Conferences and Lectures
Since 2010, the AbuSulayman Center has hosted an extraordinary range of guest lectures by leading scholars of Islamic Studies from across the globe. Together, these talks reflect the remarkable breadth of the field—spanning diverse geographic regions from the Middle East and South Asia to Africa, Europe, and North America; covering historical periods from the formative centuries of Islam to contemporary debates; and engaging disciplinary perspectives that include history, political science, anthropology, religious studies, and beyond. This collection offers students, scholars, and the wider public an unparalleled resource for exploring the many dimensions of Islam’s role in society, past and present.
"The Qur'an and the Reading of History" Conference
Following the successful inaugural Contemplating the Qur’an conference of 2013, Howard Divinity School and the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University organized “The Qur’an and the Reading of History” Conference, hosted on April 20-21, 2015 at Howard Divinity School.
This conference examined the Qur’anic approach to telling the story of the past, and to defining the relationship between the past and the present. Presentations by local, national, and international scholars addressed the Qur’anic conception of history and its significance for understanding the Qur’an’s view of the human condition. The conference further examined the ways in which attempts to historicize or rehistoricize the Qur’anic verses as found in the classical tafsir literature or in contemporary Muslim and Western scholarship have affected the reading of both the Qur’an and religious history.
Opening Remarks: Zainab Alwani (Howard Divinity School)
Panel 1, "Stylistic and Narrative Features of Sacred History in the Qur'an"
Sarra Tlili (University of Florida), “The Canine Companion of the Cave”
Devin Stewart (Emory University), “Qur’anic Typology, the Sermon within a Sermon, and Generic Punishment Narratives”
Issam Eido (University of Chicago Divinity School), “Different Readings of the Abrahamic Response to Divine Commands”
Panel 2, "Qur'anic Views of History"
Maria Dakake (George Mason University), “Cyclical and Linear Conceptions of History in the Qur’an”
Amr Osman (Qatar University), “Modern Arab Historians and the Qur’an”
Sayed Hassan Akhlaq Hussaini (Catholic University), “The Existential Dialectics of the Qur’an Regarding History”
Panel 3, "Textual and Contextual Readings of Qur'anic Verses"
Emmanuelle Stefanidis (Universite-Paris Sorbonne), “‘Even if men and jinn joined efforts to assemble it according to its original sequence, they would not succeed’: Reflections on the Distinction between tartib al-nuzul and tartib al-mushaf”
Mahan Mirza (Zaytuna College), “From General to Specific: A Thematic Reading of the Sword Verse”
Panel 4, "Qur'anic 'History' As Spiritual Anthropology"
Jawad Anwar Qureshi (University of Chicago Divinity School), “‘The Fairest of Stories’: Ring Structure, Virtues, and the Spiritual Path in Surat Yusuf (Q. 12)”
Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University), “Surat Yusuf as a ‘History’ of the Human Soul”
Alan Godlas (University of Georgia), “Constructions of Intelligence and Affect in the Context of Qur’anic Histories”
Panel 5, "Reading the Life of Muhammad, the Early Community, and its Arabian Context in the Qur'an"
Zainab Alwani (Howard Divinity School), “Muhammad in the Qur’an: Building a Community”
Joseph Lumbard (Brandeis University), “Muhammad in the Qur’an: Historicity and Stylometry”
George Archer (Georgetown University), “A Sign on the Horizon: A Reconstruction of the Solar Mythology of the Qur’an’s Primal Audience”
Panel 6, "Reading the Qur'an on Gender Through a Historical Lens"
Taraneh Wilkinson (Georgetown University), “Debates on the Authority of Tafsir on Gender Issues in Contemporary Turkey”
Hadia Mubarak (Georgetown University), “Modern Approaches to Classical Texts through the Lens of Gender”
Masyithah Mardhatillah (Islamic State University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta), “Female Characters in Qur’anic Stories and Contemporary Contextualization”
Closing Remarks: Maria Dakake (George Mason University)
"Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change" Conference
The Arab Uprisings that started in 2010—and the rapidly evolving political fortunes of Islamic political actors that followed in their wake—have prompted a renewed interest in questions relating to religion and social mobilization in the Muslim world. 
