We hope to explore the historical, political, and religious dimensions surrounding the rights of religious minorities in the Muslim world. What is the Quranic and prophetic guidance regarding it, how did the Islamic legal tradition develop norms around it, how have contemporary Muslim-majority countries/societies responded to the question of religious freedom, and what are the opportunities and challenges in promoting the rights of religious minority groups in the Muslim world today? Join us for a conversation with Professor Daniel Philpott (Author, Religious Freedom in Islam), Dr. Tesneem Alkiek (Yaqeen Institute) and Professor Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto, Faculty of Law). 

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As we mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we will discuss policies and laws formulated in the wake of that fateful day, and examine their impact on civil rights, national security, and stability in the broader Muslim World. We will be joined by Professors Sahar Aziz, Nazia Kazi, and Muqtedar Khan.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED—PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

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SPEAKERS:

Professor Sahar Aziz's scholarship examines the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities. She is the author of the book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom and the founding director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights.

Dr. Nazia Kazi is an anthropologist and educator based in Philadelphia. Her work explores the role of Islamophobia and racism in the context of global politics. She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she teaches courses on race, ethnicity, immigration, and Islam in the U.S. She is the author of Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics, out now from Rowman & Littlefield.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He researches and teaches Islam, Governance and International Relations. He is the author of Islam and Good Governance: A Political Philosophy of Ihsan (Palgrave, 2019). Islam and Good Governance has been recognized as an all time best books on political philosophy

Join us for a conversation with celebrated author and journalist, Mustafa Akyol, as we explore the space available for intellectual and theological discourse in the broader Muslim world.

Historically, how did Muslim societies approach the notion of freedom of expression and how did this concept evolve over time? How should we understand the limits to this freedom and do these differ in secular and Islamic conceptions? We will discuss these questions and more on August 29 over a Zoom webinar.

PLEASE REGISTER BELOW:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n8yJc5h7SvOlWEueb-okDg

Recent surveys in various Muslim-majority countries show a growing number of people, especially youth, transition away from religion. Join us for a conversation with Dr. Reza Aslan, who will examine the factors that have contributed to this trend, and will discuss its social, political, and religious implications for Muslim states and societies.

SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 12pm - 1:30pm

PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iFAuZ9EVQriyDOdtDTK3PA

REZA ASLAN is an internationally renowned writer, commentator, professor, producer, and scholar of religions. His books, including his #1 New York Times Bestseller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, have been translated into dozens of languages around the world. He is also a recipient of the prestigious James Joyce Award.

Aslan’s first book, International Bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has been translated into seventeen languages, and was named one of the 100 most important books of the last decade by Blackwell Publishers. He is also the author of Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age (originally titled How to Win a Cosmic War), as well as editor of two volumes: Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, and Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalties, Contentions, and Complexities.

Aslan’s degrees include a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Santa Clara University (Major focus: New Testament; Minor: Greek), a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University (Major focus: History of Religions), a PhD in the Sociology of Religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.

This event is part of the Critical Issues in Context series, which examines cross-cutting issues that impact citizens in Muslim majority and minority contexts. The series is made possible by the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice.

Peter Beinart is a prominent American journalist and political commentator, a contributor to the New York Times, and currently editor-at-large at Jewish Currents. An Orthodox Jew, Mr. Beinart has written extensively on Israel and Palestine. Formerly a prominent defender of liberal Zionism and the two-state solution, he now believes in a single state where Palestinians and Jews live as equal citizens. In recent writings, he has also advocated for the the right of Palestinian refugee return.

We invite you to join us for an in-depth conversation with Mr. Beinart, as we explore the evolution of his thought, his perspective on reparative measures to heal present and past injustices, and why he believes the Jewish community should support Palestinian rights.

THURSDAY, JUNE 8
6:00pm-8:00pm

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EVENT MODERATORS:
RABBI JUSTIN DAVID
RABBI DEVORAH JACOBSON
MEHLAQA SAMDANI

Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York. He is also a Contributing Opinion Writer at The New York Times, a CNN Political Commentator, Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He writes the Beinart Notebook newsletter on Substack.Com

His first book, The Good Fight, was published by HarperCollins in 2006. His second book, The Icarus Syndrome, was published by HarperCollins in 2010. His third, The Crisis of Zionism, was published by Times Books in 2012.

Beinart has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the Atlantic, Newsweek, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Polity: the Journal of the Northeastern Political Science Studies Association. The Week magazine named him columnist of the year for 2004. In 2005, he gave the Theodore H. White lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Beinart graduated from Yale University, winning a Rhodes scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University. After graduating from University College, Oxford, Beinart became The New Republic’s managing editor in 1995. He became senior editor in 1997, and from 1999 to 2006 served as the magazine’s editor.

