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