The "Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change: Historical and Comparative Perspectives" conference, organized by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies in October 2013, brought together historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists to collectively explore the broader historical and cross-regional contexts in which previous and contemporary intersections of Islam and mass mobilization for social change occur.
Watch videos from "Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change" here
Panel 1, "Islam, Mobilization and Social Change: Themes & Theories" (Closed session)
Peter Mandaville (George Mason University), "Islam & Social Inquiry"
Paul Lubeck (University of California-Santa Cruz), "Theorizing the Problem Muslim Agency within Globalization Processes: Explaining the Intersection of the Global and Local in the Boko Haram Insurgency"
Ziad Munson (Lehigh University), "Looking for Islam: Religion and Popular Mobilization in the Muslim World"
Panel 2, "Islam and Mass Mobilization in the Premodern World" (Closed session)
Mohammed Bamyeh (University of Pittsburgh), "Anarchy, Civic Order and Mobilization in Islamic History"
Sumaiya Hamdani (George Mason University), "Da`wa and Dawla: Understanding "Revolution" in Pre-modern Islamic Thought"
Hayrettin Yucesoy (Washington University in St. Louis), "Al-Tabari on the Zanj Rebellion and the Abbasids"
Panel 3, "Islam, Empire and Social Mobilization in a Changing World Order" (Closed session)
Edmund Burke III (University of California-Santa Cruz), "Collective Action and Discursive Shifts: A Comparative Historical Perspective"
Ahmet Karamustafa (University of Maryland), “'The Nexus of Sufism and Society' in the Early Modern Period, 1400-1800"
Huseyin Yilmaz (George Mason University), "The Ottoman Discourse on Rebellion"
Keynote Speech: Richard Bulliet (Columbia University), "An Islamic Historian’s View of Social Mobilization" (Open to the public)
Panel 4, "Islam and Mass Movements in the 20th Century: Comparative Experiences" (Closed session)
Robert Hefner (Boston University), "Sharia Ideals and Nationalist Mobilizations in Post-Reformasi Indonesia"
Neil Ketchley (London School of Economics), "Political Islam, Social Movements and the Global Repertoire of Contention (1912-1945): Sarekat Islam, Khilafat Movement and the Society of the Muslim Brothers"
James Pickett (Princeton University), "Persianate Islam in Central Asia as a Precursor to Soviet and Post-Soviet Social Movements"
Panel 5, "Islam and Mobilization in the Contemporary Arab World" (Open to the public)
Abdullah Al-Arian (Georgetown University-SFS Qatar), "The Muslim Brotherhood’s New Ordeal: Lessons from Egypt’s Revolutionary Moment"
Abdeslam Maghraoui (Duke University), "Allah Made Me Liberal: Experimental Evidence from Norm Violations Among Moroccan Youths"
Bassam Haddad (George Mason University), "The Arab Uprisings: Causes and Dynamics"
"Beyond Golden Age and Decline" Forum
As part of a project awarded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities under the Bridging Cultures initiative, the Center for Global Islamic Studies gathered a two-day scholarly forum on March 14-15, 2011 titled "Beyond Golden Age and Decline: The Legacies of Muslim Societies in Global Modernity, 1300-1900" with the participation of over 30 world and Islamic historians.
The scholars, inlcuding faculty and researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, Brown University, Georgetown University, the University of Virginia, the Univeristy of Edinburgh, and the American University in Cairo, confronted commonly accepted readings of Islamic history between the 14th and 20th centuries, an era described as one of general decline for Muslim societies in contrast to the preceding Islamic Golden Age. Focusing on the history of Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, speakers brought to light recent scholarship on this misunderstood era in Muslim history and debunked widely perpetuated myths within academia and among the public.
A public web page, http://www.muslimmodernities.org/, was designed specially for this conference, where detailed information about participating scholars and paper presentations are available.
