Date: March 23, 2019
Time: 10am – 6pm
Cost: Discount Price $84.99 until February 23rd | Regular Price: $99.99
Materials: Self-Love Course Workbook is Included with Attendance
Lunch: $5, Please sign up at the door
Where: Conference Hall, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

This course is designed to help you cultivate a wholehearted, nourishing, and sacred relationship with yourself through the One who created you! It is about transforming the way we understand and view love and how we can express that love for God and ourselves in a way that can empower our spiritual, mental, & emotional growth and wellness!

“Is Self-Love Islamic?” “Can Self-Love help me grow closer to my Creator?” “Why is Self-Love Important for my spiritual, mental, & emotional growth?”

These are common questions that might come to your mind when you think of “self-love.” That is because self-love is a term many of us have not truly understood because it is rarely talked about in our communities and the way that it is sometimes taught in our society is not inline with Islamic teachings!

But understanding self-love and how to have a fulfilling relationship with ourselves are crucial for our spiritual growth and our over all well-being! That is because the relationship we have with ourselves impacts every other relationship in life!

Join this Self-Love Course to get your answers and learn how to view this sacred relationship with yourself in a way that fuels your religious, spiritual, mental, and emotional growth!

Dr. Marwa is the CEO & founder of H.O.M.E. She is a psychologist, educator, & writer dedicated to providing spiritual, mental, & emotional transformation & empowerment through psycho-spiritual education & services that are rooted in Islamic teachings!
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For many years, even before she pursued her education in psychology, Dr. Marwa was always passionate about navigating and exploring psychological and self-help topics within an Islamic & spiritual context.

In addition to her Islamic studies as well as her extensive explorations and studies within the self-help world, she has also studied psychology extensively for 10 years. In addition to completing both her bachelors and masters degree in psychology, she has also completed her doctorate of psychology (PsyD) degree at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her doctoral research focus was on Islam & Psychology as she completed a research study titled, “An Islamic Psychological Approach to Psychotherapy.” Her main aim in this study was to shed light on the powerful knowledge and tools that Islam has to offer to the world of psychology.

Dr. Marwa views herself as a constant student of Islam and strives to always seek the knowledge that will empower her own spiritual growth but also help her provide others with the education and services that are well rooted in sound Islamic knowledge. Through her studies of Islam, psychology, research, and through continuously consulting with Islamic teachers and scholars, Dr. Marwa hopes to offer others the knowledge and tools they need to empower their spiritual, mental, and emotional growth as well as cultivate healthy and fulfilling relationships with God, themselves, and others!

Date: Friday, March 22, 2019
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: Conference Hall, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

In recent years, “religious doubt” and a “crisis of faith” have emerged as a pervasive concern in American Muslim communities and discourses. Within this discourse, there is a tension in how religious questioning, doubts, and challenges to authoritative doctrine are understood — between seeing such questioning as a matter of needed internal reform or critique on the one hand, versus seeing it as an internalization of pervasive Islamophobic discourse. In this talk I will be exploring this tension, and community leaders’ emphasis on internalized Islamophobia, particularly at the intersection with concerns of gender justice. What is the place of Islamophobic discourse in this ever-growing sense of a crisis of faith? And how does this focus on internalized Islamophobia help us understand what is at stake in this discourse?

Zaid Adhami was born in Damascus, Syria, and raised in Southern California. He received his PhD in 2017 from Duke University in Religious Studies. He is now Assistant Professor of Religion at Williams College, in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife Saadia Yacoob (also a professor of Religion at the college) and 3 year-old daughter Ruqaiya. His research and teaching interests engage a number of fields: Islam in the United States, anthropology of Islam, theories of religion and secularization, Islam and race, as well as Islamic theology and philosophy.

