The Future of Scholarship on the Quran

APRIL 9-10, 2016

What does it mean to study the Quran? This two-day conference will explore the relationship of traditional Islamic scholarship to Western academic study, considering matters such as who should interpret the Quran, what standards for scholarship should be set, and how scholarship can inform public conversation on the Quran.

All sessions are free and open to the public. The workshop is organized by Caner Dagli, associate professor of religious studies, and sponsored by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

Directions to Rehm Library»
About the participants»

Schedule

SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016

10:00 a.m.: Welcome & Opening Remarks

10:30 a.m.: Keynote Address: Don't Frown and Turn Away: Muslim Scholars and the Study of the Qur'an

Ingrid Mattson Ingrid Mattson
London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies
Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario

Noon: Break for Lunch & Prayer

2:00 p.m.: Session 1
Towards a Transnational Quranic Studies: Bridging the Divide
Joseph Lumbard
Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic and Translation Studies
American University of Sharjah

Qur’anic Jihad and the Western Academy: Two Primary Misconceptions
Asma Afsaruddin
Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
Indiana University

3:30 p.m.:    Coffee/Tea Break

4:00 p.m.:    Session 2
Taʾwīl in the Quran and the Islamic Exegetical Tradition
Maria Massi Dakake
Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies
George Mason University

And Among His Signs is the Variation of Your Tongues: Multiple Modes of iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (the Inimitability of the Quran)
Mahan Mirza
Dean of Faculty
Zaytuna College

5:30 p.m.:    End of first day

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

9:30 a.m.: Session 3
Hermeneutics of Justice: Tracing Gender in Contemporary Qur’an and Tafsir Scholarship
Juliane Hammer
Associate Professor and Kenan Rifai Scholar of Islamic Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Modern Scripturalism and the Theological Imperative
Martin Nguyen
Associate Professor of Islamic Religious Traditions and Faculty Chair for Diversity
Fairfield University

Is the Quran a Good Book? The American Social Life of the Quran
Zareena Grewal
Associate Professor American Studies, Religious Studies, Middle East Studies, and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration
Yale University

11:30 a.m.: Coffee/Tea Break

11:45 a.m.: Session 4
Sūārat al-Zukhruf: A New Reading
Walid Saleh
Associate Professor in the Study of Religion and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto

Confirming the Quran as a Form of Exegesis: Said Nursi’s Hermeneutics as a Challenge to the Insider & Outsider Binary
Isra Yazicioglu
Associate Professor, Islamic Studies
Saint Joseph’s University

1:15 p.m.: Closing Remarks