Watch videos from the "Beyond Golden Age and Decline" Forum here
Plenary Panel, “Art and Architecture of Muslim Societies”
Gülru Necipoğlu (Harvard University)
Massumeh Farhad (Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution)
Panel 1, “Recent Historiography on the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires”
Cemal Kafadar (Harvard University)
Rajeev Kinra (Northwestern University)
Kathryn Babayan (University of Michigan)
Panel 2, “Re-Framing the Narratives of Muslim Societies in World History Literature”
Edmund Burke III (University of California-Santa Cruz)
John Voll (Georgetown University)
Jerry Bentley (University of Hawaii-Manoa)
Patrick Manning (University of Pittsburgh)
Richard Bulliet (Columbia University)
Panel 3, “Countering the Main Arguments of Decline”
Giancarlo Casale (University of Minnesota)
Gabor Agoston (Georgetown University)
Baki Tezcan (University of California-Davis)
Himmet Taskomur (Harvard University)
Panel 4, “Cosmopolitanism and Political Theory in the Age of Three Empires”
Hayrettin Yucesoy (St. Louis University)
Huseyin Yilmaz (University of South Florida)
Stephen Dale (Ohio State University)
Cengiz Sisman (Furman University)
Panel 5, “Islamic Law in/and the Literature of Decline”
Engin Akarli (Brown University)
Nelly Hanna (American University-Cairo)
Andrew Newman (University of Edinburgh)
Panel 6, “New Scholarship on Science, Ideas and Philosophy”
George Saliba (Columbia University)
Ahmed al-Rahim (University of Virginia)
Nabil Matar (University of Minnesota)
US Relations with the Muslim World Conference
The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies along with the Muslim World Initiative and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) co-sponsored The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy’s 11th annual conference on April 28, 2010. Dozens of world-renowned scholars served as panelists for a myriad of topics focusing on the theme, “US Relations with the Muslim World: One Year After Cairo,” filling the Ronald Reagan Building Amphitheater and Oceanic Conference Room.
To report on the United States’ progress on the subject, Special Representative Farah Pandith of the US Department of State started off the conference with her passionate yet eloquent discussion centered on “a coplanar dialogue with Muslims globally.” During lunch, keynote speakers Tariq Ramadan and Reza Aslan discussed ideas for the future of Muslims around the world, promoting peacemaking and denouncing fundamentalism. Daniel Brumberg of the United States Institute of Peace moderated dialogue with an afternoon panel of Islamists from Morocco, Bahrain, and Algeria. To bring the conference to a close, US Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussein spoke on “Building Bridges of Understanding Between America and the Muslim World.”
"Sectarianism, Identity and Conflict in Islamic Contexts" Conference
April 15-17, 2016
The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies and the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program at George Mason University, together with the Arab Studies Institute, organized a two-day conference, “Sectarianism, Identity and Conflict in Islamic Contexts: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives” on April 15-17, 2016 at George Mason University’s main campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Composed of a keynote address delivered by Ussama Makdisi of Rice University and five panels, the conference brought together more than twenty academics and policy experts to discuss sectarianism. Conference organizers underlined that they wanted to capture the complexity of sectarianism as a tempo-historically specific phenomenon, rather than a static expression that is explained away as an expression of religious dogmatism.
The organizers encouraged the participants to bring forth nuanced, contextually and conceptually rich analysis rather than sectarianism’s more simplistic explanations that dominate most popular as well as some media and academic analysis today. The conference aimed to unpack sectarian framing of identities and conflicts and expose forced dichotomies created around the concept.
The conference opened on the evening of April 15 with a keynote address by Ussama Makdisi. Makdisi provided a nuanced historical analysis of the “discursive framing of sectarianism,” especially in the Middle East. He argued that a long and problematic tradition of scholarship on the Middle East helped perpetuate sectarianism as an “inevitable” outcome in the region. Similarly, this approach presented sectarianism as the result of “age old social and political divisions,” as President Obama put it. Makdisi emphasized that racism in America and Europe was not studied in the same fashion as the phenomenon of sectarianism in the Middle East. 
He explained the processes by which an ecumenical language and understanding of difference was slowly replaced with a sectarian alternative especially in the nineteenth century.
Over the next two days the conference focused on unpacking sectarianism and its historical and contemporary iterations in multiple geographic areas. In the first panel, titled “Historical and Theoretical Approaches to Sectarianism,” Sumaiya Hamdani explored contending approaches to religious difference within Islam. Building on Makdisi’s keynote speech, Tariq al-Jamil focused on Orientalist scholarship and construction of sectarianism into Orientalist historiography. Mark Farha’s presentation examined how states often exploit sectarian fault lines. Finally, focusing on post-Arab Spring Egypt, Jeffrey Kenney explored the discursive and practical political battle in the context of the “kharijite” label in Egypt.