Dr. Shabana Mir, Assoc. Professor of Anthropology at American Islamic College, spoke on March 12, 2019 at University of Illinois at Chicago on “Islamophobia and Intersectionality on Campus: Action Points.” The lecture was the inaugural endowed Triple C Lecture Series at the College of Education at UIC during Spring 2019. Triple C is a new initiative aimed at creating cultural competencies in teachers and educators who are working in increasingly diverse, and often fraught, contexts. This year’s theme is organized around countering anti-Muslim racism in schools and communities. Dr. Mir also conducted a Meet and Greet with PhD students at their Arab American Cultural Center. For more information on Dr. Mir and her scholarship, click here.

Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Time: 6:00 pm Light Refreshments; 6:15 pm Talk followed by Q&A
Where: Conference Hall, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

In this lecture, Nazanin Sheikhi will speak about her experience in reviving historical/traditional design and in some cases traditional techniques in architectural projects over the last twenty years, mainly focusing on Islamic and Far Eastern Design.

Nazanin Sheikhi has professional experience in Graphic Design, Illustration and Architectural Design. She has a Bachelor’s in Graphic Art and a Master’s degree in Art Research, both from Faculty of Fine Art, Tehran University, Iran. She operated her own private design office in Tehran from 1987 to 1995, while also a graphic designer and illustrator of children’s books and weekly children’s magazines for the national telecommunications company, Soroush Publications, Tehran, Iran. She won the prize for innovation, creativity and artistic distinction at the 3rd Biennial Exhibition of Iranian Graphic Designers, in Tehran in 1992. She moved to Germany in 1996 and worked on the design of the domes for the Federal Territory Mosque in Kuala Lumpur and in 1997 moved to Malaysia where she designed the domes for Bukhary Mosque and Palace of Justice law courts. In 2002 established NAZANIN SHEIKHI DESIGN SDN. BHD. together with Nicholas Stone. She specialized in Authentic/ Traditional Architectural Design, undertaking many projects, reviving historical designs and techniques. She is currently based in Chicago and continues to work in the architectural design field in the US.

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Time: 6:00pm Light Refreshments; 6:15pm Talk
Where: Conference Hall, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

In the figure of ʿAbdallāh b. al-Mubārak (118-181/736-797), we find a paragon of the fields of ḥadīth, zuhd, and jihād, as attested to by the large number of references to him in the classical Islamic texts. His superior rank as a ḥadīth transmitter earned him the title “commander of the faithful” in ḥadīth. He contributed to Islamic law at its early phases of development, practiced jihād, composed poetry, and participated in various theological discussions. In addition, Ibn al-Mubārak was a pioneer in writing on piety and was later regarded by many mystics as one of the earliest figures of Sufism. Ibn al-Mubārak’s position during the formative period of Islamic thought illustrates the unique evolution of zuhd, ḥadīth, and jihād; these form a junction in the biography of Ibn al-Mubārak in a way that distinctively illuminates the second/eighth-century dynamics of nascent Sunnī identity. Furthermore, Ibn al-Mubārak’s status as a fighter and pious figure of the Late Antique period revealed a great deal about the complex relationship between the early Muslim community and the religiously diverse setting which it inhabited. This critical and comprehensive lecture on ʿAbdallāh b. al-Mubārak situated him within the larger context of the social and religious milieu of Late Antiquity. This talk also explored the formation of Sunnī identity in the second Islamic century and demonstrated the way in which it manifested itself through networks of pious scholars who defined, preserved, and passed on what they understood to be normative Islamic practice and beliefs from one generation of Muslim intellectuals to another.

Dr. Feryal Salem is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies, as well as Director of the ATS affiliated Master of Divinity in Islamic Studies program and Muslim Chaplaincy program. Her research interests include Islamic philosophy and theology in the post-classical period, interfaith dialogue, and the development of Muslim thought in the contemporary era as it came into conversation with aspects of modernity. Dr. Salem is the author of The Emergence of Early Sufi Piety and Sunnī Scholasticism: ʿAbdallāh b. al-Mubārak and the Formation of Sunni Identity in the Second Islamic Century (2016) published by Brill in its prestigious “Islamic History and Civilization” series. She was recently named one of “25 Influential American Muslims” by CNN for her work in higher education. Dr. Salem serves on a number of professional boards across the country and regularly travels internationally to engage in scholarship on Islam with academics from a range of diverse institutions.

