Event Details


with

Prof. Francesco Zannini,
Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome

&

Dr. Erkan Toguslu, Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre, KU Leuven University

Wednesday 12:30 , 31 January 2018

Dialogue Platform, Rue Montoyer 31 (2nd floor), Brussels 1000

Free and public event. Registration required Light lunch will be provided.

Islamism, post-Islamism and civil Islam occupy a prominent place in recent discussions on Islamic thought and public discourse about the relationship between Islam, Muslims, and power.

Although Muslims’ discourses are characterized by a great deal of diversity in various contexts, but it is perceived mostly the same by many people in the West.

In this roundtable discussion we will examine different Islamist ideology and Islamic movements and their understanding on secularism, gender equality, democracy and minority rights. In this regard, we will be looking into how Muslims engage with modernity, pluralism and West.

The following questions will be at the heart of the discussion:

– In the contest of political and civil engagement of the Muslims, would some Islamic movements bring hope for dialogue to the western world?

– How Islamic-Muslim activism can be comprehended in terms of democracy, modernity?

Agenda:

12:30 Registration and Lunch

13:00 Discussion

Prof. Francesco Zannini, Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome

Dr. Erkan Toguslu, Interculturalism, Migration and Minorities Research Centre, KU Leuven University

Moderated by Ramazan Guveli, Executive Director, Intercultural Dialogue Platform

Q&A

14:30 End of of event

About the speakers

Prof. Francesco Zannini (born 5.11.1948 in Falconara, Italy). Doctor in Modern Foreign Languages at Sacred Heart University in Milan (with a thesis on the Tafsîr al-Jalâlayn), he continued his studies at the American University in Cairo. He has been a Post-Doctoral Fellow Yale University (USA). He was also Professor of Islamic Studies at the National Major Seminary in Dhaka (Bangladesh) and at CTU in Chicago, as well as Visiting Scholar at the University of Chicago. He is a Member of the American Oriental Society of the Istituto per l’Oriente and a life Member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. In Italy he has been a Member of the Scientific Committee for “Charter of Values of Citizenship and Integration” and of the Council for Relations with Italian Islam of the Home Ministry, as well as of the Strategic Forum of Ministry of Foreign Affairs for North Africa and Middle East. Since 2000 he has been Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the P.I.S.A.I., where he holds the Chair of “Contemporary Islam and Islamic Law”, and from 2007 editor of the P.I.S.A.I. Journal “ENCOUNTER”. He has published several books and articles in the fields of Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Dialogue.

Dr. Erkan Toguslu is the academic director of Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies at KU Leuven University. He received his MA and Ph.D. in sociology from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His research focuses on transnational Muslim networks in Europe, the emergence of Islamic intellectuals, interfaith dialogue, the debate on public-private Islam, immigration and religion. He is the editor of Everyday Life Practices of Muslims in Europe, Leuven University Press, Europe’s New Multicultural Identities, Leuven University Press, Société Civil, Démocratie et Islam: Perspectives du Mouvement Gülen. Paris: L’Harmattan; and Modern Islamic Thinking and Islamic Activism, Leuven University Press.

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