The recent uprising of Palestinians across Palestine and Israel is a result of ongoing occupation, oppression, forced displacement, and the suffocation of Palestinians living under blockade in Gaza for 14 years. The ceasefire does not mean an end to injustice for Palestinians.

We will convene two conversations that will focus on recent events, the structural context in which they took place, and their implications for the Palestinian national movement. Speakers will also outline ways in which Americans can support the Palestinian quest for freedom. Our first event will feature Dr. Ramzy Baroud, Palestinian journalist, author, and editor of Palestine Chronicle.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZUlceuhpzMiGdKerp5zQegQ0uqBB...

This event will be moderated by Aline Batarseh and Mehlaqa Samdani.

Aline is a Palestinian from Jerusalem. She serves on the board of Al-Shabaka. Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.

SPEAKER BIO:

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, an author, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle (1999-present), former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye, former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times, former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online. Baroud taught mass communication at Australia’s Curtin

University of Technology, Malaysia Campus. Baroud also served as head of Aljazeera.net English’s Research and Studies department.

He is the author of five books and a contributor to many others; his latest volume is The Last Earth, a Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London, 2018). His books are translated to several languages including French, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, Malayalam, among others.

Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter (2015) and was a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara (2016-17). Currently he is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). He is also a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Afro-Middle East Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa

Join us for a comparative analysis of the doctrines of jihad and just war in the Islamic and international legal traditions. How did each legal framework develop the grounds for going to war and the conduct in war? How did the Islamic and Western civilizations influence the other’s ethics surrounding war? How have contemporary Muslim societies, state and non-state actors, responded to classical notions of jihad and current provisions of international Law? We will explore these questions and more with Dr. Sohail Hashmi, Author/Editor, Just Wars, Holy Wars, and Jihads: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Encounters and Exchanges (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Dr. Sohail Hashmi is a professor of International Relations on the Alumnae Foundation and Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College, where he has taught since 1994. His research and teaching focus on comparative international ethics, particularly concepts of just war and peace, and on the study of religion in politics, particularly Islam in domestic and international politics. He has published on a range of topics in Islamic ethics and political theory, including sovereignty, humanitarian intervention, tolerance, civil society, and the theory of jihad. He is currently working on a book analyzing Muslim responses to the rise of international law.

Hashmi received a B.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard and an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton. He has been awarded fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the W. Alton Jones Foundation.

ZOOM LINK:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89524246858

Whether it is the spike in blasphemy charges and vigilante violence against religious minorities in some Muslim-majority countries, or the response to the publication of offensive images of the Prophet Mohammad in the West, the question of blasphemy in Muslim majority and minority contexts remains a sensitive one.

What do the Quran and prophetic tradition tell us about responding to blasphemy, how did the Islamic legal tradition develop norms around it, what was the impact of colonialism on these norms, and how have contemporary Muslim-majority countries responded to the question of blasphemy in their constitutions and societies?

To respond to these questions and more, we will be joined by Dr. Muqtedar Khan (University of Delaware), Dr. Sarah El Tantawi (Fordham University), and Dr. Yasir Qadhi (Islamic Seminary of America) on March 11.

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When: Mar 11, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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Registration limit: 100 Participants

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SPEAKER BIOS:

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He was the founding director of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Delaware from 2007-2010. He was Fellow and Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution from 2003-2008.

His areas of interest are Politics of the Middle East and South Asia, Political Islam, Islamic Political Thought, Islam in America, American Foreign Policy in the Muslim World and Good Governance. His latest book Islam and Good Governance has received the 2019 excellence in scholarship award from AFMI and has been listed as one the best all time books in political philosophy by the nonfiction book portal Book Authority.

Dr. Eltantawi is Associate Professor of Modern Islam at Fordham University in New York City. Her work focuses on contemporary Islam and Islamic law, especially in the context of post-coloniality and authoritarianism. Dr. Eltantawi is on the steering committee for the Contemporary Islam section of the American Academy of Religion, and frequently comments in the international media on issues
concerning Islam and geopolitics. She earned her PhD in the Study of Religion in 2012 from Harvard University, where she was the Jennifer W. Oppenheimer Fellow and Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government; an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard; and a BA in English and Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Yasir Qadhi is an imam and Resident Scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center. He is also the Dean of The Islamic Seminary of America, as well as an executive member of the Fiqh Council of North America.Yasir graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, after which he was accepted as a student at the Islamic University of Madinah.

