Born in Pakistan, raised in Geneva, Zurich, London, Dubai and New York, Mehnaz Afridi is an articulate and outspoken woman who has traveled, studied and taught around the world. This hardly qualifies her as a victim of oppression.

But people ask anyway.

"Once people find out I'm Muslim, they ask me if I'm oppressed," said the 36-year-old professor of religious studies, who has taught at Loyola Marymount University and Antioch University. "I tell them Islam does not oppress women. I know that because I'm educated to read the Quran and know the laws of the Shariah.

"Things would be different if I were a woman living in Northern Pakistan, ruled by the patriarchy, without access to education," she said. "But we have to ask ourselves if that oppression is [the result of] Islam or the environment of poverty and patriarchy."

Sitting in her Long Beach home on a late summer morning, cascading chestnut hair framing a square jaw, intense brown eyes and perfectly arched brows, Afridi is stunning enough to be distracting, but her enthusiasm for history, religion and learning, and her willingness to speak frankly about world affairs, make the greatest impression.

Beginning Thursday, Afridi will bring her insights and speaking skills to the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, where she will lead a six-part lecture and discussion series titled "Contemporary Issues as Viewed by Judaism, Islam & Christianity."

The series, co-sponsored by the Dawn Unity Group, a local interfaith council, will meet from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday nights through Oct. 19.

Afridi was invited to conduct the lecture series by Bob Rothman, chairman of the Dawn Unity Group and treasurer of the retreat center, after he heard her analysis of the Muslim reaction to last year's publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

"Most of the speakers got up and said the cartoon was insulting and disrespectful," Rothman said. "But Mehnaz got up and said, 'Yes it is, but it's no reason to burn embassies and kill people.' That's what got me. She took a balanced approach."

Rothman also cited her extensive educational background as a motivator in creating the series.

"It's a very rare person who is educated on her level in two religions," he said. "Usually people are well educated in one. But Mehnaz is highly educated in [Judaism and Islam] and she knows a lot about [Christianity]. I wish there were more people like her in the world."

During the series, Afridi will discuss the historical backgrounds of the three major religions and look at how each religion responds to contemporary social issues, such as abortion, the death penalty, divorce, acceptance of others and messages about the future. This format, she says, helps to reveal the common ground among the groups.

"I want to share a lot of the interfaith ideas and initiatives that are going on between Jews, Muslims and Christians," she said. "These are human religions, monotheistic, connected. Muslims believe in Jews and Christians -- they believe in the Torah, the Bible, Moses, Christ. But I feel like mostly what we hear is negative. I want to share the positive things that are being done.

"I'm not one of those 'Let's all hold hands and it'll all work out, Kumbaya' types," she said. "It's not that way. It's about true acceptance, not toleration."

At once a champion and a critic of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, Afridi said she strives to foster understanding in her work.

"The biggest gift I have received is the ability to be self-critical," she said. "It's something I wish all Muslims would do: Look at their issues and not get defensive or apologetic. The only tool I can give is critical thinking.

"Yes, we are anti-Semitic in the Arab world," she said. "We have issues. We have extremism. Yet at the same time there is this thing called Islam that has very positive principles."

Exploring her roots

Afridi's deep interest in religion came out of a personal search for identity and understanding. Growing up as the only Muslim child in prestigious European schools, Afridi said, inspired her to delve into what made her different from those around her.

As a teenager attending school in Dubai for three years, she questioned why the word "Israel" was censored from every text. When she moved to a mostly Jewish community in New York, Afridi's family received threatening calls because they were Muslim.

These experiences led her to her life's work, studying the conflicts and commonalities of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

"I have a complete passion for Judaism," she said. "It's almost like Judaism took me to my own religion. Here in L.A. I spend more time in synagogues than in mosques, talking to people about Islam. I think the Jewish community really wants to hear from Muslims like me. [I'm] a woman who is not anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. And I'm not a politician, so I don't have to be diplomatic."

Equally willing to speak publicly against problems in the Muslim world as she is to defend Judaism and Christianity, Afridi is nonetheless proud of her Muslim heritage.

"I am in no way ashamed to say that I am Muslim," she said, "because I represent a culture of Pakistan and Islam in a way that I think is positive."

She says Middle Eastern issues need the world's attention and encourages people of all backgrounds to get involved in the discussion.

"The problems in the Middle East affect us all, and we should be concerned with what's going on in the Muslim world, especially with the effect of memory," she said. "The memory of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, 9-11. We are affecting future generations with what we put in kids' minds. What we are telling them is that it is always the other who is to blame. It is a sad, sad thing."

What seems particularly poignant to Afridi is that there is so much blame and misunderstanding along with so much hope and potential for peace on all sides.

"Christianity had its many moments of crusades," she observed, "Israel has had its military power against Arab countries, and now Islam itself is going through a complete and major change, the result of which I may not see in my lifetime. It could be very positive, if the governments encourage education instead of political and military warfare, which is what we're all afraid of."

A deeper understanding

In the meantime, the world is ravaged by the current conflicts, for which Afridi faults not only "these extremist [Muslim] clerics who sit around and give fatwas and say America is immoral," but also Western leaders responsible for the colonization and exploitation of the Middle East and its natural resources.

Although she aims to promote understanding in her work, Afridi says discussions can get heated.

"Sometimes there is hostility," she said of her classes. "Most that I have experienced has been from secular Muslims, Iranians, and some Jews that have that monolithic view of the Palestinians. I always listen and address what they're saying, because sometimes I agree with it."

Such moments of agreement make up the backbone of Afridi's work. She says they are not hard to find.

"If you look at Palestinian and Israeli contemporary poetry it is almost exactly the same," she said. "The same loss, the same memory, the same land, the same pain, the same death. A lot of the ethics from each come from the same trajectory; our history comes from the same trajectory. Jews look at their lineage from Isaac, and we look at it from Ishmael. We're cousins."

Yet conflict is still commonplace.

"Throughout this sameness, the cycle of violence continues," Afridi said. "It's like racism. It's learned behavior. Watch two kids on the playground, and they're perfectly fine playing together. But as they grow up, the division becomes known. It's not a singular problem. It belongs to us all."

Want to go?

• Religious studies professor Mehnaz Afridi will present the six-part lecture series "Contemporary Issues as Viewed by Judaism, Islam & Christianity," beginning Thursday at the Mary & Joseph Retreat Center, 5300 Crest Road, Rancho Palos Verdes.