Islamic world focus of symposium

"Trends in Islam" and their role in today's world will be timely topics of discussion and learning during a week-long symposium at Grinnell College, Sept. 15-18. The Grinnell symposium will examine trends in Islamic human rights, religious equality, and obstacles to peace and their impact on democratic communities.

"The 'Trends in Islam' symposium was developed to give participants a better understanding of Islamic thought and its increasing role in world affairs," said Sarah Purcell, director of Grinnell's Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs and symposium organizer. "We expect that our program will question the differences between cultures and help us to gain perspectives on Islam that we can't from the nightly news."

Sept. 15, 4:15 p.m.
The symposium will open with a lecture by John Esposito on "Islam and World Affairs: Listening to the Voices of a Billion Muslims." Esposito is founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, where he is professor of Islamic studies, religion, and international affairs.
Sept. 15, 8:30 p.m.
"Muslims in a Post-9/11 America" will be addressed by Arsalan Iftikhar, a human rights lawyer, media commentator, contributing editor to "Islamica" magazine, and founder of themuslimguy.com.
Sept. 16, 7 p.m.
Amina Wadud, an activist for women's religious equality, will offer perspectives on "Islam, Gender, and Human Rights." Wadud is professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Sept. 17, 4:15 p.m.
"Democracy's Friends and Foes in the Muslim World" will be the focus of a lecture by Moataz Fattah, a member of the political science faculty at Central Michigan and Cairo Universities. Fattah writes for two Arab newspapers about Islam and democracy and is also academic director of the Arab Electronic Library.
Sept. 17, 7 p.m.
Juan Cole, who is P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan, will present the 2008 Gates Lecture on "Obstacles to Democracy in the Middle East." The Gates Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies, is named for one of Grinnell's early presidents and brings to campus "the very best of modern thought on religion."
Sept. 18, 11 a.m.
From his vantage point of scholarship on Islam and the Middle East, Cole will discuss "The Iraq Crisis and the Presidential Campaign" during the Scholars' Convocation. Cole has lived in several countries in the Muslim world and written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He has authored several recent journal articles on Shiite movements in Iraq, in addition to his book "Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture, and History of Shiite Islam."
Sept. 18, 4:15 p.m.
The symposium will conclude with a discussion of "Islam and Human Rights at the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration," by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, professor of law at Emory University Law School. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 to secure the rights to which all individuals should be entitled.

The Trends in Islam Symposium is sponsored by Grinnell College's Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights, with sessions co-sponsored by the Gates Lectureship in Religious Studies and the Noun Program in Gender and Women's Studies.

All events will be held in the Joe Rosenfield '25 Center, Room 101, located at 1115 8th Ave on the Grinnell College campus.