After completing a diploma in Arabic, he graduated with a B.A. from the College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences, and then completed a M.A. in Islamic Theology from the College of Dawah. He then returned to America, and completed a PhD in Religious Studies from Yale University. He has authored several books, published academic articles, and appeared on numerous satellite and TV stations around the globe. His online videos are of the most popular and highly-watched Islamic videos in English.

The Atlantic’s first feature documentary is the definitive inside story of the alt-right. With unprecedented, exclusive access, White Noise tracks the rise of far-right nationalism and the terrifying heart of the movement—explosive protests, riotous parties, and the rooms where populist and racist ideologies are refined, weaponized, and injected into the mainstream.

PLEASE REGISTER HERE TO ACCESS THE DOCUMENTARY, FEBRUARY 15-24

PANEL DISCUSSION WITH FILMMAKER DANIEL LOMBROSO, PROFESSOR LINDA TROPP, MS. TAHIRAH AMATUL WADUD

FEBRUARY 23, 7-8:15PM

Please join Critical Connections and Amherst Media for a conversation with Mr. Farooq Mitha (Senior Advisor for Muslim Engagement) around the Biden campaign's agenda for American-Muslim communities. This will be an opportunity for American-Muslims and allies to engage directly with the campaign around issues of concern to Muslim communities and hear how a Biden administration would address them.

This event will be moderated by Tahirah Amatul Wadud (Lawyer and former congressional candidate) and Mehlaqa Samdani (Director, Critical Connections)

We have also reached out to the Trump campaign to participate in the conversation and are waiting to hear back from them.

ZOOM INFO: 

Amherst Media is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: American-Muslims and the 2020 Election: A Town hall with Farooq Mitha
Time: Sep 30, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Kashmir's constitutional annexation, the discriminatory law of citizenship, and state-sponsored violence against Muslims and other minorities have undermined India’s democratic, secular and pluralistic ethos. Additionally, India’s flagging economy and historically high unemployment rates are further exacerbating the crisis. The discussion will explore the political implications of the Modi administration's policies since August 2019, and will examine what India’s economic recession and democratic decay mean for the US and the rest of the world?

Please join Critical Connections and the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts for a discussion with Dr. Muqtedar Khan.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is the Academic Director of the State Department’s National Security Institute (2016-2019) at the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Delaware. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, Political Philosophy, and Islamic Political Thought, from Georgetown University in May 2000. He founded the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Delaware and was its first Director from 2007-2010.
 
As an expert on governance, Islam and American foreign policy, he has lectured and trained scholars, students, elected leaders and policy makers in the US, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Finland, Germany, UK, France, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, India, Ireland, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar,  Singapore, Canada, and Belgium. He was the Academic Director of the US State Departments’ National Security Institute, 2018-2019 and the American Foreign Policy Institute, 2019-2021.
 
His most recent book Islam and Good Governance: Political Philosophy of Ihsan was published in April 2019 by Palgrave Macmillan and has been named one of the best all time books in political philosophy. He is also the author of several books: American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (Amana, 2002), Jihad for Jerusalem: Identity and Strategy in International Relations (Praeger, 2004), Islamic Democratic Discourse (Lexington Books, 2006), Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah Press, 2007). Dr. Khan is a frequent commentator in the international media. His articles and commentaries can be found at www.ijtihad.org. His research can be found at https://udel.academia.edu/MuqtedarKhan
 

Please join Critical Connections and the Pioneer Valley Interfaith Refugee Action Group for a discussion on the central role women of color will play as voters, activists, and movement leaders in the 2020 presidential election.

SPEAKERS:

Helena Berbano is a second generation Filipina American, organizer, activist, campaign operative and now New American Leaders’ National Political Director. She has managed national voter engagement programs and advised a number of Massachusetts’ state and local grassroots advocacy groups on their campaigns. One of her biggest passions is getting more women and people of color elected into office. To that end, she has served on the campaign staff of several New Americans who ran for office, including Nicole Castillo, Tram Nguyen, and Dr. Mohammad Dar.

Tahirah Amatul-Wadud is an African-American Muslim attorney, who has a strong record of civil rights advocacy and interfaith activism. She was also a Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, challenging 30 year Democratic incumbent Richard E. Neal. Tahirah spent a year traveling the Western Massachusetts district, receiving numerous state-wide and national endorsements. While on the campaign trail, she experienced several Islamophobic responses to her candidacy and will speak about it publicly for the first time post-election.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Debbie Schildkraut (Tufts University) who will discuss the political consequences of white identity politics and what this means for the upcoming presidential election.

