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 In
the summer of 1987, I was riding the train out to British Columbia
to start a tree-planting job in the mountains.
I had just finished my undergraduate degree in Philosophy
and had only recently begun my personal study of Islam.
I came across Fazlur Rahman's Islam in a bookstore a
few days before my trip.
Reading that book as I traveled across the Canadian
prairies, I made the decision to apply to graduate school in
Islamic Studies.
His book sparked in me a keen desire to study the classical
heritage of Islamic theology and law.
Going a step further, I wrote a letter to Rahman (this was
before we all used email) describing my situation and inquiring if
I might be able to study with him.
I dropped the letter in a post box somewhere in the Rockies
and forgot about it until I returned east in August.
There I found a hand-written note from him, inviting me to
come to the University of Chicago to study with him.
Rahman died before I arrived in Chicago, but it was his
book and his encouragement that inspired me to start on the path
to scholarship that I have found so rewarding.
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