminar on Swami Vivekananda at ICCR in 2013 in Melbourne, Australia, and the International Meeting of Educational Experts at Darwin, Australia convened by UNESCO for the Asia-Pacific region in 1999. She has served as a trustee of the Vivekananda International Foundation since its inception and a member of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations since July 2020.
Nivedita has written over 15 Books, presented papers in national and international seminars, and given lectures in IITs and Universities, including Kansas University in the USA. She is the recipient of Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2017 for social service; a degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) from Desh Bhagat University, Punjab in 2017 in the field of ‘Service to Mankind’ in the faculty of social sciences for contribution in promoting universal brotherhood amongst mankind; a degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) from SNDT Women University, Mumbai in 2019; and the Award of ‘Shiksha Bhushan’ from Akhil Bharatiya Shaikshik Mahasangh in November 2019.
Brian J. Grim
Brian J. Grim, Ph.D. (Penn State), is the founding president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and works with Fortune 500 companies to include religion and belief as part of their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He is the leading expert on the positive socio-economic impact of freedom of religion and belief for all.
Previously, Brian was chair of the World Economic Forum’s council on the role of faith, a Davos speaker, a TEDx speaker at the Vatican, and director of global religion data research at the highly respected Pew Research Center in Washington DC. He is the author of scores of academic articles and several books. He also was an educator in the former Soviet Union, China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe from 1982-2002. He lives at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where his wife coordinates study abroad for the Navy. They are co-authors of Grims’ New Fairy Tales of Love Overcoming Evil, and have four grown children and 16 grandkids!
Join Us in Defending Freedom and Human Rights!
Mustafa Abu Sway, Nivedita Bhide, and Brian J. Grim are joining thousands of global attendees committed to answering our call to conscience and taking a stand for freedom, democracy, and human rights. Register. Learn more here→