Debbie Schildkraut received her Ph.D. from Princeton University and her B.A. from Tufts University. Her courses at Tufts University include the Politics of Ethnicity and American Identity, Political Psychology, Political Science Research Methods, Introduction to American Politics, Public Opinion, and Political Representation in the United States.

She is the author of Americanism in the Twenty-First Century: Public Opinion in the Age of Immigration (Cambridge University Press, 2011), Press 'One' for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion, and American Identity (Princeton University Press, 2005), and The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics (Cengage Learning, 2015, with Ken Janda, Jeff Berry, and Jerry Goldman). Her research examines the implications of the changing ethnic composition of the United States on public opinion in a variety of domains. For more on Schildkraut's research, see a project summary from the Russell Sage Foundation. She has also published articles in the Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Political Research Quarterly, Politics, Groups, & Identities, American Politics Research, and Perspectives on Politics. She previously served as an Assistant Professor of Politics at Oberlin College.

With rising tensions in Iran-U.S. relations, changing geopolitical alignments in the Gulf, and continuing gridlock in Israel/Palestine, we will examine the broad contours of U.S. policy in the Middle East/Southwest Asia under the Trump administration. Join us for an in-depth conversation with foreign policy heavyweights, Trita Parsi and Stephen Walt on the future of U.S. relations with the Muslim World.

Jews and Muslims in the United States share many commonalities. Both are religious minorities who have experienced increasing discrimination and prejudice in recent years. Both communities have been attacked by white supremacists and have come to each other’s support in times of distress. And yet, geopolitical realities (Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 9/11 and the War on Terror, U.S. policies in the Middle East) have served to adversely impact intercommunal relations. What are the current challenges and opportunities in navigating Jewish-Muslim relations in the U.S. and what is the way forward? 

 Join us on Sunday, September 15thto hear Rabbi Or Rose and Dr. Sohail Hashmi explore the complexities of Jewish-Muslim divides here in the U.S., identify sources of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia within each group, examine the impact of geopolitics on inter-communal relations,and, most importantly, develop strategies for increasing connections. The event will be facilitated by Paula Green and Mehlaqa Samdani. There will be time for small group interactions and opportunities for further engagement. 

The feature-length documentary Dawnland tells the true story of the forced removal of Native American children from their homes and the first official U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission formed in 
response. Discussion and reception to follow. 

Throughout U.S. history, ongoing resistance to offer a state apology and reparations for slavery and Jim Crow has served to deepen divides and continues to adversely impact our nation’s social fabric. Why has the U.S. refused to formally apologize and pay compensation for its treatment of African-Americans? What are the moral, ethical, and practical considerations associated with a state apology and reparations, and what impact would these reparative processes have on addressing historical grievances?

Join us to hear Dr. Theodore R. Johnson, a public policy expert on race and social justice, and Dr. Ali Aslam, Assistant Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke, explore these questions and more on Wednesday, April 3rd, 7-9pm at Edwards Church in Northampton.

Public monuments and memorials reflect the values and attitudes of communities that design them, and shape the way societies understand particular moments in their history. How should a country memorialize aspects of its past that are shameful and regrettable? What should be done with public symbols of the confederacy? What lessons can we draw from other countries that have addressed injustices of the past through memorializations that are meaningful? Please join us Wednesday, March 13, for an in-depth discussion on the role of memorials in confronting America's legacy of slavery and its potential for inter-communal healing with Professor James Young (UMass, Amherst) and others. Venue: TBA

Throughout U.S. history, ongoing resistance to offer a state apology for slavery and Jim Crow has served to deepen divides and continues to adversely impact our nation’s social fabric. Why has the U.S. refused to formally apologize for its treatment of African-Americans, what are the costs associated with a state apology, and what impact would an apology have on addressing historical grievances? Join us to hear Dr. Theodore R. Johnson, a public policy expert on race and social justice, explore these questions and more on Wednesday, February 13, at the Jones Library, 7-9pm.

This event is part of our Spring 2019 Event Series, “Rehumanizing and Restoring Relationships: The Role of Apology, Memorialization and Reparation in Redressing Historical Injustice”. The series aims to explore the deep roots of dehumanization, as well as best practices for healing past trauma and restoring inter-communal relationships via reparative processes. The series is a collaborative effort hosted by Critical Connections and The Karuna Center for Peacebuilding.