Patrick Sookhdeo
Encyclopedia
Patrick Sookhdeo is the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
and International Director of the Barnabas Fund
. Sookhdeo is an outspoken spokesman for persecuted Christian minorities
around the world. He has made many media appearances in Great Britain
and is an advocate for human rights
and freedom of religion
.
Sookhdeo is a commentator on jihadist ideology, and has lectured British and NATO military officers on radical Islam.
(now Guyana
), to an originally Hindu
father who had become a Muslim
in order to marry Sookhdeo's Muslim mother. His family migrated to England
in the late 1950s and, in 1965, the student Sookhdeo converted to Christianity
. In 1967 he pursued studies at London Bible College (now the London School of Theology
) and went on to obtain a Doctorate
from the London University's School of Oriental and African studies
. During that time Sookhdeo began exploring inter-faith dialogue and became increasingly concerned by the brutality being leveled at Christian minorities in Islamic nations, and the Islamic death penalties
for conversion from Islam.
In 1975 with his wife Rosemary, Dr Sookhdeo founded "In Contact Ministries" now called Servants Fellowship International, promoting evangelism
and compassionate ministries in multi-cultural urban contexts in the UK. During this period, Sookhdeo was also one of the organisers of the early "Greenbelt" Christian Arts Festivals.
In 1989, Sookhdeo created the London-based Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
, and this saw the creation of a global database on extremist movements and ideologies whose followers were persecuting religious minorities across the Muslim world. By 1991, Sookhdeo was predicting that an "Islamic storm" was on the horizon. He also runs the Barnabas Fund
, a charity that supports persecuted Christian minorities around the world.
Dr Sookhdeo was awarded the 2001 Coventry Cathedral International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation and was awarded the Templeton Project Trust prize for progress in religion in 1990.
He is Dean Theologian of the Diocese of Abuja
, Nigeria
, and ordained in the Church of Pakistan
. Dr Sookhdeo is non- residentiary canon
of Khyber Diocese, Pakistan. He has been a pastor, evangelist and Bible teacher for 40 years.
He has been the Adjunct Professor at Western Seminary and Guest Professor at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida
and McLean, Virginia
, as well as lecturing in many other theological institutions. He has lectured, taught and written extensively on religious, cultural and security issues. He is currently Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Defence Academy of the UK and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University
, UK. He has been a visiting lecturer at Oak Hill Theological College, London
; Ridley Hall, Cambridge
; at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
; Guest Lecturer at the NATO school
, Oberammergau
, Germany
. He is a Fellow of the Security Institute of the UK.
He is the author of numerous papers and author/editor of several books, including, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (reviews of which are accessible here) and Understanding Islamist Terrorism. A number of his books have been translated into German, Romanian, Russian, and at least one book is translated into Norwegian (A Christian's Pocketguide to Islam/Den kristnes lommeguide til Islam).
, he was also criticised by the News Editor of The Muslim Weekly
, Hamza A. Bajwa, for presenting a distorted image of Islam and Muslims. Bajwa has also written a book review of Sookhdeo's 'Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam'.
Melanie Phillips
reported in The Spectator
that Sookhdeo received death threats as a result of his authorship of Global Jihad, a book on militant Islam. The Barnabas Fund
, run by Sookhdeo, felt it necessary to issue a plea for supporters to pray for their staff.
Mehdi Hasan
in The Guardian
claimed Dr Patrick Sookhdeo is a “crude, anti-Islam propagandists”. However, this is refuted in a Premier Christian Radio
debate with Sheikh Dr Muhammed Al-Husseini - a Muslim scholar from the Inter-faith organisation Scriptural Reasoning
. In it Sheikh Dr Al-Husseini says of Dr Sookhdeo that: “It is an absolute pleasure to be with somebody who is a very highly valued colleague, a deeply trusted colleague and for whose work I have the highest regard.” A joint statement was also published by Sheikh Dr Muhammed Al-Husseini and Dr. Tawfik Hamid
- an Islamic thinker and reformer - in support of Dr Patrick Sookhdeo as a response to The Guardian
article .
Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
The Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity was the education and research arm of Barnabas Fund, a charity which provides aid for persecuted Christians in more than 50 countries...
and International Director of the Barnabas Fund
Barnabas Fund
The Barnabas Fund is an international, interdenominational Christian aid agency that supports Christians who face discrimination or persecution as a consequence of their faith...
. Sookhdeo is an outspoken spokesman for persecuted Christian minorities
Persecution of Christians
Persecution of Christians as a consequence of professing their faith can be traced both historically and in the current era. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith, at the hands of both Jews from whose religion Christianity arose, and the Roman Empire which controlled much of the land...
around the world. He has made many media appearances in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and is an advocate for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
.
Sookhdeo is a commentator on jihadist ideology, and has lectured British and NATO military officers on radical Islam.
