Islam with Safi Kaskas

Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring the us together in a more harmonious condition. In today’s episode, we will be talking to Safi Kaskas about Islam which is the second largest religion on this planet after Christianity. It is also the most recent expression of the three primary Abrahamic faiths, preceded by Christianity and Judaism. Islamic practitioners, or Muslims, take their spiritual and ethical guidance from the teachings of the Quran, which was “revealed” by God to the prophet Muhammed in the 7th century CE. Muhammed is himself seen as the last prophet, following a lineage which begins with Adam and includes Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Though Islam shares this common thread with the other Abrahamic religions Muhammed is regarded as the ultimate authority, the “Seal of the Prophets.” In this inspired conversation, Dr. Kaskas will try to help us understand what is and is not dictated in the Quran and what it means to be a Muslim. Islam is a profoundly spiritual faith which preaches love of your fellow man as among its highest principles, yet it is clear that this message has been distorted in some parts. Kaskas will explain some of the history of the region to help us understand how some bad actors in the community have managed to gain an outsized influence on the world stage. Safi Kaskas is an administrator in the managerial sciences with over 40 years of broad-based experience in strategic planning, leadership and business ethics with an emphasis on strategic management in the corporate and academic worlds. He is a co-founder of East West University, Chicago, IL; and was elected as President of its Board of Directors from 1979 – 2005. He continues to serve on its board as an ex officio. He is the Founder and President of Strategic Edge Management Consultants, Dr. Kaskas helped many mid-level and large corporations successfully develop their business portfolios. His consultant firm focused on strategic development within the health care industry and founded the American Strategic Healthcare Management Company (ASHM) which is active in the healthcare field in Jeddah, Saudi Arabic. In addition to his focus on strategic management science, Dr. Kaskas has studied Abrahamic religions and lectured throughout the US and the Middle East on subjects related to Islam, interfaith and reconciliation between Evangelicals and American Muslims. He is Senior Researcher in Islam and Multifaith Reconciliation with George Mason University, Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution. Dr. Kaskas translated and published the Qur’an into simple easy to understand English in January 2015 and published The Qur’an with references to the Bible in January 2016. This book has 3000 references to the Old and the New Testaments. Dr. Kaskas is the founder and President of the International Qur’an Research Association IQRA. http://kaskas.com/