FOUNDATIONAL FRAMES:
NAVIGATING POST-MODERNITY WITH UNDERSTANDINg
ALIM WINTER PROGRAM: GET ONLINE ACCESS
At this past ALIM Winter Program, Muslims from across the country learned from renowned scholars presenting on the topic of Navigating Post Modernity with Understanding. If you missed the program and would like to get online access to the full weekend, learn more below and get free access to the first day of the program featuring Dr. Sherman Jackson, Dr. Zainab Alwani, Imam Mohamed Hag Magid, and Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans.
Public lecture at the alim winter program
SCHOLARS & topics
Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans is ALIM’s first Scholar-in-Residence. He converted to Islam while in high school. Upon conversion, Ustadh Ubaydullah began studying some of the foundational books of Islam under the private tutelage of local scholars while simultaneously pursuing a degree in journalism from Columbia. During the ALIM Winter Program, Ustadh Evans led a lecture on where we go from here, real world actionable items, theoretical framing, and how to talk about modern issues in our communities.
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Dr. Sherman Jackson is the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture, and Professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC). He was formerly the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Visiting Professor of Law and Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Dr. Jackson received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. From 1987 to 1989, he served as Executive Director of the Center of Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of several books, including Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn al-Qarâfî. Dr. Jackson is a co-founder, Core Scholar, and member of the Board of Trustees of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM). At the winter program, Dr. Jackson explored the history of postmodernity vs modernity, modern paganism, and cover how we can restore our immune system (Aqidah).
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Dr. Zainab Alwani is the Founding Director and the first Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD). She is also the chair of the Master of Arts (Religious Studies) program at HUSD. Dr. Alwani received her Ph.D. in Islamic Sciences and Islamic Jurisprudence from the International Islamic University in Malaysia. She has authored and co-authored a wide variety of publications ranging from books, textbooks and book chapters, to scholarly articles. She is particularly interested in deriving methodologies for approaching the Qur’an, Sunna and Islamic jurisprudence in the area of women and family relations. Dr. Alwani is currently serving as the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice, a scholarly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Islamic Seminary Foundation in partnership with IUPUI University Library. This year, Dr. Alwani explored the topic of Tawheed in the Quran and its connection to our everyday lives.
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Imam Mohamed Hag Magid
Imam Magid is the Imam of All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Virginia. He is the chairman of International Interfaith Peace Corps (IIPC). Imam Magid served as the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Under his direction, the ADAMS Center has grown to be one of the largest Muslim community organizations in the Washington Metropolitan Area. He also occupies the Chairmanship of the Fairfax County Faith Communities in Action, and a Chaplin of George Mason University Campus Ministry. He is also the Vice Chairman of Muflehun, a think tank, which focuses on confronting violent extremist thought through research-driven preventative programs within a religious paradigm. At the ALIM Winter Program, Imam Magid covered Experiential Faith, Experiential Knowledge, Practical Aspect of Islam; Relevancy of Religion. Crisis of Faith, Psychology of Theology, and Mental Health & Faith. |
Ustadh Shad Imam is a past Board Member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society and holds an MBA from the University of Maryland. He organizes educational programs with visiting national and local scholars through the Qurtuba Institute and has dedicated himself to being a student of knowledge since 2000 under Imam Mohamed Magid. Professionally, Shad works as a Senior Director for Public Sector Presales at MuleSoft (a Salesforce company). He resides in Sterling, VA with his wife and four children. He attended the ALIM Summer Program in 2000 studying under Dr. Sherman Jackson, Imam Muneer Fareed and Shaikh Ali Sulaiman Ali. During the ALIM Winter Program, Ustadh Imam touched on the definition of post-modernity.
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ALIM Program Photos
My experience at ALIM's Summer Program was pivotal in my personal Islamic development. The knowledge I gained and the nurturing I received from each of the participating teachers continues to steer me more than 15 years after my attendance. What I gained from ALIM is unmeasurable, It solidified my understanding of Islam as a divine, balanced and perfect way of life!” The ALIM Summer Program remains one of the most intellectually and spiritually fulfilling experiences I have had since converting to Islam back in 1998. It was a rigorous overview of Sunni thought, coupled with a focus on issues of contemporary importance to American Muslim communities. It helped me bridge the world of 'the academic study of Islam' and 'traditional Islamic thought' in a way that helped me enormously in graduate school at Princeton, and as a Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College and Brown. In many respects, the class I currently teach on Islamic law at New York University is built on the hybrid model of Islamic Studies I first learned at ALIM. May God bless my teachers.” Beyond Sunday school I’ve always felt a strong desire to understand my faith from deeper angles. Unless you’re studying Islam in an academic setting, there was no room to scrutinize or question. Everywhere you’re expected to approach the world in a critical and conscious matter but for some reason when it comes to faith that assumption doesn’t always hold. ALIM turns that assumption on its head and demanded me to analyze and understand my faith in light of changing times. As a young American Muslim, it was unbelievably refreshing. Through candid conversations, uncensored teaching of historical facts, the ALIM program became a safe space to explore and ask, learn and grow. As a result, I grew to have a deeper and much more rooted understanding and appreciation of my faith, something no Sunday school education could have offered.” |
Our class had people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and understandings of Islam. It brought different perspectives, but more importantly, it brought clashes. From from those clashes, I was challenged. And from those challenges, I learned some of the most important lessons of my life. We live in a time in which learning can be made very convenient and comfortable online. I think it’s that comfort that makes online debates get so ugly – we are unwilling to leave our comfort zones to understand another perspective. The sacrifice we all made of distancing ourselves from our physical and mental comfort zones made us grow together. I’ve made some of my best friends at ALIM despite vehemently disagreeing with them. In that way, we’ve become something like a family. And I really think that’s what growth in Islam is all about.” |