Associate Professor from the Philippines meets the academic staffs of the UT Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies

In July, 2018,Prof. Pablito A. Baybado from University of Santo Tomas, The Philippines paid a visit to the UT Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies. In the presence of the faculty members, and putting forth the issue of Islam in the Philippines and the population structure of that country, Prof. Baybado explained about his research on rationality foundations in the school of thought of Shia[Shi'ism]. 

Some topics of discussion in this meeting included the followings:

• The Shia axioms in two domains of theology and philosophy
• The main sources of the Quran and Sunnah and the common and different features of Shia as compared with other religions and schools of thoughts.
• Historical view whose features include having historic essence, personality-oriented attitude, and instability in research understanding and findings
• Rational view whose features are being meta-historic, direct knowledge taken from teachings of the Quran, Sunnah and the innocent household sources and stability of the research findings.

The Filipino professor invited the UT faculty members to attend specialized panels and meetings on religious topics and further acquaintance with reasoning methods of Catholic region. He further stated that the religion which is based on rationality can provide vast gates towards dialogue among all religions and such an ideal is pursued in the universities of the Philippines.

As stated in the meeting, the lack of sufficient sources about Shia in the Philippines and introduction of Islam through various sources has directed this scholar to Iran to have firsthand knowledge about Shia and both sides decided to work on future academic cooperation.

It is worth noting Prof. Baybado is also Executive Secretary, Office of Education and Faith Formation – Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, and Associate Secretary General, Asian Conference of Religions for peace.