American Islamic College (AIC) President, Daoud S. Casewit was invited to share the floor with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich at the Keough School of Global Affairs of the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. The dialogue took place to commemorate the meeting of Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil of Egypt and Saint Francis of Assisi 800 years ago. The relationship that grew from that encounter has served as an example of interfaith dialogue and a reminder that respect of differences can and should be sought. The event was organized by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion. Its Executive Director, Mahan Mirza, moderated the robust discussion.

“Interfaith conversation promotes dialogue between Catholic, Muslim leaders” – NDSMC Observer

“Catholic and Muslim leaders champion interfaith dialogue, learning at Notre Dame event” – Ansari Institue

“Muslim, Catholic traditions ‘must include the desire to get to know the other,’ Cardinal Cupich says” – Chicago Catholic

“Religious Retirement Fund/Muslim-Christian Relations” – Archdiocese of Chicago Radio (33rd-minute mark)

Course Description: Ebru, often referred to as the “dance of color on water”, is an authentic Turkish art that has been considered a spiritual art for cen­turies. This unique art form is produced by sprinkling color pigments into a trough of oily water and utilizes special brushes to create various designs that are then transferred onto a sheet of paper or other surfaces. This class will cover a variety of techniques that partic­ipants will use to create their own masterpieces.

Instructor: N. Kaya
First day: January 16, 2020
Date & Time: Thursdays 6:30 – 9:00pm
For Credit: $750 + $75 material fee
Audit: $375 + $75 material fee

AIC students can enroll to this course by submitting a Course Registration Form to the Registrar at registrar@aicusa.edu.

Non-AIC students can enroll to this course by visiting the Non-Degree Students page.

American Islamic College (AIC) Board of Trustees Member, Dr. Farid Muhammad, and founding member of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (iHRAAM), organized the historic inaugural summit event on “Africa and the Global African Diaspora: International Summit of Colleges, Universities, and Ministers of Education,” with the theme “Advancing quality education for all persons of African descent.” The event concluded with the signing of the MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AND CORE PLANNING GROUP–OFFICE OF HBCU DEVELOPMENT & INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.

The Summit took place during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the 23rd of September 2019. Collaborating organizers include, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Regional Bureau for Africa, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and Office of HBCU Development & International Cooperation (OHBCUD).

The overall objective of this program is to strengthen international partnerships among HBCU, higher educational institutions in Africa and the African Diaspora to advance the quality of education for all persons of African descent.

Keynote speakers
Dr. Ayodele Odusola
Resident Representative, UNDP South Africa

Dr. Reginal Hopkins
Associate Professor, Virginia State University

Keynote address
Ms. Dominique Day
UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent

Dr. Farid Muhammad
Chairman and CEO, CPG-OHBCUD/IHRAAM

Speakers panels

• International partnerships to achieve quality education and training for all persons of African decent
• Institutionalizing financial sustainability of educational organizations serving peolpe of African descent.

Read more from the UN site below:

SDG4: Advancing quality education for all persons of African descent.

“23 Sep 2019 – The technologically interconnected nature of today’s world creates new opportunities for institutions of higher education to work together, across the world, to achieve shared academic and educational goals. Through distance learning, colleges and universities can co-teach classes on any subject, with students based in any country, with instruction in any language. The same technologies can help education institutions share institutional knowledge and best practices that together strengthen their internal operations and build capacities to provide instruction of the highest quality. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as mandated by the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly, is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrator in the United Nations System. Contributing to this mandate with the scale and breadth of colleges and university systems provides new opportunities for accelerating progress on the SDGs. The African continent – and countries with a large African diaspora – host thousands of institutions of higher education, with over 200 Historically Black Colleges and Universities / Primarily Black Institutions in the United States, alone. The variety of academic subjects, number of courses, and number of students of African descent (which likely numbers in the millions) all provide opportunities, through academic partnerships, to strengthen educational institutions and outcomes. The overall objective of the event is to strengthening international partnership among HBCU, higher educational institutions in Africa and the African Diaspora to advance quality of education for all persons of African descent.”

New students at The Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC) visited American Islamic College (AIC) on Friday, August 30, for a Dialogue Luncheon.

AIC President Daoud Casewit welcomed the group and Dr. Feryal Salem, Director of the Muslim Chaplaincy Program, led the discussion on Islamic prayer. AIC’s Resident Imam and alumnus, Ahmet Sahin, gave a profoundly rich Khutba on the Muslim perspective of religious pluralism. Joined by AIC students, the group continued the dialogue over dessert after attending the Jummah service.

Date: Monday, September 16, 2019
Time: 6:00 pm Light Refreshments; 6:30 pm Talk
Book: Available for purchase, 25$ (cash or check only)
Where: Conference Hall, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

Muqtedar Khan’s Islam and Good Governance is an original, thoughtful, and fresh approach in political philosophy that will intrigue as well as challenge many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars presuppositions and models for development. — John L. Esposito, Georgetown University

In an age marked by shallow religio-nationalist identities and the cheap instrumentalization of religion, Khan offers a way out of this morass by going back to foundational Islamic values. — Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University, Bloomington

In this wide-ranging and profound book, Muqtedar Khan reminds us of an entirely different vision and practice of Islam in politics, one premised on the concept of Ihsan. The result is a book that is at once timely, urgently important, and, over its entire course, ethically moving. — Robert Hefner, Boston University

In this audacious, provocative, and deeply hopeful book, Muqtedar Khan tries nothing less than to reconceptualize Muslim politics. — Sohail Hashmi — Mount Holyoke College

“Muqtedar Khan’s Islam and Good Governance offers a political philosophy that is both refreshing and timely. — Tamara Sonn, Georgetown University

Muqtedar Khan’s Islam and Good Governance is a noteworthy contribution to the literature on Islamic political thought. It advances the view that politics must bend the knee to morality. — Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University

Muqtedar Khan’s new work bridges the worlds of Islamic spirituality and politics. Khan’s work is recommended for both scholars of Sufism and political science. — Omid Safi, Duke University

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He researches and teaches Islam, Governance and International Relations. He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, Political Philosophy, and Islamic Political Thought, from Georgetown University in May 2000.

From 2017-2019 he was the Academic Director of the State Department’s National Security Institute and from 2019 onwards he is the Academic Director of the State Department’s American Foreign Policy Institute.

He founded the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Delaware and was its first Director from 2007-2010.

Dr. Khan is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy since 2016. He was Fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding from 2001-2016. He was a Senior Nonresident Fellow with the Brookings Institution [2003-2008] and a Fellow of the Al-Waleed Center at Georgetown University [2006-2007]. He has been the President, Vice President and General Secretary of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.

He is the author of Islam and Good Governance: A Political Philosophy of Ihsan (Palgrave, 2019). He also authored American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (Amana, 2002), Jihad for Jerusalem: Identity and Strategy in International Relations (Praeger, 2004). He has edited Islamic Democratic Discourse (Lexington Books, 2006) and Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah Press, 2007).

Dr. Khan frequently comments on BBC, CNN International, FOX and VOA TV, Bridges TV, NPR and other radio and TV networks. His political commentaries appear regularly in newspapers in over 20 countries. He has lectured in North America, East Asia, Middle East and Europe . Dr. Khan is from Hyderabad in India. He is married to Reshma and has a son Rumi, and a daughter Ruhi.

His articles on Islam and American Muslims can be read at www.ijtihad.org and his commentaries on global politics can be read at www.Glocaleye.org.

Dr. Shabana Mir, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology & General Education Coordinator, was invited to speak on “Decolonizing Higher Education” at the University of Leeds.

While there, she was interviewed by Sofia Rehman of the Network ReOrient podcast series of Critical Muslim Studies at the University. ReOrient “forges a space for critical and interdisciplinary discussion across a diverse range of disciplinary debates, interventions, and critiques.”

Click the image below to listen to the podcast.

Dr. Shabana Mir was also interviewed on the well-known podcast, New Books in Islamic Studies, which showcases notable and significant scholarship in Islamic Studies. She has also been interviewed on radio shows such as Radio Islam, Radio Azad, Roundhouse Radio, and Bulland Awaaz.

Students in the Bachelor of Arts program are required to complete a civic engagement course through an internship at a social service organization of their choosing. They receive hands-on training, gain leadership qualities, learn about the workings of a nonprofit, and give back to the community.

Previous sites include:

Refugee One
Cook County Jail
CAIR-Chicago
Benedictine University’s Office of Ministry

Undergraduate students performed mock Ted Talks as part of their English Communications course, a requirement in the general education curriculum to both develop and enhance students’ public speaking, research performance, and leadership skills.

Topics covered include:
•Black Voices Matter
•The Myth of Organic Foods
•Medical Technology & Imagining
•The Society That We Live In

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.