Conference Program | ISLAM AND HUMANITARIANISM: INTERDISCIPLINARY INQUIRIES ON ISLAMIC FORMS OF AID – Nov 1-2, 2019

By Maydan Editors  //  

Maydan Editors

The Maydan is an online publication of the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University. The Maydan team is composed of the Center's faculty members and graduate students both within and outside GMU.

 

ISLAM AND HUMANITARIANISM:

INTERDISCIPLINARY INQUIRIES ON ISLAMIC FORMS OF AID 

The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia

November 1-2, 2019

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 | Fenwick Library Reading Room

 

9:00 am – 9:30 am

Opening and Preliminary Remarks

Huseyin Yilmaz, Yasemin Ipek, Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu

 

9:30 am – 11:00 am

Panel 1: Situating Islamic Aid in Transnational Encounters and Globalized Discourses

Chair and Discussant: Ahmet Tekelioglu

Nagham El Karhili, Georgia State University

Identity Tetris: Transnational Muslim NGOs within Global Contexts

Rhea Rahman, Brooklyn College

Racializing the Good Muslim: The Whiteness of ‘Soft Power’ Humanitarianism and Black Muslim Activism in South Africa

Nathan S. French, Miami University

Is Aid a Form of Disbelief? Questioning Approaches to a Jihadi-Salafi Humanitarianism

11:15 am – 12:45 pm

Panel 2: Muslim Humanitarianism, Nationalism, and Citizenship

Chair and Discussant: Sumaiya Hamdani

Mara A. Leichtman, Michigan State University

Transnational Islamic Humanitarianism and the Making of Kuwaiti Citizens

Salwa Tareen, Boston University

Hum Dekhenge: Charity, Care, and the Diamer-Bhasha Dam

Mohd Faridh Hafez Bin Mhd Omar, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia

Malaysian Islamic Humanitarian Actor: A Case Of Global Peace Mission Malaysia

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Keynote Address 1

Mona Atia, George Washington University

Innovating a Way to Paradise: Islamic Humanitarianism in the 21st Century

 

3:00 pm – 3:45 pm

Keynote Address 2

Azza Karam, UN Population Fund & UN Task Force on Religion and Development (via Skype)

The (UN)avoidable Perils of “Islamic Engagement: Global Humanitarian and Development Trends 

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Panel 3: Islamic Practices of Giving between Local and National Politics

Chair and Discussant: Yasemin Ipek

Michael Kaplan, George Washington University

‘Be the Ansar’: Everyday Humanitarianism and Discourses of Islamic Revival in Turkey

Diana Rayes, Migration Policy Institute, Washington, DC

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) Responding to Muslim Refugees Seeking Mental Health Services in Berlin, Germany

Eric Lob, Florida International University

Rural Reconstruction, Development, and Aid in the Islamic Republic of Iran: The Case of the Construction Jihad

Katie Merriman, Franklin and Marshall College

Open Their Hearts and Uplift My People: The Limits of Formal Messaging and the Role of Praxis-Based Theologies of Charity

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2

9:00 am – 10:30 am | Merten Hall 1203

Panel 4: Historical Case Studies of Muslim Humanitarianism

Chair and Discussant: Huseyin Yilmaz

Linda Rabben, University of Maryland

The Islamic Sanctuary Tradition

Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, Furman University

The Ottoman Refugee Regime: Islamic and Humanitarian Foundations

Rahimjon Abdugafurov, Emory University

Embracing Humanity in the Cases of Central Asian Sufi Chivalry

 

10:45 am – 12:45 pm | Merten Hall 1203

Panel 5: Islamic Cosmologies and Theologies of Aid

Chair and Discussant: Maria Dakake

Abbas Barzegar, CAIR & George Mason University

Between Fiqh and Practical Theology: The Human in Islamic Humanitarianism

Shariq Siddiqui, Indiana University

Muslim Philanthropy: Living Beyond a Western Definition

Engy Abdelkader, Rutgers University

Humanitarian Islam

Christopher Taylor, George Mason University

Who is the Humanitarian in Humanitarianism? Islamic Teachings on Zakat, the “Purity Ethos,” and the Meaning of Contemporary Humanitarianism

 

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm | Fenwick Library Reading Room

Keynote Address 3

Tariq Cheema, World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists & Global Donors Forum

Recalibrating Muslim Humanitarianism in the 21st Century

 

2:45 pm – 4:45 pm | Fenwick Library Reading Room

Panel 6: Perspectives from Practice: A Dialogue with Humanitarian Actors

Chair: Abbas Barzegar | Discussant: Peter Mandaville

Ahmed Aboubacrine, Islamic Relief USA

Michelle Strucke, Oxfam America

Suzanne Akhras Sahloul, Syrian Community Network

Mohammed Zaher Sahloul, University of Illinois at Chicago and MedGlobal

Manal Omar, Across Red Lines (via Skype)

4:45 pm – 5:00 pm | Fenwick Library Reading Room

Concluding Remarks and Announcements