Zaki Al-Milad

Thinker, Writer, and Researcher

Zaki Al-Milad (full name: Zaki Abdullah Ahmad Al-Milad, born 1385 AH / 1965 CE in Qatif Province, Saudi Arabia) is a Saudi Shiite thinker, writer, and researcher specializing in Islamic studies, contemporary Islamic thought, religious modernism, reform and renewal, Islamic unity, and dialogue of civilizations. By 2024, he had published more than 47 books in these fields and is the editor-in-chief of the intellectual quarterly magazine Al-Kalima (published from Beirut since 1993). He has also been a member of the editorial board of several cultural magazines in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and other Arab countries, and holds memberships in institutions such as the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, the World Forum for Moderation (Al-Muntada Al-Alami Lil-Wasatiyya), and is an academic advisor to the International Institute of Islamic Thought (USA). Al-Milad is the originator of the theory of Ta'aruf al-Hadarat (Dialogue of Civilizations) (based on verse 13 of Surah Al-Hujurat), which has been included in secondary and university curricula in some Arab countries. The Library of Alexandria held an international conference on it in 2011, and dozens of academic theses and books have been written about it. Among his prominent works are: The Age of Renaissance: How Did It Emerge? And Why Did It Fail? (winner of the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information Book Award in the Thought and Philosophy category in 2017), The Discourse of Islamic Unity: Contributions of Shiite Reformist Thought, Thought and Ijtihad: Studies in Shiite Islamic Thought, Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and Intellectual and Usuli Renewal, and books on Malik Bennabi, proximity of schools of thought, human rights in Islam, and Islam and modernity. He emphasizes the dynamism of Shiite thought through ijtihad, the importance of proximity between schools of thought, and critical re-reading of civilizational issues, and his works have been used as teaching resources in some Arab schools and universities (such as Syria and Morocco).