Professor Ismail Raji al Faruqi was a co-founder of International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS). He was also the founder of the Islamic Studies program in the Department of Religion at Temple University. A distinguished scholar of Islam and comparative religions, trained at Indiana University and McGill University, Professor Faruqi authored, with his wife Dr. Lamya al Faruqi – a distinguished scholar of Islamic art – the seminal work titled The Cultural Atlas of Islam. His book on Christian Ethics was only one of many outstanding books and publications that spoke of his command of the subject. Ismail and Lamya were both murdered in their home in Philadelphia on May 26, 1986 in circumstances that have never been resolved.