SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

In 2005, my wife and I were invited by the former prime minister of Pakistan to travel to his country and speak at an Interfaith Peace Conference.

Sheila and I traveled by auto from Karachi, to Lahore and then to Islamabad over two weeks and spoke to seven large gatherings of university professors, students and hospital employees.

Our message was to emphasize the many things different religions have in common. By learning more about those of other faiths and coming to respect them, we could, working together, accomplish much more to alleviate suffering and pain than we could separately.

Sheila and I have made it our mission in life to increase understanding between those of differing faith traditions and ease the tensions that now envelop the world. On our trip we stressed the great contributions that have been given to the world by a rich Islamic tradition.

Beginning about two centuries after the death of the Prophet Muhammad and extending over the next two centuries, nearly the entire intellectual corpus of ancient Greek civilization was translated into Arabic and incorporated into the Islamic civilization.

For the first time many of these texts have been translated into English by eminent scholars, carefully reviewed by respected editors printed by Brigham Young University Press and distributed by the University of Chicago Press.

The person responsible for these translations, Daniel C. Peterson, will speak to the subject of Mormonism and Islam on Oct. 20, at the LDS Chapel on 23 Lake Road, Irvine.

Muzammil Siddiqi, past president of the Islamic Society of North America, Sheik Sadullah Khan of the Irvine Mosque and other respected dignitaries will be on the stand and will make short opening remarks.

Admission and parking are free.

While it is popular today to emphasize the negatives emanating from the Islamic world, we hope to bring greater understanding of the intellectual contributions of this great world religion.

THOMAS L. THORKELSON is the director of Interfaith Relations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Orange County Council.