IIIT held its concluding session of the 4th Annual Summer Institute for Scholars on Wednesday July 20, 2011. The Summer Institute began in 2008; its theme is a Contemporary Understanding of Qur’an and Sunna. This year’s program, which ran between July 11 and July 20, focused on Iftaa and Fatwas: the Challenges of Authority, Legitimacy and Relevance. More than forty scholars, intellectuals, community leaders and graduate and undergraduate students participated in different parts of the program, beside IIIT executives and staff. Participating scholars included Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Cordoba Initiative, Professor Abdullah Saeed, University of Melbourne, Australia, Professor Mahmoud Ayoub, Hartford Seminary, Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina, University of Virginia, Professor Ebrahim Moosa, Duke University, Professor Yahya Michot, Hartford Seminary, Professor Kenneth Honerkamp, the University of Georgia, Professor Mumtaz Ahmad, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Professor Ingrid Mattson, Hartford Seminary, Professor Muqtedar Khan, University of Delaware, Professor Abdessamad Belhaj, Catholic University, Hungary, Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Minaret of Freedom Institute, Dr. Louay Safi, Georgetown University, Dr. Mohammad Adam El Sheikh, Fiqh Council of North America, Dr. Alexandre Caeiro, EZIRE-Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany, Dr. Zahid Bukhari, Center for Islam and Public Policy (CIPP), Vinay Khetia, Concordia University, Canada, Professor Moustafa Kassem, Effat University, Saudi Arabia, Sara Albrecht, Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Sami Ahmad Metwalli, Hartford Seminary, Zainab Alwani, Howard University, and Khaled Troudi, Reaserch Assistant, IIIT.
The program included a total of sixteen sessions. The format was a mix of lectures by 4 senior scholars, 9 paper presentations and two panels, one on Islamic Studies in American universities and the other on the Fiqh Council of North America. In addition, the Program featured Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Founder and President of the Cordoba Initiative, who gave a keynote address on the Shariah Index Project.
In the concluding session, participants recommended the continuation of the focus on Iftaa and Fatwa for next year’s Institute with more attention to collections of Fatawas, leading Mufties and contemporary institutions of Iftaa.
IIIT will publish a summary of proceedings shortly and the full proceedings will be published in an edited volume to come out next year.