The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in collaboration with the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies sponsored the inaugural lecture of the IIIT Chair in Islamic Studies at George Mason University on February 20. Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, who assumed the position in January 2013, delivered the lecture entitled “End of Life Decisions: Culture and Tradition in Islam.”
Dr. Peter Mandaville, Director of the Ali Vural Ak Center, welcomed the full capacity audience and thanked IIIT for the endowment of the Chair and for co-sponsoring the event. Dr. Abubaker Alshingeiti, Executive Director of IIIT – USA, thanked Mason, the Center’s staff, and the faculty, in particular Dr. Sachedina, whose reputation and knowledge represents a huge boost for Islamic Studies at Mason and beyond. Dr. Alshingeiti also announced IIIT’s donation of a large collection of specialized books on Islam and Islamic Studies to help support the Center in building its library. Dr. Jack Censer, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, introduced Professor Sachedina and expressed the College's gratitude to him and to IIIT for supporting Islamic Studies at Mason.
Dr. Sachedina opened his lecture by outlining the challenges and shortcomings of modern daily life, emphasizing how all people, regardless of their religious beliefs, experience pain, suffering, and illness. The way in which people deal with these afflictions and making “end of life decisions” is where religion may play an important role. He then presents a number of Islam's spiritual insights on these experiences and on physical health more generally. However, as the controversy surrounding biomedical ethics has essentially made the issue a near-taboo subject among Muslims, Dr. Sachedina explains, there is indeed a way to reconcile traditional thinking and the challenging decisions we face in modern life.
To view Dr. Sachedina’s lecture, click on the video below. Accompanying slides can be viewed or downloaded here.