Muslim Futures: ACGIS Annual Conference 2026
April 16, 2026, 9:00 AM to April 17, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT
Fenwick Library
Muslim Futures
This conference seeks to explore the effects of new and emerging technologies on the Muslim world, broadly construed, and to inquire into the ways in which diverse actors imagine and speculate on the future. We plan to consider topics including but not limited to: transformations of Islamic religious authority and practice tied to generative artificial intelligence (AI); the relationship between new financial technologies, like blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, and Islamic law; and plans for “smart cities” in the Muslim-majority world. The task of scoping out the terrain of Muslim futures will bring together political economists, ethnographers and religious studies scholars, experts in Islamic law, literary critics, and those directly involved in cultural production connecting Muslim pasts to alternative utopian and dystopian futures through speculative and science fiction. The conference will take place in connection with an exhibition at George Mason featuring a virtual reality (VR) hajj experience.
Conference Speakers :
Keynote - Saks Afridi :The Space Mosque, is an art-based Creative Director with 20 years of US and global experience. He's the proud recipient of 2 Gold Cannes Lions, 3 D&AD, 2 One Show pencils and a UN Award for Peace and Understanding. He has lived in several places around the world, including Dubai, South Africa, Sri-Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, San Francisco and finally, New York City. He speaks English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and Pashto.
Sofia Tsourlaki (SOAS University of London): Algorithmic Modernity and Islamic Tradition: Muslim lived experiences with Artificial Intelligence.
Zahra Takhshid (Sturm College of Law, University of Denver): ChatGPT and the Marja’.
Christoph Günther (University of Erfurt): Images of the Unimaginable: AI Visions of Paradise and Hell.
AbdulKarim Al-Dhoni (Newcastle University): Islamic Finance and Financial Technologies: Opportunities and Limitations.
Arda Bilgen (LSE Middle East Centre): Exploring Water Futures: Infrastructure, Techno-Developmentalism, and Hydro-Social Governance in the Middle East.
M. Kabir Hassan (University of New Orleans): Crypto Blockchain and Shariah Compliance: Towards an Inclusive Digital Economy.
Robert Rozehnal (Lehigh University): Cyber Sufism in the Ecosystem of American Digital Islam.
Sahar Khamis (University of Maryland): Muslim Women's Shifting Identities in the Digital Age.
Peter Mandaville (George Mason University): Islam After the Internet. Muslims, Digital Life, and the Future of Moral Community.
Jörg Matthias Determann (Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar) : Futurism and Science Fiction in Muslim Societies.
Delia Cortese (Middlesex University, London): Branding and befriending the Fatimids on social media.
Glaire Anderson (University of Edinburgh): Playing Futures Past: Islamic Art, History & Video Games.
Ramy El Samahy (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Micro, Meso, Macro: Design as a Means of Predicting the Future.
Laila Shireen Sakr (UC Santa Barbara): Contrapuntal Arab/Muslim Futurity. Worlds in the Making, Data in the Flesh.
Ahmet Faruk Aysan (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar): Rooted Futures and Multiplex Ethics: A Rooted Futures Approach to Technology, Technologists, and Islamic Finance.
Dean Recep Senturk (College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar): Civilizational Sustainability of Islam: A Rooted Future for an Open Civilization.
Conference Schedule:
Thursday April 16, 2026
Keynote (9:30-10:45) Saks Afridi (The Space Mosque)
Break (10:45-11:00am)
Panel One (11:00- 12:45) - AI and Religious Authority
Maria Dakake (George Mason University) - Discussant
- Sofia Tsourlaki (SOAS University of London): Algorithmic Modernity and Islamic Tradition: Muslim lived experiences with Artificial Intelligence.
- Zahra Takhshid (Sturm College of Law, University of Denver): ChatGPT and the Marja’.
- Christoph Günther (University of Erfurt): Images of the Unimaginable: AI Visions of Paradise and Hell.
Lunch (1-2pm)
Panel Two (2-3:45) - Future Islamic Economies
- AbdulKarim Al-Dhoni (Newcastle University): Islamic Finance and Financial Technologies: Opportunities and Limitations.
- Ahmet Aysan(Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar): Rooted Futures and Multiplex Ethics: A Rooted Futures Approach to Technology, Technologists, and Islamic Finance.
- M. Kabir Hassan (University of New Orleans): Crypto Blockchain and Shariah Compliance: Towards an Inclusive Digital Economy.
Break (3:45-4pm)
Panel Three (4-5:45) - Sustainable Futures
Yasemin Ipek (George Mason University) -Discussant
- Dean Recep Senturk (College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar):Civilizational Sustainability of Islam: A Rooted Future for an Open Civilization.
- Ramy El Samahy (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Micro, Meso, Macro: Design as a Means of Predicting the Future.
- Arda Bilgen (LSE Middle East Centre): Exploring Water Futures: Infrastructure, Techno-Developmentalism, and Hydro-Social Governance in the Middle East.
Virtual Hajj
Friday April 17, 2026
Panel 4 (9:30-10:45) - Knowledge Production
Sumaiya Hamdani (George Mason University) - Discussant
- Robert Rozehnal (Lehigh University): Cyber Sufism in the Ecosystem of American Digital Islam.
- Sahar Khamis (University of Maryland): Muslim Women's Shifting Identities in the Digital Age.
- Peter Mandaville (George Mason University): Islam After the Internet. Muslims, Digital Life, and the Future of Moral Community.
Panel 5 (11-12:45) - Cultural Production
Nathaniel Greenberg (George Mason University) - Discussant
- Jörg Matthias Determann (Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar) : Futurism and Science Fiction in Muslim Societies.
- Delia Cortese (Middlesex University, London): Branding and befriending the Fatimids on social media.
- Glaire Anderson (University of Edinburgh): Playing Futures Past: Islamic Art, History & Video Games.
- Laila Shireen Sakr (UC Santa Barbara): Contrapuntal Arab/Muslim Futurity. Worlds in the Making, Data in the Flesh.
Lunch (1-2)
Wrap-up (4-5pm) - Abdul-Rehman Malik (MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale).
