VIDEO: George Mason University Qur'an Studies Conference (2010)

New Approaches to Qur'an and Exegesis Conference Opening Remarks and Feras Hamza from Ali Vural Ak Center for Global I on Vimeo.

New Approaches to Qur'an and Exegesis

Center for Global Islamic Studies Fall Conference, 2010

October 23, 2010 - October 24, 2010 (Harris Theater)

This conference will bring together international scholars working on the Qur'an and its classical commentary tradition (tafsir). The presenters will discuss 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.

Presentations will include:

• Dr. Asma Afsaruddin (Indiana University), "Reading Martydrom in the Qur'an: An Exegetical Survey of Key Verses"
• Dr. Juliane Hammer (George Mason University), "American Muslim Women's Readings of the Qur'an"
• Dr. Todd Lawson (University of Toronto), "Tafsir and the Meaning of the Qur'an: The Crucifixion in Muslim Thought"
• Dr. Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University), "The Word Made Book: Mulla Sadra's Qur'anic Hermeneutics in Context"
• Dr. Qamar Al-Huda (US Institute of Peace), "Modern Tafsir on Peace-building and Reconciliation in the Qur'an"
• Dr. Feras Hamza (American University of Dubai), "The Unwritten Tafsir and the Lingering Elusiveness of the Qur'anic Text"
• Dr. Joseph Lumbard (Brandeis University), "Covenant and Covenantalism in the Qur'an"
• Dr. Walid Saleh (University of Toronto), "Arabic Historiography of Tafsir: Printing and Ideology in the Modern Islamic World"
• Dr. Caner Dagli (College of the Holy Cross), "The Laws of War and Religious Coversion in the Qur'an"
• Dr. Muzaffar Iqbal (Center for Islam and Science), "New Approaches to the Qur'an and Science Nexus"
• Farhana Mayer (Institute of Ismaili Studies, London), "Mystical Hermeneutics and Cosmology in the Tafsir Ascribed by the Sufis to Ja'far al-Sadiq"
• Dr. Kristin Sands (Sarah Lawrence University), "The Problem of Listless Lovers in al-Qushayri's Lata'if al-Isharat"

In addition, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University will be giving the keynote speech.

Iran's Theocracy: From Khumayni to Khamenei (Hujjat al-Islam Mohsen Kadivar)

Mohsen Kadivar is an Iranian Twelver Shi'i religious scholar who is very critical of the governing regime headed by al-Sayyid 'Ali Khamenei. Though he is a critic of many of Khumayni's ideas, Kadivar also provides a nuanced portrait of the revolutionary grand ayatullah.

Islam and the Taliban: An Essay by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

Below is an essay by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, an influential contemporary Pakistani religious scholar, on "Islam and the Taliban" in which he critiques these movements' religio-political ideology.
_________________________

Islam and the Taliban

Reflections Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (Tr. by:Asif Iftikhar)

Islam and the Taliban1

The Taliban says that democracy is a concept alien to Islam. The ideal way of setting up an Islamic government in our times is the one that it adopted for Mullāh ‘Umar’s government in Afghanistan. The constitution, the parliament, and elections are nothing but modern day shams. For its implementation, Islam does not depend on any of these mechanisms. Whatever interpretations have been accepted in the Ḥanafī law2 are final and authoritative. The opinions of its jurists have all been compiled in matters related to individual as well as collective affairs. These opinions and verdicts, in the Taliban’s view, are based on the Qur’ān, the sunnah (the Prophet’s teachings), ijmā‘ (consensus), and qiyās (analogy) and are contained in the manuals of fiqh (Islamic law) and in the fatāwā (verdicts) of “qualified” Muslim jurists. These laws and verdicts must be implemented. And this implementation does not require the approval of any parliament. The modus operandi recommended by the Taliban is that all institutions of the government be under the judiciary and the judiciary itself be in control of the ‘ulamā’ (religious scholars) as it is the ‘ulamā’ who are the experts in the understanding and interpretation of the sharī‘ah (Divine law). The Taliban believes that the last 1200 years of Muslim tradition stands in its support. In its opinion, after the appointment of Imam Abū Yūsuf as the qādī al-quḍāt (Chief Justice) of the Abbasid sultanate, the same modus operandi was adopted everywhere for the implementation of Islam. It was the Western colonialism that put an end to this tradition. Now, the Muslims are independent; therefore, this approach to running the affairs of the state in accordance with the sharī‘ah must also be restored.

The activism of the Taliban is for the purpose explained above. In this battle, suicide missions are its greatest weapon. The Taliban believes that this weapon is a special blessing of God to enable it to fight the armies equipped with modern technology. With this weapon, it believes that it can make any government in the world fall to its knees. The basic features of the strategy the Taliban has adopted thus far are:

Read the rest at MONTHLY RENAISSANCE.

Prof. Jonathan Brown: "Abiding Stereotypes about the Prophet Muhammad in the Medieval and Modern West"

Jonathan Brown - Abiding Stereotypes About the Prophet Muhammad in the Medieval and Modern West from Ali Vural Ak Center for Global I on Vimeo.

Lecture by Prof. Jonathan A. C. Brown, one of the brightest young Islamic studies scholars around today and someone I am fortunate to call a friend. He's speaking here about the images of the Prophet Muhammad in history and particularly in Europe and North America (and at my alma mater to boot!)

Two Lectures by Grand Ayatullah Bashir Najafi on Ramadan & Fatima al-Zahra

Grand Ayatullah Bashir Najafi, one of the four maraji' al-taqlid in the Iraqi Shi'i shrine city of al-Najaf al-Ashraf, discusses Ramadan, the Islamic lunar month of fasting, in an Urdu lecture.


Grand Ayatullah Najafi discusses Fatima al-Zahra, the wife of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi'i Imam, in Arabic.