The second panel on April 16 explored dynamics and processes around sectarianism in Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan. In his presentation on Lebanon
, Alex Henley explored the complex relationship between the country’s multi-confessional religious leadership and personal status regime. In a paper about Iraq’s religious learning centers across the Sunni and Shi’i communities, Abdulaziz Sachedina questioned whether sectarian dynamics can be overcome in order to help re-build Iraq. Concluding the panel was Joas Wagemakers’ paper on Salafi politics in Jordan. Wagemakers examined how anti-Shi’i Salafism was often utilized by the state.
The third panel of the conference focused on the Saudi Arabian context where sectarianism poses often complex dynamics and difficult questions for researchers. In this panel, Natana Delong-Bas and Toby Matthiessen focused on the religious hegemony in the Kingdom and the ruling family- both factors that influence not only local but also regional and global dynamics around sectarianism. Both scholars highlighted the sensitive nature of Saudi Arabia’s Shi’i population.
Recognizing the need to deconstruct popular misconceptions about the complexities of the Iraqi and Syrian cases, the conference specifically invited six leading experts with significant experience in both countries to speak about sectarianism and ISIS. Bassam Haddad provided an overall conceptual and historical perspective, highlighting the need to go beyond media accounts in understanding sectarianism in Iraq and Syria.
Mouin Rabbani, Ali Sada and Nir Rosen each provided significant data from the ground, especially highlighting the discursive appeal of a sectarian language in both countries. Fanar Haddad focused on Iraqi history and how ISIS interacts with and exploits that history. Christopher Anzalone focused on the evolution and make up of Middle East’s Al-Qaida affiliated militant groups.
The last panel of the conference explored sectarianism in three geographic contexts: Africa, Indonesia, and Yemen. Mara Leichtaman’s paper presented a case study of a Lebanese community in Senegal, while Diana Coleman examined the interactions between Nahdatul Ulama and a Hadrami diasporic community in Java. Finally, Charles Schmitz provided a historical overview of sectarian dynamics in Yemen and then presented complexities of contemporary Yemeni experience with sectarianism.
The three-day conference served to highlight fluid, often misunderstood and under-contextualized, identities and their relationship with sectarian dynamics. While the papers presented were diverse in their disciplinary and methodological approaches, they came together nicely in providing a nuanced analysis of the complex processes that engender sectarian identities. Scholars, journalists and community activists interacted with a diverse audience throughout the two-day conference and underlined the need to further case-studies that diligently unpack how sectarianism presents itself in today’s world.
In an effort to amplify exposure and diversify public debate the conference organizers decided to share the papers with wider audience and in different formats. The papers will be presented across multiple platforms and in different formats: short blog posts, academic articles and videos.
Conference Program
View the full conference program booklet with speaker bios here:
Friday April 15 – Merten Hall Room 1201
Keynote Address
Ussama Makdisi (Rice University), “The Invention of Sectarianism in the Modern Middle East”
Saturday April 16 – Merten Hall Room 1201
Panel I: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to Sectarianism
Mark Farha (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies), “Double Denial and the Exploitation of Sectarianism in the Middle East: Sources, Symptoms, and Solutions”
Sumaiya Hamdani (George Mason University), “The Self, the Sect, and the State: Religious Difference Within Islam”
Tariq al-Jamil (Swarthmore College), “Sectarianism, Pre-Modern Islamic
History and the Bequest of Orientalism”
Jeffrey Kenney (DePauw University), “Sectarian Politics and Weak States in the Middle East: The Return of the Kharijites in Egypt"
Panel II: Sectarian Issues in the Contemporary Middle East
Alex Henley (Georgetown University), “Lebanon’s Powerful Religious Leaders: What Do They Tell Us About Sectarianism?”
Abdulaziz Sachedina (George Mason University), “A’zamiyya and Najaf: Sunni-Shi’a Cooperation in Rebuilding Iraq”
Joas Wagemakers (Utrecht University), “Anti-Shi’ism Without Shi’ites: Salafi Sectarianism in Jordan”
Panel III: Sectarianism & the Shi’ite Minority in Saudi Arabia
Natana Delong-Bas (Boston College), “Between Conflict and Coexistence: Saudi Shi’a as Subjects, Objects, and Agents in Wasatiyya and Wataniyya”
Toby Matthiessen (Oxford University), “Who Profits from Sectarianism in Saudi Arabia?”
