9 November 2026
We are deeply honoured to welcome Mr Rick Sopher and Professor Abdulla Galadari to present their new book, Illuminating Scriptural Connections: A Qur’anic Commentary on the Torah, in conversation with Rabbi Getzel Davis at Harvard University, and Dr Zeyneb Sayilgan at the Institute of Islamic, Christian, Jewish Studies.
Illuminating Scriptural Connections: A Qur’anic Commentary on the Torah invites readers into a luminous conversation between two foundational scriptural traditions. By bringing the Torah’s fifty-four weekly portions into sustained dialogue with the Qur’an, the volume discloses both the textual variations between the two corpora and the shared narratives, prophetic figures, theological principles, and moral horizons through which Judaism and Islam may be seen as standing in profound spiritual proximity.
Rick Sopher and Abdulla Galadari demonstrate that the Qur’an offers a meaningful and often suggestive contribution to the reading of each weekly Torah portion. Describing the Torah as a source of “guidance and light”, it repeatedly engages central biblical themes, including creation, prophecy, law, covenant, and divine mercy. In their comparative treatment of such narratives as Abraham’s intended sacrifice, the story of Joseph, and the leadership of Moses, the authors show how the Islamic scripture may at times affirm the Torah’s interpretative framework, while at other moments developing its own distinctive motifs and theological emphases. They also trace a complex exchange between traditions: moments in which the Qur’an appears to engage early rabbinic material, and instances where later Jewish literature may be read in dialogue with Qur’anic themes.
The book also addresses passages that have often been treated as loci of tension between the two faiths. Against interpretations that construe the Qur’an as uniformly hostile to Jews, the authors argue for a more historically and textually discriminating account. The Qur’an both honours certain Jewish figures and communities and offers sharp criticism of others; these varied representations, they suggest, must be understood in relation to the historical circumstances of Muhammad’s encounters with Jewish communities, particularly in Madinah during the later period of his prophetic career.
Combining close scriptural analysis with historical attentiveness, Illuminating Scriptural Connections draws attention to the shared linguistic inheritance of Hebrew and Arabic and challenges inherited assumptions of opposition between Judaism and Islam. In place of a narrative of estrangement, it proposes a richer account of reciprocity, resonance, and exegetical exchange. The result is a work of unusual breadth and delicacy that opens significant space for interfaith understanding and suggests that the intellectual and spiritual genealogies of Judaism and Islam are more deeply intertwined than polemical histories have often permitted us to see.
Author
Mr Rick Sopher‘s contribution to religious education earned him appointment as a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest national order. A prominent interfaith philanthropist with an extensive background in finance and investment, he most recently served as the CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Capital Holdings. Mr Sopher is committed to scriptural dialogue and fostering Jewish-Muslim relations. He champions multiple interfaith initiatives, notably serving as a Fellow at the Woolf Institute.
Author
Professor Abdulla Galadari, a prominent interfaith scholar serves as an associate professor of Islamic studies at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi. He is the author of Qur’anic Hermeneutics: Between Science, History, and the Bible, Metaphors of Death and Resurrection in the Qur’an: An Intertextual Approach with Biblical and Rabbinic Literature, and Spiritual Meanings of the Ḥajj Rituals: A Philological Approach.
Moderator
Professor Jacob L. Wright holds the Hebrew Bible Professorship at the Candler School of Theology, and associate faculty membership of the Centre for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. His most recent book, Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins (CUP, 2023), has won multiple awards, including the 2024 PROSE Award, and was included in The New Yorker’s “Best Books we read in 2023”. Prof Wright is a Senior Fellow of the Oxford Interfaith Forum.
Contributor
Dr Zeyneb Sayilgan is the Muslim Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, where her work focuses on Islamic theology and spirituality. Her academic interests are informed by her experience of growing up in Germany as the daughter of Muslim immigrants from Türkiye, a background that also shapes her engagement in Christian–Muslim dialogue. She is the host of the podcast On Being Muslim.
Contributor
Rabbi Getzel Davis serves as the inaugural Director of Harvard’s Presidential Initiative on Interfaith Engagement, facilitating vital conversations across lines of difference. He is also a Lecturer in the Committee on the Study of Religion. Previously, Rabbi Davis spent twelve years as a Harvard Hillel chaplain and Campus Rabbi. Outside of his university roles, he is the founder of Unorthodox Celebrations and ZIVUG Together.
Date: 9 November, 2026
Time: 18:00-19:00 GMT | 13:00-14:00 EST | 10:00-11:00 PST
Venue: online
Or Scan the QR Code below
