A Muslim convert to Christianity accused Oxford University of discrimination and bias after a lecturer told him he could not ask questions about Islam, it was reported in March.
Shahriar Ashrafkhorasani, an Iranian-born convert from Islam and a Masters student in Applied Theology at Wycliffe Hall, is set to be ordained in the Church of England in July.
During a seminar about love in religion, the lecturer, Minlib Dallh, allegedly pointed at Ashrafkhorasani and said: ‘Everybody can ask a question except you.’ The student filed a formal complaint. Three other students wrote to the Proctors’ office to confirm Ashrafkhorasani’s story.
Love in religion?
Minlib Dallh is the H.M. King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of Jordan Fellow for the Study of Love in Religion at Regent’s Park College in Oxford.
Ashrafkhorasani said that Dallh had discovered during a coffee break that he was a convert from Islam, who had been persecuted in Iran. He said Dallh refused to let him ask critical questions about the lecturer’s description of Islam as a religion of love and peace. He added: ‘The lecture was at best a very poor Islamic apologetic, and at worst academically dishonest and misleading. While the government is rightly concerned about Islamophobia, there is no concern whatsoever for Christianophobia.’
