Innovation in Islam Conference Launched

Two day -long conference discusses civic, political, and cultural life in Islamic society

The Center for International and Regional Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Qatar) opened its annual academic conference entitled “Innovation in Islam.”

The two-day conference focuses on the impact of Islam in society and the world. “The conference aims at showing the depth of Islamic studies as a discipline with multiple dimensions beyond the stereotypes,” said Mehran Kamrava, the director of the Center for International and Regional Studies.

The conference was opened by Qatar Foundation board member Dr. Saif Al-Hajri and James Reardon-Anderson, Dean of SFS-Qatar. During his remarks, Reardon-Anderson emphasized the importance of public participation in the conference “This is an engagement with the people of Qatar on an important topic,” he said.

Immediately following the opening statements, the discussion took up the topic language and history in Islam. The panel featured Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd of the University of Humanistics and Nelly Hanna from American University of Cairo. Abu-Zayd argued on the impossibility of translating the Qur’an. He said that that translation for meaning is only allowed for the sake of knowing and learning about Islam.

Hanna presented on the use of a 17th century Arabic dictionary as a method of understanding social history. Her presentation focused on a dictionary of colloquial Arabic produced by Yousef Magrabi in Cairo around 1600. According to Hanna, the document allows academics to build a greater understand of society and language during the transition to modern society. “The colloquial language is being put in the framework of academic scholarship,” she said.

The second panel session focused on the role that Islamic institutions, such as the mosque and the family structure, have on Islam. Sumaiya Hamdani of George Mason University in the US discussed the assertion of Muslim identity during the Fatimid caliphate, and the legacy that has produced.

Amira Sonbol of Georgetown University discussed how personal status law in the Arab world is not based solely on Sharia traditions. Personal status law, which dictates the rights of individuals, may be based on Sharia, but it is strongly impacted by European legal definitions. In her comments, she noted how definitions of personal status in recent Bahraini laws draw on definitions from 20th century Egyptian law and 19th century French law.

Qatar University professor Zakaryya Abdel-Hady described the changing role of the mosque in Muslim society. “It acted as a spiritual, educational, social, administrative, and preventative institution,” he said. In countries with a Muslim majority, the importance of some roles, such as education, have been taken on by governmental institutions.

The afternoon panel entitled “Islam and the Intellectual Process” featured Hassan Hanafi, Mohammed Arkoun and Tariq Ramadan. The trio spent a lively hour discussing contradictory frameworks for discussing interpreting Islam and the Koran. Hanafi spoke of the widening spectrum that is Islam. “Islam is not one block, there are dozens of directions,” Hanfai said. The fundamentalist movement is the only one that is recognized by the media, with the others being largely ignored.

Arkoun, a professor at La Sorbonne in Paris, spoke about the problem of modernity in intellectual thinking. “The problem with modernity is that we can’t use it to think about other cultures,” Arkoun said. He argued that people must analyze the Koran and other religious texts from a purely anthropological or metaphorical viewpoint, rather than only in the theological sense. “We don’t respect reason anymore,” Arkoun claimed. The way to greater understanding is to analyze texts from a purely rational viewpoint.

Ramadan, a professor at St. Anthony’s College at Oxford, opposed Arkoun, claiming that one must understand the context in order to properly understand the text of the Koran. He argued that for proper rational discussion, any scholar must provide the frame of reference from which he is arguing. All scholars have some background or experiences that impact his interpretation of the work, and the only way for a scientific analysis of the text is to state those preconceptions upfront.

The first day of the conference closed with a keynote address by renowned poet Adonis. In his address, he discussed the connections and disconnections between religion and poetry. According to Adonis, it is not Islam which needs to be renovated, it is Muslims who have to reinvent themselves through reason and freedom.

The conference will continue on Sunday from 9 until 4:30pm at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha.