THE CENTER FOR ISLAM, DEMOCRACY AND THE FUTURE OF THE MUSLIM WORLD,
in conjunction with
THE LEFRAK FORUM/SYMPOSIUM ON SCIENCE, REASON AND MODERN DEMOCRACY,
cordially invites you to a major three-day conference entitled:
"Beyond Radical Islam?"
Session 1: Popular Sovereignty and the Divine Sovereign
Are Islam and liberal democracy compatible? The democratic idea of popular sovereignty poses a serious challenge to the Islamic idea that God has authority over humans. And yet some liberal Muslim thinkers argue that popular sovereignty, though no substitute for divine sovereignty, is not necessarily inconsistent with Islamic teachings: popular sovereignty is an expression of God's sovereignty. What specific sources within Islamic tradition support the development of an Islamic idea of popular sovereignty? How can constitutional democracy be made meaningful in Islamic terms and relevant to future of Islam?
THIS SESSION IS CHAIRED BY:
Jerry Weinberger
A professor of Political Science, Dr. Weinberger is also Director of the LeFrak Forum at Michigan State University.
PAPERS ARE PROVIDED BY:
Nurcholish Madjid
A prominent Muslim intellectual, known for his innovative opinions on social and political matters in Indonesia and other developing Islamic nations. Dr. Madjid has served as Rector of the Paramadina Mulya University (Jakarta) since 1998. In addition, he is a lecturer on the post-graduate faculty at Syarif Hidayatullah University (Jakarta) and a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. He was previously a leader of various student organizations.
Ahmed al-Rahim
A founding member of the American Islamic Congress, an organization formed after September 11 in the belief that American Muslims should play a leading role in rejecting Islamic extremism and promoting a democratic future in the Muslim world. Mr. al-Rahim is also preceptor in Classical Arabic Language and Literature at Harvard University, and a doctoral candidate at Yale University, where he is completing a dissertation on Islamic intellectual history during the Mongol period. During 2002, he served as an advisor to USAID on educational reform in Iraq. A frequent contributor to television and radio programs on Islam and politics, Mr. al-Rahim's publications include an edited book, Before and After Avicenna, and a number of articles in the Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal.
RESPONSE IS PROVIDED BY:
Mohammad Fadel
An attorney in New York, Dr. Fadel is a frequent lecturer on Islamic law, and was a founding member of Muslims Against Terrorism, now Muslim Voices for Peace. Dr. Fadel has also been an instructor of Arabic at the University of Virginia, Middlebury College, and Notre Dame University and has published several papers on Islamic law.
A PDF version of the transcript is available here.
Support for this conference has been provided by James Madison College and the Center for European and Russian Studies at Michigan State University.
