In Hartford Seminary's Biennial Willem Bijlefeld Lecture, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr explores the history of the relationship between Sunnism and Shi'ism, which goes back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Dr. Nasr discussed the manipulation for political interests of Sunni-Shi'ite differences by forces both internal and external to the Islamic world and reflected on the future of the relationship between Sunnism and Shi'ism and the impact it is likely to have within the Islamic world itself and in its relation to the West.The Willem A. Bijlefeld Lecture, named after the first director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary, brings a distinguished scholar to campus for a public presentation on Islam or Christian-Muslim relations to promote interreligious understanding and mutual respect in the local, national and world communities.
