The Society’s annual Ghazi al Gosaibi Memorial Lecture was given by Dr. Saud al Sarhan at the Arab–British Chamber of Commerce.
The title of Dr. al Sarhan’s talk was Arab States Calling for Moderate Islam: The Case of Saudi Arabia. There have been recent efforts by Arab states (including by the UAE, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt) to shift to a moderate Islam. The lecture focussed on the specific efforts of Saudi Arabia in this regard and analysed them in their historical context within the Kingdom, as well as comparing them with the efforts of other Arab states.
Dr. al Sarhan is the Secretary-General of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. He is an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College, London, and is on the Board of Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia. He is also Editor-in-chief of the journal Islam and The Contemporary World.