Life
Patrick Sookhdeo was born in 1947 in British GuianaBritish Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
(now Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
), to an originally Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
father who had become a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
in order to marry Sookhdeo's Muslim mother. His family migrated to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the late 1950s and, in 1965, the student Sookhdeo converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. In 1967 he pursued studies at London Bible College (now the London School of Theology
London School of Theology
The London School of Theology is an English interdenominational evangelical theological college based in Northwood within the London Borough of Hillingdon. A second campus is based in Watford, 20 miles northwest from central London, known as the Centre for Missional Leadership...
) and went on to obtain a Doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from the London University's School of Oriental and African studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
. During that time Sookhdeo began exploring inter-faith dialogue and became increasingly concerned by the brutality being leveled at Christian minorities in Islamic nations, and the Islamic death penalties
Apostasy in Islam
Apostasy in Islam is commonly defined in Islam as the rejection in word or deed of one's former religion by a person who was previously a follower of Islam...
for conversion from Islam.
In 1975 with his wife Rosemary, Dr Sookhdeo founded "In Contact Ministries" now called Servants Fellowship International, promoting evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
and compassionate ministries in multi-cultural urban contexts in the UK. During this period, Sookhdeo was also one of the organisers of the early "Greenbelt" Christian Arts Festivals.
In 1989, Sookhdeo created the London-based Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity
The Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity was the education and research arm of Barnabas Fund, a charity which provides aid for persecuted Christians in more than 50 countries...
, and this saw the creation of a global database on extremist movements and ideologies whose followers were persecuting religious minorities across the Muslim world. By 1991, Sookhdeo was predicting that an "Islamic storm" was on the horizon. He also runs the Barnabas Fund
Barnabas Fund
The Barnabas Fund is an international, interdenominational Christian aid agency that supports Christians who face discrimination or persecution as a consequence of their faith...
, a charity that supports persecuted Christian minorities around the world.
Dr Sookhdeo was awarded the 2001 Coventry Cathedral International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation and was awarded the Templeton Project Trust prize for progress in religion in 1990.
He is Dean Theologian of the Diocese of Abuja
Abuja
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and ordained in the Church of Pakistan
Church of Pakistan
The Church of Pakistan is a united church in Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion and a member church of the World Methodist Council. It was established in 1970 with a union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians , Methodists, and Lutherans. It is the only United Church in the South...
. Dr Sookhdeo is non- residentiary canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Khyber Diocese, Pakistan. He has been a pastor, evangelist and Bible teacher for 40 years.
He has been the Adjunct Professor at Western Seminary and Guest Professor at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
and McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
, as well as lecturing in many other theological institutions. He has lectured, taught and written extensively on religious, cultural and security issues. He is currently Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Defence Academy of the UK and Visiting Professor at Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
, UK. He has been a visiting lecturer at Oak Hill Theological College, London
Oak Hill Theological College
Oak Hill College is a theological college located on Chase Side in Southgate, London, England. It is one of the largest seminaries in the UK....
; Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Ridley Hall, Cambridge
Ridley Hall is a theological college located in Sidgwick Avenue in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which trains intending ministers for the Church of England and other churches. It was founded in 1881 and named in memory of Nicholas Ridley, a leading protestant theologian of the sixteenth century...
; at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
Wycliffe Hall is a Church of England theological college and a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located on the Banbury Road in central North Oxford, between Norham Gardens and Norham Road.-Overview:...
; Guest Lecturer at the NATO school
NATO School
NATO School is NATO's primary training and education centre on the operational level, the only one of its kind in the world. The school started with two courses in 1953 and now offers over 90 different courses to Alliance members and partners on subjects related to NATO's policies, strategies,...
, Oberammergau
Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play, its woodcarvers, and the NATO School.-Passion Play:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He is a Fellow of the Security Institute of the UK.
He is the author of numerous papers and author/editor of several books, including, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam (reviews of which are accessible here) and Understanding Islamist Terrorism. A number of his books have been translated into German, Romanian, Russian, and at least one book is translated into Norwegian (A Christian's Pocketguide to Islam/Den kristnes lommeguide til Islam).
Criticism
During a radio debate on Premier Christian RadioPremier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station wholly owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming including news, debate, teachings and Christian music to London and the surrounding areas.It operates on three frequencies...
, he was also criticised by the News Editor of The Muslim Weekly
The Muslim Weekly
The Muslim Weekly is a national British Muslim newspaper, and is the first weekly newspaper for Muslims in the UK. Published by SNS Media Ltd, it is the brainchild of Ahmed Abdul Malik and Mohammed Shahed Alam...
, Hamza A. Bajwa, for presenting a distorted image of Islam and Muslims. Bajwa has also written a book review of Sookhdeo's 'Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam'.
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
reported in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
that Sookhdeo received death threats as a result of his authorship of Global Jihad, a book on militant Islam. The Barnabas Fund
Barnabas Fund
The Barnabas Fund is an international, interdenominational Christian aid agency that supports Christians who face discrimination or persecution as a consequence of their faith...
, run by Sookhdeo, felt it necessary to issue a plea for supporters to pray for their staff.
Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi Hasan is a British journalist who has worked in television current affairs and the national press. He was appointed senior editor at the New Statesman In the late spring of 2009.-Television career:...
in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
claimed Dr Patrick Sookhdeo is a “crude, anti-Islam propagandists”. However, this is refuted in a Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station wholly owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming including news, debate, teachings and Christian music to London and the surrounding areas.It operates on three frequencies...
debate with Sheikh Dr Muhammed Al-Husseini - a Muslim scholar from the Inter-faith organisation Scriptural Reasoning
Scriptural reasoning
Scriptural Reasoning is one type of interdisciplinary, interfaith scriptural reading. It is an evolving practice in which Christians, Jews, Muslims, and sometimes members of other Abrahamic faiths, meet to study their sacred scriptures together, and to explore the ways in which such study can help...
. In it Sheikh Dr Al-Husseini says of Dr Sookhdeo that: “It is an absolute pleasure to be with somebody who is a very highly valued colleague, a deeply trusted colleague and for whose work I have the highest regard.” A joint statement was also published by Sheikh Dr Muhammed Al-Husseini and Dr. Tawfik Hamid
Tawfik Hamid
Tawfik Hamid is an author from Egypt who opposes Islamic fundamentalism.A self-described former member of the militant al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya Tawfik Hamid advocates a peaceful understanding of Islam that is compatible with universal human rights and intellectual freedom...
- an Islamic thinker and reformer - in support of Dr Patrick Sookhdeo as a response to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
article .
Articles
- The Age: Islam, The West And The Need For Honesty
- The Myth of Moderate Islam
- Evening Standard: The schools that divide the nation
- The Islamization of Europe
Books and booklets
- 1972 – The Asian in Britain, London: Community and Race Relations Unit of the British Council of Churches (booklet)
- 1972 – Asians in Britain : a Christian understanding, Church Pastoral-Aid Society, ISBN 0-85491-831-0
- 1983 – Christianity & Other Faiths, Attic Press, ISBN 0-85364-363-6
- 1990 – Sharing Good News: The Gospel and Your Asian Neighbours, Scripture Union, ISBN 0-86201-547-2
- 2001 – A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam,Christian Focus and Isaac, ISBN 1-85792-699-4 (also 2006, ISBN 1-84550-119-5)
- 2002 – A People Betrayed: The Impact of Islamisation on the Christian Community in Pakistan, Christian Focus Publications ; Isaac Publishing, ISBN 1-85792-785-0
- 2004 – Understanding Islamic Terrorism: The Islamic Doctrine of War, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-0-6 (published in US 2009 as "Understanding Islamist Terrorism: The Islamic Doctrine of War", ISBN 978-0-9787141-6-1)
- 2005 – Islam in Britain: The British Muslim Community in February 2005, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-5-7
- 2006 – Islam the Challenge to the Church, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 0-9547835-4-9
- 2007 – Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-2-3
- 2008 – Faith, Power and Territory: A Handbook of British Islam, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-3-0
- 2008 – Understanding Shari'a Finance: the Muslim challenge to Western economics, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-7-8
- 2009 – The Challenge of Islam: to the church and its mission, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-5-4 (2nd rev. ed. of "Islam the Challenge to the Church")
- 2009 – Freedom to Believe – Challenging Islam's Apostasy Law, Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9787141-9-2
- 2010 – A Pocket Guide to Islam, Christian Focus Publications ; Isaac Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84550-583-7 (2nd rev. ed. of "A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam")
Co-authored or contributed
- 1981 – Christianity and Marxism, with Alan Scarfe, Paternoster Press, ISBN 0-85364-289-3
- 2004 – Christians in the Muslim World in The Myth of Islamic ToleranceThe Myth of Islamic ToleranceThe Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims is a collection of 63 essays edited by Robert Spencer. It deals with the history of non-Muslim populations during and after the conquest of their lands by Muslims...
: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-59102-249-5 - 2010 – Ideas Matter: How to Undermine the Extremist Ideology Behind al Qaeda in Towards a Grand Strategy Against Terrorism, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-352779-6
Edited
- 1974 – All One in Christ: The Biblical View of Race, Marshall, ISBN 0-551-05398-4
- 1978 – Jesus Christ the Only Way: Christian Responsibility in the Multicultural Society, Paternoster Press, ISBN 0-85364-236-2
- 1988 – New Frontiers in Mission, Paternoster Press, Baker Book House, ISBN 0-8010-8284-6
- 1991 – Sharing Good News – the Gospel and your Asian neighbours, Scripture Union, ISBN 0-86201-547-2
- 2004 – The Persecuted Church, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation (reprinted in South Africa 2005, 2007)
External links
- Patrick Sookhdeo's blog.
- Article, originally published in the Sunday Telegraph, with extensive comments from Patrick Sookhdeo on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversyJyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversyThe Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. - The Myth of "The Myth of Moderate Islam" — Response to Sookhdeo originally published in Islamica Magazine.