Close colleague Peter Everington offers this updated introduction to the book:
Muslims were amazed by ‘The Muslim Mind’ when it first appeared in 1978. They were used to books on Islam from a Western standpoint. Here was a Christian scholar who had travelled widely to question Muslims on their faith, and then published their answers. A British professor, Montgomery Watt of Edinburgh University, in his review of the book marvelled at its preface of commendation by the Shaikh al-Azhar.
Charis Waddy grew up in Jerusalem where her father was Headmaster of St George’s School in the years following the First World War. Amid the great variety of religious traditions, he talked about ‘the comradeship of our shared belief’. In this spirit she became the first woman to gain a degree in Oriental Studies at Oxford. She went on to a PhD on Ibn Wasil, the 13thcentury Arab historian.
A brilliant career lay ahead of her. Yet Europe in the 1930s was overshadowed by the rise of materialist ideologies and the threat of war. The urgency of the hour, and hunger for a spiritual experience to match it, led Dr Charis Waddy to forsake academic plans, and commit her life to a campaign which became known as Moral Re-Armament (MRA). Growing evidence of changed lives across many countries gave hope of a a new international order under God’s guidance. At the heart of MRA was a core of full-time workers, ready to go whereever needed with their experience of reconciliation. Receiving no salary, they were supported by people in jobs who shared their aim. She became a leading light with her vigorous intellect and compassion.
In the crises of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, Western ignorance of Islam was laid bare. Many wanted to look beyond prejudices and needed help. Over the years Dr Waddy had built up a large correspondence with Asian and African Muslims met at MRA’s conference centres in Switzerland, USA and India, as well as UK. Some were eminent in theology or public life, others working out their faith in home or work place. Returning to her academic roots, and drawing on all these friendships, she wrote ‘The Muslim Mind’, published by Longmans and distributed widely to universities and libraries. This was followed by ‘Women in Muslim History’ also published by Longmans. Invitations came for her to lecture at universities, write articles, confer with policy-makers, and address church and mosque audiences in many parts of the world. Pakistan awarded her the ‘Setara-e-Imtiyaz’ (Star of Excellence), and at the memorial meeting for her in London in 2005 former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was one of the speakers.
As a younger colleague of Dr Waddy for 35 years, and now her literary executor, I remain awed by her genius, grace, and enthusiasm. MRA is currently known as Initiatives of Change (IofC). For her, change meant being ready to start completely afresh in faith each morning. With everyone she met, young and old, she was ready to learn as well as to give. Muslims and Christians, and others of faith and good will, recognised in her a sacred calling which is open to all. My hope is that somebody will research her life and thought more deeply, from the large collection of her papers in IofC’s archive in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Meanwhile, alongside many, I greatly welcome this e-book publication with its continued relevance.
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