Muslim Futures : ACGIS Annual Conference 2026

April 16, 2026, 9:00 AM to April 17, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT

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

Sofia Tsourlaki (SOAS University of London)

Zahra Takhshid (Sturm College of Law, University of Denver)

Christophe Güenther (University of Erfurt) 

Karim Al-Dhoni (Newcastle University) 

Colin Powers (Noria Research)

Arda Bilgen (LSE Middle East Centre) 

M. Kabir Hassan (University of New Orleans)

Laila Shereen Sakr (UC Santa Barbara)

Robert Rozehnal (Lehigh University)

Sahar Khamis (University of Maryland) 

Jörg Matthias Determann (Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar) 

Delia Cortese (Middlesex University, London) 

Glaire Anderson (University of Edinburgh) 

Ramy El Samahy