Panel IV: Conflict, Sectarianism, and ISIS in Iraq and Syria: Causes and Prospects.
Bassam Haddad (George Mason University), “The Rise, Expansion, and Limits of the ISIS Phenomenon in Iraq & Syria”
Mouin Rabbani (Arab Studies Institute), “Understanding the ISIS Phenomenon: A Research and Policy Agenda”
Fanar Haddad (National University of Singapore), “The Impact of ISIS on Sectarian Relations and Nationalism in Iraq”
Christopher Anzalone (McGill University), “In the Shadow of the ‘State’: Modern Conflicts and the Mobilizing and Contesting of Sacred History”
Ali Sada (Innovative Communication and Strategies), “The Roots of ISIS Media Narratives”
Nir Rosen (Humanitarian Dialogue Center), “A Look at the New Age of Sectarianism in Iraq and Syria, 2003-2016”
Sunday April 17 – Merten Hall Room 1201
Panel V: Sectarian Rhetoric and Politics in Africa, Indonesia, and Yemen
Mara Leichtman (Michigan State University), “Reflections on Sectarianism and Shi’i Identity in Senegal and West Africa”
Diana Coleman (Arizona State University), “Archipelagic Anxieties: Sectarian Tensions in Indonesia”
Charles Schmitz (Towson University), “Zaydi Wahhabis and Other Yemen Anomalies”
"Islam in Africa" Conference
The Ali Vural Ak Center partnered with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to hold a conference on "Islam in Africa: Trends and Policy Implications" on March 25, 2013. Hosted at CSIS in Washington, D.C., the event brought policymakers and scholars together to explore key trends in African Islam and examine how these trends and other new influences are shaping Muslim communities and their engagement in politics and public life.
Guest speakers discussed new dynamics within Islam in Africa, how Muslim groups organize themselves, how they relate to the state, each other and the broader society, the political and social issues around which they mobilize and engage, and how African governments are responding to their activities. U.S. policymakers have focused on Islam in Africa largely through the prism of security and violent extremist groups. This conference aimed to examine those issues but place them within a much broader discussion of regional trends and dynamics.
Welcome and Introduction - Jennifer G. Cooke (CSIS)
Panel 1, "Broad Trends in Islam in Africa"
James Bell (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)
Terrence Lyons (George Mason University)
Moderator: Peter Mandaville (George Mason University)
Panel 2, "Modes of Engagement"
Sebastian Elischer (German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Leuphana University Lüneburg)
Lynn Aylward (World Faiths Development Dialogues)
Farid Esack (University of Johannesburg)
Moderator: Jennifer Cooke (CSIS)
Panel 3, "Extremist Groups, Violence, and Security"
Terje Østebø (University of Florida)
Alex Thurston (Northwestern University)
Paul Lubeck (Johns Hopkins University)
Moderator: Richard Downie (CSIS)
Closing Remarks - Peter Mandaville (George Mason University)
Video can be watched here :
"Teaching the Middle East" Conference
Sponsored by the Ali Vural Ak Center, Middle East Studies Program and Arab Studies Institute, the conference on "Teaching the Middle East After 
the Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions: Beyond Orientalism, Islamophobia, and Neoliberalism" convened more than 30 scholars in a conversation about the impact of the revolutions in the Middle East on teaching and scholarship about the region. Building on the important theoretical questioning of dominant conceptual tools that had informed understanding of the Middle East in the past decade, scholars from a range of disciplines whose work has been central to this endeavor sought to reassess existing paradigms in light of the historic events and emerging realities produced by the "Arab Spring".
For full summaries and details about the conference, held at Mason on May 13-14, 2011, visit Jadaliyya.
"New Approaches to Qur'an and Exegesis" Conference
The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies organized this conference to bring together international scholars working on the Qur'an and its 
classical commentary tradition (tafsir). Held at Mason on October 23-24, 2010, the conference's participants discussed how new scholarly approaches to the Qur'an and the tafsir tradition have led to an increasing appreciation for the diversity of ways in which the Qur'an has been received and interpreted by Muslims, and the significance of this research for contemporary Muslim understandings of the text. Many of the scholars on the panels have been involved with the Study Qur'an project, a collective editorial effort to provide a new translation of the Qur'an accessible to the English-speaking public.
