Interactions from a Theological and Historical Perspective

Date: February 22-23, 2017

Venue: Swiss Centre for Islam and Society, University of Fribourg, Avenue de l’Europe 20, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland

The conference aims to reflect on the development of Islamic knowledge and its relationship with the discursive and political order. In doing so, both historical and contemporary issues are raised.

The establishment of Muslim knowledge production at European universities lies at the centre of two conflicting views: religious and academic freedom on the one hand, and political interest in religion as a faith and as a classification system on the other hand. Political and (civic) societal actors and institutions formulate demands on Islamic-theological studies that shape them into a multifunctional tool for religious-, integration- and education policies. Subsequently, these studies are criticized as a theologization of social problems reducing the rich knowledge of Islam to contextually relevant aspects.

The question of the relationship between theology and politics is not unknown in the history and present time of Islam: Islamic- theological knowledge has been organized and constructed according to political contexts since the formative period of Islam. Hence, it has constantly been subject to religious, cultural and ideological expectations. From the position and interpretation of the Qur’an and Sunna, the distinction between Muslim/non-Muslim, orthodox/heterodox or the readjustment of Islamic-theological knowledge after a change of power to the establishment of modern nation states, there are numerous examples of the conjunction of religious and political discourse in the Islamic world…

The conference aims to reflect on the development of Islamic knowledge and its relationship with the discursive and political order. In doing so, both historical and contemporary issues are raised:

• What positions exist in the tradition and present time on the relationship between Islamic theology and political order?
• What experiences can the Islamic tradition offer to deal with political order systems?
• How did and how do Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic law and Kalam for example deal with ruling systems?

Speakers

Eric Geoffrey (Strasbourg), Mohammad Gharaibeh (Bonn), Nicolas Hayoz (Fribourg), Hureyre Kam (Fribourg), Meltem Kulaçatan (Zurich), Serdar Kurnaz (Hamburg), Tareq Oubrou (Bordaux), Reinhard Schulze (Bern), Nimet Şeker (Frankfurt), Abdelkarim Soroush (USA), Hansjörg Schmid (Fribourg), Roel Meijer (Nijmegen)

Program

Panel 1: Musulmans d’Europe, societe plurielle et pouvoir politique (in French language)

Panel 2: One Interpretation or Many? Knowledge in the Context of Power Strategies

Panel 3: Exclusion and Demarcation as an Instrument of Power

Panel 4: Koranic Exegesis as Legitimation of Political Rule?

Panel 5: Islam in Current Ideological Discourses

For more information, read the flyer.