Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
carmen.chandler@csun.edu,
(818) 677-2130

Library Exhibit to Feature Rare Islamic Collection

The opening of the Wilfred and Muriel Smith Collection, which features the books and papers of one of Canada's leading Islamic scholars, will take place at 6 p.m. in the Oviatt Library near the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

"Wilfred Smith was without a doubt one of the greatest scholars of Islam that Canada has ever produced, perhaps one of the greatest scholars on the subject in the last century," said Amir Hussain, coordinator of CSUN's Islamic Studies Program. "The fact that he has given his collection of books and papers to us is incredibly meaningful."

Smith and his wife, Muriel, donated the collection, valued at more than $30,000, to CSUN's Islamic Studies Program in 1998. The university's librarians have been sorting and cataloguing the collection since. It is the largest single library gift on Islam that the university has ever received.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who died in February, was considered Canada's foremost scholar on Islam and comparative religions. His academic career spanned more than 50 years during which he wrote more than a dozen books and authored many scholarly articles for journals and encyclopedias. The Meaning and End of Religion, in which he discusses the historical changes of meanings of such words as religion, faith and belief, is considered his most significant publication.

In 1951, Smith founded the Institute for Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal, one of the earliest academic centers to be devoted to the study of inter-religious scholarship. He helped establish the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard and the Department of for the Study of World Religions at Harvard and the Department of Comparative Religion at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. After retiring from Harvard in 1984, he returned to Canada where he was appointed senior research associate on the faculty of divinity at Trinity College at the University of Toronto.

His collection includes more than 500 books and periodicals on Islam in English, Persian, Arabic and Urdu. It is especially comprehensive for works on al-Gazzali, considered by many to be the preeminent medieval Muslim religious scholar, and Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the leading Muslim thinker behind the creation of Pakistan.

Smith also gave the university his research files, which contain journal articles, lecture notes, transcripts of papers presented at conferences and pamphlets sent to him by former students and colleagues. One significant pamphlet is the Great Pyramid Prophecy Concerning the British Empire and America by David Davidson, which explains the Great Pyramid in Egypt as a prophetic instrument.

Smith specifically requested that his collection be part of the university library's circulating collection. The books and periodicals can be accessed through the library.

Hussain called the collection one of the most comprehensive on Islam existing today. He said the fact that it will be part of the university's circulating collection will give faculty and students a unique opportunity to learn more about Islam and the Muslim culture.

"Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in America," he said. "This collection is a valuable resource, not just for the university, but for the community as a whole."

For more information about the collection or the opening celebration, call Cindy Ventuleth at (818) 677-2271

California State University, Northridge has more than 27,000 full- and part-time students and offers 48 bachelor's and 39 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley.