Spring Forum 2022: Engaging the Tradition
The Living History of Hadith: Transmission and Interpretations
American Islamic College invites you to attend this month’s sessions of the AIC Forum 2022 series, “Engaging the Tradition.” This month’s theme, The Living History of Hadith: Transmission and Interpretation, will be explored throughout the weekend of February 12 & 13, 2022.
Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars of Hadith
Shaykh Akram Nadwi in conversation with Shaykha Dr. Tamara Gray and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, facilitated by Tahera Ahmad
Date: Saturday February 12, 2022
Time: 10 AM – 4 PM Central
In 2007, Shaykh Dr. Akram Nadwi, a globally renowned hadith scholar and Dean of Cambridge Islamic College, published a 40-volume biographical dictionary revealing a rich history of female Hadith transmitters spanning the course of Islam’s 1,400-year history. When he first began to research women Hadith transmitters for an addendum to another project, Nadwi had expected to find two-dozen muhaddithat. Ultimately, he researched and compiled the biographies of over 9,000 women scholars transmitting and teaching Quran and hadith, issuing fatwas (legal opinions), and engaging in public discourse with male contemporaries. The existence of thousands of muhaddithat attests to a long and robust tradition of women trained in the Islamic sciences and earning ijazah qualifications to teach their male and female contemporaries, including caliphs and scholars. However, this history has largely been forgotten, making Nadwi’s scholarship a critical bridge to introducing students and laypersons alike to Islam’s tradition of female scholarship.
This one-day course is based on Nadwi’s book, ‘Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam,’ an introduction to his 40-volume dictionary. He will be in conversation with Dr. Tamara Gray and Dr. Ingrid Mattson about the scholars detailed in his biography, detailing the histories and the legal and educational impact of both famous and lesser-known individuals, drawing lessons for a contemporary audience. Dr. Gray, an author and translator, is the founder of Rabata, an organization dedicated to promoting positive cultural change through creative educational experiences. Dr. Mattson, an internationally recognized scholar of the Quran, is the London and Windsor Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College. Tahera Ahmad is the Associate University Chaplain and Director of Interfaith Engagement at Northwestern University.
One Day Only: Click Here for Tickets
Students: $30 (present Student ID and ticket)
General Admission (In-Person): $50
Livestream: $40
Maqra’ – Hadith Al-Musalsalat
Guided by Shaykh Akram Nadwi, Chaired by Jonathan Brown
Date: Saturday February 12, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Central
Conducted under the guidance of at least one senior hadith scholar (muhaddith) who has received a license (ijaza) which authorizes its holder to transmit a certain text to others, a maqra’ is the person-to-person transmission of texts maintaining Islam’s oral living tradition from one generation to the next.
Shaykh Akram Nadwi, the globally renowned hadith scholar and Dean of Cambridge Islamic College, will guide attendees through a collection of hadith and their chains of transmission. Professor Jonathan Brown, the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University and distinguished hadith scholar, will facilitate the evening. Upon completion of the maqra’, those in attendance* will receive a certificate confirming they listened to a collection of verified hadith under the guidance of a muhaddith – the certificate does not authorize the listener to transmit or teach the hadith collection to others.
Free Admission (in-person and livestream) Click Here to Register
*In-person registration required in order to receive ijaza
Shah Waliullah’s Hujjat Allah al-Baligha Intensive
Marcia Hermansen, Ebrahim Moosa, and Shaykh Akram Nadwi, Chaired by Jonathan Brown
Date: Sunday February 13, 2022
Time: 10 AM – 5 PM Central
Shah Wali Allah Dehlavi (d. 1762) is one of the most consequential Muslim theologians, Qur’anic exegetes, and hadith scholars. Respected during his lifetime in 18th century India, his scholarship continues to influence many contemporary Muslim schools of thought. His magnum opus, Hujjat Allah al-Baligha (The Conclusive Argument from God), is a two-volume Arabic work arguing for, and proposing a methodology toward, the revival and integration of the Islamic intellectual disciplines.
This one-day course will be taught by Shaykh Akram Nadwi, the distinguished hadith scholar and Dean of Cambridge Islamic College as well as Dr. Marcia Hermansen, Director of the Islamic World Studies Program at Loyola University Chicago and scholar and translator of the works of Shah Wali Allah, along with Dr. Ebrahim Moosa, the Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought & Muslim Societies the University of Notre Dame. It will be facilitated by Dr. Jonathan Brown, the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University. Among topics the class will cover are a brief overview of Shah Wali Allah’s life, Shah Wali Allah’s intellectual interpretation of hadith and Shari’a, revelation and the law and Sufism and ethics as expounded in Hujjat Allah al-Baligha, and Shah Wali Allah’s legacy and continuing significance for Muslim thought.
One Day Only: Click Here for Tickets
Students: $30 (present Student ID and ticket)
General Admission (In-Person): $50
Livestream: $40
AIC welcomes participants of all faiths and backgrounds. We promote an appreciation for the scope and richness of Islamic history and civilization, in the classroom and beyond, through impactful teaching and informative public events highlighting Islam’s intellectual, artistic, and cultural expressions.
Your health and wellbeing are important to us so we are observing CDC protocols to make sure everyone is safe. Please follow these COVID guidelines to attend the event in-person.
Saturday
February 12, 2022
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars of Islam
Sunday
February 13, 2022
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Shah Waliullah’s Hujjatullah al-Baligha Intensive
February
The Living History of Hadith: Transmission and Interpretations
Forum Guest Speakers:
Shaykh Akram Nadwi
Shaykh Akram Nadwi studied and taught Shari’a at the Nadwatul ‘Ulama (India). He is a muhaddith specialising in ‘Ilm al-Rijal (the study of the narrators of Hadith) and has ijaza (licenses) from many mashayakh, including Abul Hasan Ali Al-Nadwi, Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghuddah, Ramadan Buti, AbdurRahman Kittani and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Over the course of three decades he has authored, translated and conducted research on many titles related to fiqh, Qur’an, hadith and sufi orders. He has published widely in Urdu, Persian, Arabic, and English on Shah Wali Allah, a critical edition of Usūl al-Shāshī in Ḥanafī jurisprudence, original monographs on Islamic law, Quran and hadith sciences, and figures such as Abū Ḥanīfah, including his monumental 43 volume work on Al-Muhaddithaat –The Women Scholars in Islam. He was a research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University, and is recipient of the ‘Allāmah Iqbāl prize for contribution to Islamic thought and is the Principal and Co-Founder of Al-Salam Institute. As co-founder of Al-Salam Institute, he continues to teach advanced levels of Islamic Scholarship Program.
Shaykha Dr. Tamara Gray
Dr. Tamara Gray is a founder of Rabata, an organization dedicated to promoting positive cultural change through creative educational experiences. She holds a doctorate in leadership from the University of St. Thomas, a master’s degree in Curriculum Theory and Instruction from Temple University, and spent twenty years studying traditional and classical Islamic sciences, Quran, and Arabic in Damascus, Syria.
Dr. Gray worked in the field of education for twenty-five years before moving into the non-profit world. She is now both the Executive Director of Rabata and its Chief Spirituality Officer. Her work includes the daily nitty gritty of project design as well as the support and mentorship of hundreds of women around the world. She is the instructor for more than ten subjects at Ribaat, teaches RabaTeens, and contributes to curriculum development.
Dr. Gray is also an author and translator. Her publications range from several culturally appropriate English language curriculum programs to translations of sacred texts. She has authored two books: Joy Jots: Exercises for a happy heart & Project Lina: Bringing our whole selves to Islam, and co-translated the Mukhtasir al-Jami’ fi al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya by Samīra Zayid [Compendium of the Collection of Sources on al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya].
In addition to her work at Rabata, Dr. Gray sits on the NoUsury board – an organization dedicated to giving small no-interest loans to those who are in need, ANd the Collegeville Institute’s Inter-religious Fellows Program, working to develop educational programming for faith leaders around social justice issues.
She also serves as both faculty and an academic council member for The Islamic Seminary of America, teaches at the United Theological Seminary of the TwinCities and is a Senior Fellow at the Yaqeen Institute. She has recently joined the Fiqh council of North America in addition to her other responsibilities.
Dr. Gray is a mother of three, grandmother of two, an avid reader and a lover of cultures, people, coffee and food. Her publications are Joy Jots available at THIS LINK, The Prophetic Narrative at THIS LINK and Project Lina at THIS LINK
Dr. Ingrid Mattson
Dr. Ingrid Mattson is the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at Western University in Canada.
Dr. Mattson was educated in Canada and the United States, earning a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1999. From 1998 to 2012 she was Professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary in CT where she developed and directed the first accredited graduate program for Muslim chaplains in America, and served as Director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. From 2001-2010 Dr. Mattson served as vice-president, then as president of the Islamic Society of North America (USA), the first woman to serve in either position. Her writings, both academic and public, focus primarily Qur’an interpretation, Islamic theological ethics and interfaith relations. Her book, The Story of the Qur’an, is an academic best-seller and was chosen by the US National Endowment for the Humanities for inclusion in its “Bridging Cultures” program.
Dr. Mattson is a Senior Fellow of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman, Jordan. From 2009-2010, Dr. Mattson was a member of the Interfaith Taskforce of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships; in 2008 she was on the Council of Global Leaders of the C-100 of the World Economic Forum; from 2007-2008, she was a member of the Leadership Group of the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project (USME). Dr. Mattson is the recipient of numerous awards as well as honorary doctorates from Trinity College, Hartford, and the Chicago Theological Seminary. She is frequently consulted by the media and has served as an expert witness.
Jonathan Brown
Jonathan Brown is the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and he is the Director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding. He received his BA in History from Georgetown University in 2000 and his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2006. Dr. Brown has studied and conducted research in countries such as Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Iran. His book publications include “The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon” (Brill, 2007), “Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World” (Oneworld, 2009) and “Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction” (Oxford University Press, 2011), which was selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Bridging Cultures Muslim Journeys Bookshelf. His most recent book, “Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy” (Oneworld, 2014), was named one of the top books on religion in 2014 by the Independent. He has published articles in the fields of Hadith, Islamic law, Salafism, Sufism, Arabic lexical theory and Pre-Islamic poetry and is the editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law. Dr. Brown’s current research interests include Islamic legal reform and a translation of Sahih al-Bukhari.
Dr. Marcia Hermansen
Dr. Marcia Hermansen is Director of the Islamic World Studies Program and Professor in the Theology Department at Loyola University Chicago where she teaches courses in Islamic Studies and the academic study of religion. She received her Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Among her recent co-edited books are Varieties of American Sufism: Islam, Sufi Orders and Authority in a Time of Transition (SUNY, 2020) and Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (2013). Her monographs include Shah Wali Allah’s Treatises on Islamic Law (2010) and The Conclusive Argument from God, a study and translation (from Arabic) of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi’s Hujjat Allah al-Baligha (Brill).
Dr. Hermansen has also contributed numerous academic articles in the fields of Islamic Thought, Sufism, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, Muslims in America, and Women in Islam.
Ebrahim E.I. Moosa
Ebrahim E.I. Moosa is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame with appointments in the Keough School of Global Affairs, the Kroc Institute for International Peace and the Department of History. He is co-director of the Contending Modernities program, a global research and education program that fosters intellectual exchange between Catholic, Islamic and secular perspectives on science, politics and society. His interests span both classical and modern Islamic thought with a special focus on Islamic law, history, ethics and theology. His latest book, What is a Madrasa? was published in April 2015. World Religions Demystified, co-authored with Matt Cleary was published in 2014. Dr Moosa is the author of Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination, winner of the American Academy of Religion’s Best First Book in the History of Religions (2006) and editor of the last manuscript of the late Professor Fazlur Rahman, Revival and Reform in Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism. With Jeffrey Kenney he co-edited Islam and the Modern World and with Shamil Jeppie and Richard Roberts he co-edited Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tahera Ahmad
Chaplain Tahera Ahmad is a dynamic Muslim ‘scholar-practitioner’who serves as the director of interfaith engagement, associate university chaplain and associate chair of the women’s residential college at Northwestern University. She also serves as faculty at Garret theological seminary on the Northwestern campus. She was recognized at the White House as a leading Muslim woman and in 2014 she became the first woman to represent the United States at the International Quran Competition in Indonesia where she placed 6th place in the World.
Ahmad has been featured widely in various media networks; most notably in the national PBS documentary, ‘The Calling’, which portrays the struggle of faith in the 21st century for leaders from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. A renowned speaker, Ahmad has worked closely with the U.S. Justice and State departments leading both national and international workshops on cultural awareness of Muslims and religious diversity.
Chaplain Ahmad is a passionate social justice advocate and was featured as the keynote speaker for the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago. She currently serves on as a trustee on the Parliament of the World’s Religions and on the first American Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council. For nearly a decade she served as the director of the largest Muslim youth camp in North America and serves on the board of the Muslim Community Center of Chicago.
Her undergraduate education was in biochemistry and graduate work in theology. She studied in the Islamic Chaplaincy and Interfaith Dialogue program at the Hartford Seminary and received graduate certification in the Women’s Spiritual Leadership Program and graduate certification in Classical Arabic, and Islamic Studies from Al-Diwan and Al-Azhar Cairo, Ijāzāt (certifications) in Tajweed (art of Quranic recitation) and has taught widely across the USA.
When:
Saturday
February 12, 2022
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars of Islam
Sunday
February 13, 2022
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Shah Waliullah’s Hujjatullah al-Baligha Intensive