April 15-16, 2008:
Islam in America Symposium
An understanding of Islam is vital to an understanding of contemporary U.S. and world affairs. To expand our greater community’s understanding of Islam, the Carthage religion department has invited Muslim scholars and community leaders for a two-day symposium inluding:
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed
Arguably the most influential figure in the history of Islam in the United States, Imam Mohammed has played a central role in leading millions of African-Americans to Sunni Islam. Groomed by his father, Elijah Muhammad, for leadership in the racially separatist Nation of Islam, Imam Mohammed (and his close friend Malcolm X) broke away from the NOI and embraced a more traditional, racially inclusive brand of Sunni Islam. Imam Mohammed is presently the leader of The Mosque Cares, a Chicago-area organization that promotes interreligious and interracial harmony. He is featured prominently in the excellent PBS video series This Far by Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys (2003).
Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur
Ms. Abdul-Ghafur, a graduate of Columbia University, is the editor of Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak (Beacon, 2005), a collection of essays by American Muslim women who explore the relationships between Islam and feminism, tradition, and authority. A resident of Atlanta, GA, Abdul-Ghafur has lectured widely, with recent stops at Yale, Harvard, and the studios of National Public Radio. She will be visiting with us after returning from a ten-day book tour in the U.K.
Liyakat Takim
Dr. Takim, a member of the University of Denver’s religious studies department and an academic specialist in the study of Islam, is the author of The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi’ite Islam (State University of New York, 2006). His current research is on the reformation of Islamic law in contemporary times. A native of Tanzania, he has studied and taught in England, Canada, and the United States. He has lectured widely on Islam and modernity, Islam after 9/11, and Muslim-Christian relations.
The event will include a combination of plenary addresses and more intimate classroom discussions. Lecture and discussion themes include:
-The future of American Islam
-Women in Islam
-Islam and Human Rights
-Islamic Teachings on War and Peace
-Reformations of Islamic Law in the Modern World
For more information regarding the Islam in America Symposium, contact:
Tom Simpson, Ph.D.
Carthage Assistant Professor of Religion
2001 Alford Park Drive
Kenosha, WI 53140
(262) 551-6312
tsimpson1@carthage.edu
