Series on evil closes with religion lecture

More than 50 Boston University students and faculty gathered at the College of Communication Auditorium Wednesday night to hear Eric Ormsby, the McGill University Islamic studies director, discuss "The Two Faces of Satan in Islam."

The event was the last in a series of lectures sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum focusing on evil.

"The lecture was really interesting," CAS sophomore Whitney Rios said. "I came because I'm concentrating in Islamic study and I'm interested in the darker side of religion opposing God. This shed new light on that subject."

Ormsby said he hoped to present students with "a more nuanced picture of Islam - as more complex and various than people usually think."

Satan, known as Shaitan or Iblis in Islam, is not viewed as definitively good or evil depending on the branch of Islam followed, Ormsby said.

"He is depicted as a 'slinking whisperer, an aura of darkness,'" he said. "Shaitan is also 'a tragic lover of God,' which exemplifies him as a deeply dedicated follower of God 'who hopes for nothing yet continues to love.'"

School of Theology Dean ad interim Ray Hart said he is most interested in the historical implications of the lecture.

"The series [of lectures] wrestles with a major theological problem of what is good and evil," he said. "It examines the perennial question in the history of thought of why does evil exist. Tackling this question is tackling the central issue of religious history."

College of Communication junior Bridget O'Brien said she walked away with new perspectives on the traditional definition of good and evil.

"It showed the idea that evil is much more complex than we thought," she said. "The distinction between good and evil in other religious traditions isn't as dichotomous as people think."

Ormsby provided a history of several Islamic texts and tales as background for the lecture.

Many students said they attended the event to supplement classroom discussion.

"Attending the lecture is part of an extra-credit project for a response paper," CAS freshman Lisa Randall said. "We're supposed to compare and contrast the faces of Satan in Islam with Dante's Inferno. It's interesting that the autonomy of good and evil isn't so clear cut."