*CAMBRIDGE -ISLAMIC- CHRONICLES*

THE THREE STRANDS were designed to represent the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths respectively.

IT IS WORTH NOTING too that the building's construction was funded by Jewish, Christian and Muslims donors, thereby enshrining a  bridge building  legacy on the hollowed grounds of Cambridge.

We were joined at the book launch and Iftar by a number of Cambridge VIPs representing all walks of life, including Sir Nicholas Barrington, once British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Professor Julius Lipner, a leading religious studies scholar,-

Dr Ahmed Kessler, a prominent convert to Islam, Mohsin Akhter, owner of Heydon Grange Golf & Country Club, and Muhammed Ashraf of the Cambridge Mosque.

As an additional gesture of bridge building, the Iftar dinner consisted of South Asian curries. Our hosts had arranged for dates, the traditional food to end the fast.

I joined the Muslims at prayers in the ''quiet room'' prepared for us with clean sheets thoughtfully placed in this beautiful space to mark the Islamic holy month in very heart of Cambridge.

Throughout the course of the evening, Dr. Kessler and I discussed the refugee crisis, the importance of being welcoming to refugees in Europe and beyond, as they are running for their very lives.

We also discussed countering the rise of the far Right which has come to dominate not just European, but global politics.

Additionally, we discussed the emergence of British Islam and how centres such as the Cambridge Muslim College, a supporter of the Iftar, with its focus on bridging Muslim values with British culture, symbolize its emergence.

The event was particularly special for me as I have privileged to work extensively with Dr. Kessler and the Woolf  Institute over the years.

For the last several years, Dr. Kessler and I, along with his team at the institute, I have jointly run an online Jewish-Muslim dialogue course called Bridging the Great Divide:

The Jewish-Muslim Encounter.

The course is unique in that it brings students together from Washington to Cambridge and from Jerusalem to Islamabad to discuss the issues shaping the Jewish-Muslim relationship  and explore ways to strengthen the relationship.

Furthermore, my daughter Dr Amineh Hoti who earned a PhD from Cambridge, served as the  founding director of the Centre for the study of Muslim-Jewish  Relations, the first ever such centre of Europe, which eventually became a part of the foundation of Woolf Institute

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Research on Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths,  continues with great reverence and respect to Part 3. !WOW! thanks Professor Sr. Akbar Ahmad the Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, Washington.