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Events
April 20-21, 2007."Islam and Muslim Citizenship in Non-Muslim Liberal
Democracies", 3rd Floor, Castle Board Room, Law College Building. The Muslim Studies Program held a very successful and informative two-day academic
conference on the question of Muslim citizens in non-Muslim liberal democracies,
with a particular focus on the United States. The conference will address
both doctrinal issues arising from the dialogue between liberal and Islamic
values, beliefs and conceptions of justice, as well as empirical issues
related to the beliefs, attitudes and social conditions of Muslim communities
living in non-Muslim liberal democracies.
The first panel, "Liberal Citizenship, Democracy and Islam," discussed questions of religious pluralism, democracy, liberalism and public
justification, with special reference to Islamic ethics. The second panel,
"Comparative Ethics: Methods and Purposes," addressed the problems
of identifying and defending common standards of justice and human rights
in ethically and religiously diverse environments. The first day was
concluded by a keynote address by Professor Sherman Jackson of the University
of Michigan. The second day began with an address by Professor Abdullahi
an-Na'im of Emory University entitled "Citizenship between Umma and
Nation." A third panel, "American Muslim Experiences," dealt more empirically and sociologically with developments in the American
Muslim community in the areas of religious authority and public identity.
A fourth panel, "Islamic Perspectives on Liberal Citizenship,"
featured two papers by Islamic scholars on both Shi'ite and Sunni juridical
perspectives on the problems of citizenship and justice in a liberal society.
A final panel, "Comparative Experiences," discussed important
differences and similarities between European and American Muslim experiences.
Monday, April 23, 2007, 3-5 p.m., Room 303 International Center. "Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine: Patterns of War and Peace in the Middle East", presented by Anthony Shadid. Anthony Shadid is the Middle East correspondent for The Washington Post currently based in Beirut. Arguably the most perceptive American journalist in the Middle East, he covered the war against Iraq and the subsequent occupation extensively for the Post for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. He is also the author of a best-selling book about the war and the occupation of Iraq. Based on his first-hand experience, the book is titled Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War and tells the story of the run up to the war, the invasion, and its uncertain aftermath through Iraqi eyes. He is also the author of Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats, and the New Politics of Islam. Before joining the Post, Shadid worked as Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press based in Cairo and as news editor of the AP bureau in Los Angeles. He spent two years covering diplomacy and the State Department for the Boston Globe before joining the Washington Post's foreign desk.
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