Monday 5/4:
Dr. M
ustafa Tuna
(Ph.D. 2009, Princeton University) is Associate Professor of Russian and Central Eurasian History and Culture in the Departments of Slavic and Eurasian Studies & History at Duke University and is affiliated with the Duke Islamic Studies Center and the Duke Middle East Studies Center. His research focuses on social and cultural change among the Muslim communities of Central Eurasia, especially Russia's Volga-Ural region, Central Asia, and modern Turkey, since the early-nineteenth century. He is particularly interested in identifying the often intertwined roles of Islam, social networks, state or elite interventions, infrastructural changes, and the globalization of European modernity in transforming Muslim communities.
Tuesday 5/5:
Dr. Younus Mirza
is a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University and Director of the
Barzinji Project
at Shenandoah University which seeks to enhance America’s relationship with Muslim-majority countries. He defended his dissertation in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Georgetown University and has taught at Millsaps and Allegheny Colleges. His current research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and the Qur’an and the shared stories between them. He is a co-author of the book
The Bible and the Qur’an: Biblical Figures in the Islamic Tradition
and has published in various journals.
Wednesday 5/6:
Samia Mubarak
has degrees in psychology and communications from Florida State University and has completed her memorization of the Qur’an. She has been a Quran teacher where she write personal reflections and give reflection talks to the community. She prefers to look at the Qur’an from a psychological aspect and always ask “how does this verse make me feel?” Her goal is to help people connect with the Qur’an on a deeper level and let it speak to them personally.
Thursday 5/7:
Imam Bilal Muhammed
served as one of the Founders and Resident Imam of Al Inshirah Islamic Center in Kansas City, Missouri while maintaining a twenty-five-year firefighting career. Imam Bilal is a student of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (RA), has a Bachelors of Arts Degree from The University of Missouri, Kansas City and a Certificate of Qur’an and Arabic Studies from Al Azhar University in Cario, Egypt. Imam Bilal has served as an Executive Member of The Kansas City Interfaith Counsel and has served on The Missouri Corrections Religious/Spiritual Advisory Board. Imam Bilal is a believer in building bridges between people for better understanding and served as a member of Catholic/Muslim Dialogue and Unity Team in Vatican City, Rome as well as on The National Muslim/Presbyterian Dialogue team.
Friday 5/8:
Dr. Omid Safi
is
is a professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. He specializes in the study of Islamic mysticism and contemporary Islam. He is the recent director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center, and previously the head of the Islam Section at the American Academy of Religion. He frequently writes on liberationist traditions of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and is committed to traditions that link together love and justice. He has delivered the keynote for the annual Martin Luther King commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum. He has written many books, including
Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism
;
Cambridge Companion to American Islam
;
Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam
; and
Memories of Muhammad
. His most recent book is
Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Traditions
and has a forthcoming book on the famed mystic Rumi.
Nightly taraweeh this week will be led by
Sheikh Omar Jabbie,
from Sierra Leone, memorized the Quran at the age of 14. He attended The Islamic University of Madina in the holy city of the Prophet Mohamed PBUH. Later graduation with his bachelors degree from the faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence.
