‘Abd al-Jabbār al-Rifāʽī is an Iraqi professor of Islamic philosophy, who graduated in Religion Studies from the Najaf Seminary and who has devoted his life’s work to a philosophical vision on religious reformation and religious thought. He is internationally recognised as a world authority, particularly for his vision to build a new ‘Ilm Al-Kalam on the grounds that “the religious meaning produced by old ‘Ilm Al-Kalam cannot lay the foundations for co-existence between different religions and cultures, nor can it build peaceful international relations in the common interests of peoples.” He argues in his work for the right to be different by “adopting difference as a basis in any dialogue, mutual understanding, and discussion with someone who belongs to a different religion, and by working on discovering what is essential in every religion.” Dr. Al-Rifāʽī is also the founder and editor in chief of the Contemporary Islamic Issues magazine, and has been awarded many prizes for his work, in promoting dialogue, the most recent being the first prize awarded in Doha, Qatar (December 14, 2017) for Cultural Achievement in inculcating knowledge and the culture of conversation, and in instilling higher values for diversity, plurality, and coexistence. (For more on Dr. Al-Rifāʽī see Wikipedia entry and Author's website)