Watch videos from the "New Approaches to Qur'an and Exegesis" Conference here
Panel 1, "Rethinking Tafsir"
Feras Hamza (American University of Dubai), "The Unwritten Tafsir and the Lingering Elusiveness of the Qur'anic Text"
Joseph Lumbard (Brandeis University), "Covenant and Covenantalism in the Qur'an"
Panel 2, "Questions of War and Martyrdom in the Qur'an"
Asma Afsaruddin (Indiana University), "Reading Martydrom in the Qur'an: An Exegetical Survey of Key Verses"
Caner Dagli (College of the Holy Cross), "The Laws of War and Religious Conversion in the Qur'an"
Panel 3, "The Qur'an and Inter-religious Understanding"
Todd Lawson (University of Toronto), "Tafsir and the Meaning of the Qur'an: The Crucifixion in Muslim Thought"
Daniel Madigan (Georgetown University), "Trends in Non-Muslim Readings of the Qur'an"
Keynote Address: Seyyed Hossein Nasr (George Washington University)
Panel 4, "Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on the Qur'an"
Muzaffar Iqbal (Center for Islam and Science), "New Approaches to the Qur'an and Science Nexus"
Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University), "The Word Made Book: Mulla Sadra's Qur'anic Hermeneutics in Context"
Panel 5, "Sufi Perspectives on the Qur'an"
Farhana Mayer (Institute of Ismaili Studies), "Mystical Hermeneutics and Cosmology in the Tafsir Ascribed by the Sufis to Ja'far al-Sadiq"
Kristin Zahra Sands (Sarah Lawrence College), "The Problem of Listless Lovers in al-Qushayri's Lata'if al-Isharat"
Panel 6, "The Qur'an and Contemporary Issues"
Qamar Al-Huda (US Institute of Peace), "Modern Tafsir on Peace-building and Reconciliation in the Qur'an"
Juliane Hammer (George Mason University), "American Muslim Women's Readings of the Qur'an"
Islam in/and America Workshop
Islam in/and America: New Directions of Research
March 25-27, 2011
This workshop was the third in a series convened on this topic also held at Princeton University (February 2008), and Columbia University (January 2010). The goal of this workshop was to “complicate the emerging notion of an “American Islam” and to investigate ways in which the terms “America, “Islam”, and “American Islam” are and have been practiced, debated, encoded and altered.” The next workshop of this series will be held at Yale University.
Participants:
Faculty Sponsor: Juliane Hammer, George Mason University
Graduate Assistant: Golnesa Asheghali, M.A. Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies
Suad Abdul Khabeer, Princeton University
Zain Abdullah, Temple University
Moustafa Bayoumi, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Aminah el-Annan, Yale University
GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz, Reed College
Zareena Grewal, Yale University
Hishaam Aidi, Columbia University
Edward Curtis, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis
Sally Howell, University of Michigan, Dearborn
Timothy Marr, UNC Chapel Hill
Hussein Rashid, Hofstra University
Harold Morales, UC Riverside
Rosemary Hicks, Tufts University
Constructing Muslim 'Feminist' Ethics Workshop
Constructing Muslim ‘Feminist’ Ethics: Gendered Power Relations in the Qur’an and the Prophetic Example
October 8-10, 2010
This workshop assembled a diverse group of American Muslim scholars broadly concerned with gender-just interpretations of the Qur’an and innovative approaches to the Prophetic tradition. Discussions were held to explore transcending existing discourses and projects by combining intellectual energies and diverse methodologies to build community and to address methodological, religious and political concerns.
Participants:
Faculty Sponsor: Juliane Hammer, George Mason University
Graduate Assistant: Golnesa Asheghali, M.A. Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies
Kecia Ali, Boston University
Aisha Geissinger, Carleton University
Aysha Hidayatullah, University of San Francisco
Debra Majeed, Beloit College
Fatima Seedat, McGill University
Amina Wadud, Starr King School for the Ministry
Saadia Yacoob, Duke University
Laurey Silvers, University of Toronto