ID#: 1463 Mar 8 : Houston : The Crisis of Character

The Egyptian poet Ahmad Shawqi wrote that nations are equal to their morals. If their morals disappear, he posited, then they, the nations, also disappear. As Muslims, we must understand the centrality of good character to personal reformation and to the ever-unfolding fate of nations. "Verily, you are established on a lofty standard of character," the Qur'an says about our Beloved Prophet, upon him be peace.

Too often, though, we zealously obsess over details of law or theology and forget about the exalted personal character that is their foundation. This oversight only veils Islam's rich ethical tradition, which unleashed could address many of today's moral challenges.

Join us for a special Zaytuna College conference that aims to renew our commitment to good character, once an essential foundation of a vibrant Muslim civilization.

Event Details

• Date & Time
  • Saturday, March 8, 2014
    Registration at 09:00am
    Program Begins at 10:00am
    Conference Ends at 4:00pm
• Venue (click address for directions):
  • The Westin Houston, Memorial City Azalea Ballroom
    945 Gessner Road, Houston, TX 77024

Zaid Shakir of Zaytuna College, is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work

 

 

Hamza Yusuf of Zaytuna College is an American convert to Islam who studied for several years under leading scholars in the Muslim world. He is the co-founder of Zaytuna College in California and has translated into modern English several classical Arabic texts and poems. Hamza Yusuf has been a passionate and outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies.

Hatem Bazian of Zaytuna Collegeis co-founder, senior faculty, and Academic Affairs Chair at Zaytuna College. He is also a senior lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian is also a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Mary's College of California and adviser to the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley. In 2009, he founded the Center for the Study of Documentation of Islamophobia at UC Berkeley. Dr. Bazian is on the board of several organizations, including the Islamic Scholarship Fund and Muslim Americans for Palestine, for which he is also the founding president.

 

Faraz Khan of Zaytuna College has spent the last several years studying and teaching traditional Islamic sciences, with a focus on Hanafi jurisprudence, Hadith studies and methodology, theology, logic, and Arabic grammar.

 

Dr. Sulayman S. Nyang of Howard University serves as Professor of African Studies. From 1975 to 1978 he served as Deputy Ambassador and Head of Chancery of the Gambia Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Following his diplomatic stint, he immigrated to the United States and returned to academic life at Howard University where he later assumed the position of department chair from 1986 to 1993. He also serves as co-director of Muslims in the American Public Square, a research project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Colleen Keyes of Zaytuna College earned her B.A. degree in Psychology and Spanish from Clark University, the M.A. in Second Language Education from Fairfield University, the M.A. in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations from Hartford Seminary and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Exeter, UK.

 

Dr. Joseph Lumbard of Brandeis University is Chair of Islamic and Middle East Studies. He is the editor of "Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition," a collection of essays that examines the religious, political and historical factors that have led to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. He is a former Advisor for Interfaith Affairs to His Highness King Abdullah II of Jordan. He completed his Ph.D. at Yale University and is a frequent participant in A Common Word.