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How do Muslim cultures perceive and respond to historically controversial gender-related issues such as feminism, homosexuality and family law?

International scholars are coming together at Simon Fraser University to view, under diverse lenses, how varied and controversial social and religious issues and concepts shape Muslim women’s lives.

SFU’s Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures (CCSMSC) is offering the program, Expressions of Diversity: An Introduction to Muslim Cultures, at the Harbour Centre, Vancouver campus from July 19 to 30.

“We’re bringing together 17 faculty from departments of history, literature, religion, anthropology, art, law, international studies, education and women’s studies to discuss diverse and evolving Muslim experiences, past and present,” says Derryl Maclean, CCSMSC director.

“In this stimulating environment, program participants will be equipped with the resources and skills to understand the heritages, contributions to world history and contemporary relevance of Muslim peoples. The range of approaches and subjects covered will take us well beyond the rhetoric of a single Islamic system of religion and culture.”

Maclean notes that, in the second week of this third annual offering of the program, participants will analyse “the much misunderstood topic of gender in the Muslim world by traversing many topics. They include: formative milieus of the Qur’an and hadith, Islamic family law, transnational discourses of Muslim women, Muslim discussions in Persian and Swahili literature, Arab film and Uyghur society.”

The Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations at Aga Khan University is co-sponsoring this SFU program, which will include a bus tour of Muslim spaces in Greater Vancouver.

To register for the course contact Ellen Vaillancourt, 778.782.5278.

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Backgrounder: Viewing Muslim cultures through diverse lenses

International scholars who have collectively written more than 50 books on Muslim societies and cultures will teach the CCSMSC’s third annual offering of Expressions of Diversity: An Introduction to Muslim Cultures. Among the program instructors are:

Andrew Rippin (University of Victoria, B.C.) is an internationally renowned scholar of Qur’anic interpretive traditions, and the author/editor of a dozen books, including Islam in the Eyes of the West. Rippin will discuss scholarly debates surrounding the origin of the Qur’an and variations in Muslim interpretation of the scripture.

Zayn Kassam (Pomona College, Claremont, Calif.) is a specialist on theoretical interpretations of gender in Islam and the author of the book For what Sin Was She Slain: a Muslim Theology of Feminism. Kassam will present a session on framing Muslim gender through the Qur’an and other texts with a focus on global issues related to gender activism.

Farouk Topan (Aga Khan University, London, England) teaches East African Swahili literature. He authored the book Swahili Modernities: Culture, Politics and Identity on the East Coast of Africa. Topan will examine the matrix of history and culture among Swahili people and the influence this matrix has on gendered literature and music among Muslims on East Africa’s coast.

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