IHRC, SACC and DIN held the eighth Islamophobia Conference online, over the weekend of 11 and 12 December, to address the questions posed by Muslim participation in civic and political life in the so-called ‘West,’ including countries like the UK, the US, the European Union, Australia and Canada.  The conference asked the central questions: Is it possible to tackle racism, Islamophobia and other injustices by working in the system, or must there be complete or near total refusal to work with governmental and other institutions of the state? What are the dilemmas Muslims face and what lessons can be learned from contemporary movements from various communities?

Find links to the videos, reports and other material for both conferences here. 

For Muslims, the theological, academic, communal and strategic considerations are complex and often convoluted, intertwined, and currently creating fissures within the Islamicate that are either exploited by external forces or at the least, making any sense of Muslim pluralism, let alone unity, highly elusive. A conversation that assesses all of these factors, their parameters and offering strategies moving forward is an essential intervention for Muslim communities whose agency and viability in the societies where they reside is in constant question by the establishment of and in the ‘West.’

The conference looked in detail at: (i) The Theological Case: Islam, Muslim Cultures and the Possibilities of Interaction; (ii) Working in the Academy: Can Transformative Knowledge be Produced in the Western University? (iii) War and Law: Challenging the Violent State from Policing, Apartheid and Segregation to the Forever Wars; (iv) Serving the Community: Social Services or Community Programs?

The conference was chaired by: Professor Seyfeddin Kara and Professor Saeed A. Khan

The speakers and discussants were: Shaykh M.S. Bahmanpour, Dr. AbdulWahid, Dr. Amina Inloes, Massoud Shadjareh, Dr. Amal Abu Bakare, Sandew Hira, Professor David Miller, Dr. Kasia Narkowicz, Dr. Sadek Hamid, Lee Jasper, Arzu Merali, Rederwan Crayenstein, Dr. Rob Faure Walker, Fahad Ansari, Dr. Sariya Cheruvill-Contractor, Professor Ramon Grosfoguel, Zareen Taj and Abed Choudhury.