DR ISMAIL Serageldin, who is known as the librarian of Alexandria, has said that both the Western and Islamic worlds must accept pluralism and differences of opinion if we were to succeed in building bridges between the two cultures.
Dr Serageldin delivered a wide- ranging public lecture entitled
Memory, Culture and Hope: Reinventing Western-Islamic Relations
at Trinity College last night, ahead of a ceremony today at which he will receive an honorary doctorate from the university.
He said that the modern perception of the world would lead one to believe that the Muslim world stretched from Africa through the Arab world to Asia. However, a "more accurate representation" showed that the percentage of Muslim communities in certain parts of Europe was comparable to that in India.
"It is no longer the case that we the West are here and the Muslims are out there - no. Inside the West we have a significant minority of Muslims," he said.
"Let us accept pluralism, accept differences of opinion," he said.
The remaking of our world, he said, involved "recognising that human rights are for all and that we need to work together - Europe, the West and Muslims for a whole generation and for the whole world and we can succeed".
Dr Serageldin was born in Egypt in 1944. He is founding director of the Alexandria Library, considered one of the most important cultural projects in the Muslim world.