Dr Farid Esack, Professor in the Study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg, delivered the 2010 Milad-un-Nabi Lecture at the Ismaili Centre, London on 4 March 2010. Professor Esack's lecture explored the idea of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) as a thinker who sought to live out the numerous Qur'anic exhortations to "reflect", "explore" and "ponder".

About Dr Farid Esack

Professor Farid Esack is a South African Muslim Theologian who cut his teeth in the South African struggle for liberation. He studied in Pakistan, the United Kingdom and Germany, and is the author of Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism, On Being a Muslim, An Introduction to the Qur'an, and Islam, HIV & AIDS – Reflections Based on Compassion, Responsibility and Justice. He has published on Islam, Gender, Liberation Theology, Interfaith Relations, and Qur'anic Hermeneutics.

Professor Esack served as a Commissioner for Gender Equality in South Africa and has taught at the Universities of Western Cape, and Hamburg, the College of William & Mary and Union Theological Seminary (NY) and at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He has recently returned to South Africa after serving as the Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islam at Harvard University.

Farid Esack is now Professor in the Study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg.