Wednesday, February 29, 2012

ISA Panel Discussion: Traditional Knowledge, Contemporary Context

https://www.facebook.com/events/396891910324510/

Friday 7:00pm until 9:00pm

  • Furman Hall Room 212

    Furman Hall is located at 245 Sullivan Street, between Washington Square South and West Third Street. [See directions here]


  • So you went all the way to Al Azhar, got your certification in tajweed, hadith, fiqh, and every Islamic Science under the sun. You become a scholar of scholars, and then headed home to the good old U.S of A. After a mushroom burger and shake at your local Shake Shack. you ask yourself, "Now What"?

    How do you use that knowledge you have gained and trained in, in the contemporary context? Join the Islamic Students Association for a panel featuring Professor Zareena Grewal, Imam Khalid Latif, and Shaykh Khalil Abdur Rashid discussing the challenges of studying the tradition of Islam, and making it relevant in the American context.

    For more information, please email Noor Zafar at nzaf2424@gmail.com

    "Knowledge is that which benefits, not that which is memorized". ~ Imam Ash-Shaafi'ee

    ************************************************************
    Zareena A Grewal is an Assistant Professor of American Studies and Religious Studies at Yale University. She is a historical anthropologist and documentary filmmaker and has directed and produced a film about the scrutiny of American Muslims’ patriotism (By the Dawn’s Early Light: Chris Jackson’s Journey to Islam (2004)) featured on the Documentary Channel. She also writes on the intersections of race and religion in American Muslim communities. Currently, she is completing a book on the global dimensions of Islam’s “crisis of authority,” specifically on transnational pedagogical networks that connect American mosques to the intellectual centers of the Middle East, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo, Egypt, Damascus, Syria, and Amman, Jordan. She teaches courses on Muslim in America, US cultural and political interests in the Middle East, and ethnographic and documentary film.


    Shaykh Khalil Abdur-Rashid is a PhD student at Columbia University specializing in Islamic law. His area of research includes Islamic Law and Bioethics, Islamic Legal Ethics and Principles, and Islamic Law and Modernity. He holds an advanced Islamic license (ijaaza ilmiyyah) in Islamic Law and completed his Islamic seminary work in Istanbul, Turkey. He has published articles and translations of works covering topics of Islamic law and spirituality. He completed his master's work in Islamic Law at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey.






    Imam Khalid Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at NYU in 2005 where he began to initiate his vision for a pluralistic future on and off campus for American Muslims. He was also appointed the first Muslim chaplain at Princeton University in 2006. Spending a year commuting between these two excellent institutions, he finally decided to commit full-time to New York University’s Islamic Center where his position was officially institutionalized in the spring of 2007. Under his leadership, the Islamic Center at NYU became the first ever established Muslim student center at an institution of higher education in the United States. Imam Latif’s exceptional dedication and ability to cross interfaith and cultural lines on a daily basis brought him recognition throughout the city, so much so that in 2007 Mayor Michael Bloomberg nominated Imam Latif to become the youngest chaplain in history of the New York City Police Department at the age of 24.


    Imam Latif has not only managed to solidify the basis of a strong Muslim community at NYU that seeks to emphasize inclusiveness and understanding of others without compromise, but has also worked tirelessly to foster dialogue with people of other faiths in order to clarify misconceptions and encourage mutual education. Through his work Imam Latif has demonstrated not only an exceptional dedication to gaining and disseminating religious knowledge and values, but has begun to carve out a much-needed spacefor young American Muslims to celebrate their unique identity and have their voices heard in the larger public sphere. He is a sought after speaker, having lectured throughout the United States and in various parts of the world and has been quoted, featured and appeared innumerous media outlets including BBC, NPR, CNN, the NY Times, Newsweek,Time Magazine, BET and GEO TV. Amongst many awards and distinctions for leadership and community service over the last few years, Imam Latif was most recently named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world in 2009 by Georgetown University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.

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