Dr. Salem has also taught at Hartford Seminary where she was Assistant Professor of Islamic Scriptures and Co-Director of its Islamic Chaplaincy Program. She received her Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Last week American Islamic College hosted a delegation from the government of Singapore which included Members of Parliament, the Minister of Cultural Affairs and leadership within the Muslim Religious Council of Singapore, seeking to learn more about prison chaplaincy. Prof. Feryal Salem, director of the Muslim Chaplaincy Program, led a discussion regarding the role of prison chaplains in the US and the curriculum of study through which students train to become Muslim chaplains. She discussed the roles which various types of Muslim chaplains play in different institutions and the relationship they have within the context of the American Muslim community at large. AIC hosts were joined by DePaul University Chaplain, Abdul Malik Ryan, who presented on his own experience working as a university chaplain as well as his knowledge of the organized community efforts to reintegrate prisoners into society once they have completed their sentences.

Prof. Salem later traveled to New York where she made arrangements for the delegation from Singapore to visit two of the most well-known maximum-security prisons in the state. Dr. Salem and the Singapore delegation first visited Bedford Women’s Prison where they had the opportunity to speak with the different faith chaplains, inmates, and learn about the various programs offered in the facility. They later went to Sing Sing Maximum Security Male Prison where they joined the inmates for Friday prayer and were also given a tour of the facility.

On February 1-2, 2019, a convening of religious leaders & community organizers was held at The Mecca Center in Willowbrook, Illinois.

Faith Over Fear is a training program that empowers faith leaders to combat Islamophobia with current research and resources to help counter anti-Muslim bigotry in the US.

This program was organized by The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign and A Center for Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace & Justice at The Lutheran School of Theology.

Dr. Feryal Salem, Associate Professor of Arabic & Islamic Studies and The Director of the Master of Divinity & Muslim Chaplaincy Program at AIC was an invited guest speaker at the training where she gave a thorough introduction of Islam.

I joined AIC in 2013 as a freshman in the undergraduate program. When I look back, I am pleased with my decision to join AIC; when I first heard about it from a friend of mine, I felt butterflies in my stomach. Studying Islamic studies in Chicago was beyond my imagination. From the beginning, I knew that it was going to be a challenging path for me; I hadn’t been in school for several years, I had 4 little children, and I had many miles to drive. I never forgot the support and dedication of my professors to make me feel that I am a good addition to this school.

Over the years, AIC broadened my perspective on Islam. When I graduated, I was aware of the various motifs in the Muslim community and the richness that faith provided me.

Dr. Awass’ exceptional classes introduced me to the types of topics in Islam that I had no prior knowledge of before, for example, Islamic Finance. In one semester, students were able to identify Islamic finance terms and analyze conflict finance situations from an Islamic Perspective.

I truly enjoyed taking classes from Dr. Mir for many reasons. In my view, Dr. Mir brought the excitement of getting true Islamic knowledge (‘Ilm) to AIC. Even the design of her syllabus relayed to me how committed she is teaching. Even in small ways, she was encouraging and made sure that we comprehended the importance of education. Dr. Mir. expanded our horizon and connected us with many contemporary scholars and authors and created engaging conversations for us. Dr. Mir’s classes provided me with insight to examine my role as a 21st-century Muslim woman in America and helped me to traverse difficult situations.

The education that AIC provided to me was incomparable in many ways. I deepened the understanding of my religion through the use of traditional and modern tools from experts in the field with small class sizes in an environment that was familial. These are only but a few of the reasons why I enjoyed my time at AIC.

Since the quest for knowledge is a part of the tradition of our beloved Prophet, AIC provides seekers to follow this path by offering classes deeply rooted in the tradition and creates an environment for art and science.