[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Executive Director Rev Dirk Ficca

Rev. Dirk Ficca serves as Executive Director of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. Dirk worked closely with the religious and spiritual communities of the Chicago metropolitan area to plan and organize the 1993 Parliament event in Chicago. Given the enthusiasm generated by the 1993 Parliament, Dirk continued to lead the Council’s efforts to build a vibrant interreligious movement in Chicago and around the world. Dirk is an ordained Presbyterian minister and prior to joining the Council served for eleven years as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Dirk teaches at DePaul University, the Lutheran School of Theology and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Moderator

Professor Inamul Haq

Professor Inamul Haq teaches Islam at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University, and Catholic Theological Union (CTU). Previously he has been principal of two Islamic day schools in Chicago area. Mr. Haq is founder member of the International Strategy and Policy Institute, an Oakbrook based think tank. He serves on the Chicago Committee of Human Rights Watch and on the Board of Cardinal Bernadine Center of CTU. Prof. Haq studied at International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan and at Drew University in New Jersey. He has been frequently interviewed by local media, including Chicago Tribune and PBS regarding issues covering Islam and Muslims.

The welcome speech highlighted Dr. Sullivan’s devotion to Civil Rights and expounded on the fact that his life’s work has granted him notable positions and numerous awards.

Dr. Sullivan amicably introduced the Honorable Secretary White, stating his sincere reverence and appreciation for the distinguished work Secretary White has accomplished and continues to perform outside the realms of his outlining duties as Secretary of State of Illinois. There is no doubt that one of the many significant contributions Secretary White has made is that of the Jesse White Tumbling Team.

The Secretary presented the audience with his personal stories in which he shared crucial life lessons regarding challenges faced with discrimination. He explicated the great need for dialogue as a way to appreciate the differences and be peaceful, loving citizens of the world. He stated that one may do this by learning the other’s language, sharing a meal, eating their food, learning their customs-being open-hearted. “I know seven languages,” he stated. It’s a beautiful thing.

The AIC was honored to host our prominent guests, the esteemed Secretary Jesse White and the distinguished Dr. Barry Sullivan. Guests enjoyed nice conversation in the Q & A session held after the talk. Thank you to those who partook in this incredible dialogue!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Jesse White is Illinois’ 37th Secretary of State. White was first elected to the office in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002 by winning all 102 counties and garnering more than 2.3 million votes — the largest vote total by any candidate for Illinois statewide office in a quarter of a century. In November 2006, Jesse White was re-elected to a third term having received 63 percent of the vote statewide.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office is the largest and most diverse office of its kind in the nation, providing more direct services to the people of Illinois than any other public agency. White’s office issues state ID cards, vehicle license plates and titles; registers corporations; enforces the Illinois Securities Act; administers the Organ Donor Program; and licenses drivers and maintains driver records. As State Librarian, Secretary White oversees the State Library and literacy programs, and as State Archivist, he maintains records of legal or historic value.
Prior to his election as Secretary of State, White served as Cook County Recorder of Deeds — a job to which he was first elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1996. Before that, he served 16 years in the Illinois General Assembly, representing the most culturally, economically and racially diverse district in Illinois.

In 1959, White founded the internationally known Jesse White Tumbling Team to serve as a positive alternative for children residing in and around the Chicago area. Since its inception, more than 11,500 young men and women have performed with the team. White has spent 50 years working as a volunteer with the team to help kids stay away from gangs, drugs, alcohol and smoking, and to help set at-risk youth on the path to success. The program has received international praise. In 2009, the team will make more than 1,500 performances throughout the nation.

White served our country as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and as a member of the Illinois National Guard and Reserve. He played professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs organization, which was followed by a 33-year career with the Chicago public school system as a teacher and administrator.

Jesse White earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) in 1957, where he was a two-sport athlete earning all-conference honors in baseball and basketball. In May 1995, White was inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. He was an all-city baseball and basketball player at Chicago’s Waller High School (now Lincoln Park High School) and was inducted into the Chicago Public League Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June 1995. In 1999, he was inducted into the Alabama State University Sports Hall of Fame. Born in Alton, Illinois, he now lives on Chicago’s near north side.

Moderator

Barry Sullivan
Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago
Cooney & Conway Chair in Advocacy

Barry Sullivan has been a government lawyer, a university administrator, a litigating partner in a leading national law firm, and a teacher of law and public policy. His scholarly work has appeared in leading journals in the United States and Europe, and he has litigated cases at the highest levels of the state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Sullivan graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1974 and clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1974-1975. He was an associate (1975-80) and partner (1981-1994, 2001-2009) in Jenner & Block, where he was principally engaged in litigation and served as Co-Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group.

Mr. Sullivan has litigated significant cases across the country, at all levels of the state and federal courts. For example, Mr. Sullivan represented Andrew Wilson in the landmark death penalty case of People v. Wilson, 116 Ill. 2d 29 (1987), which was the first criminal conviction reversed because of police torture in Area 2 of the Chicago Police Department. Among his other notable cases were Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), in which he was lead counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights as amicus curiae, and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004), in which he represented the American Bar Association as amicus curiae. He was one of the attorneys for the United States in American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan, 452 U.S. 490 (1981), which upheld the OSHA standard for occupational exposure to cotton dust. More recently, he argued City of Bridgeton v. Missouri-American Water Co., 219 S.W.3d 226 (Mo. Sup. Ct. 2007), a landmark land use case, in the Missouri Supreme Court.

During 1980 and 1981, Mr. Sullivan served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States, in which capacity he argued several cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Sullivan was Dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Mr. Sullivan also has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University School of Law, a Fulbright professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, a visiting law fellow of the University of London (Queen Mary College), and Senior Lecturer in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies of the University of Chicago. He was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 1983.

Mr. Sullivan has given the Jessica Swift Lecture in Constitutional Law at Middlebury College (1991), the Rufus Monroe and Sophie Payne Lecture at the University of Missouri-Columbia (2003), and the Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics at West Virginia University (2005).
He frequently speaks to academic and professional groups in the United States and abroad. In Fall 2009, he spoke at a program on the legal profession at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. In Spring 2010, he gave a series of lectures on constitutional law and theory at Trinity College Dublin. He also spoke at an international conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Chair in Sociology and Anthropology of Law and Custom in the Institute for Applied Social Sciences of the University of Warsaw.

Mr. Sullivan has held many leadership positions in the American Bar Association and currently serves on the Executive Board of the ABA’s Center for Human Rights. From 1988 to 1994, he was founding chair of the ABA’s Coordinating Committee on AIDS and played a leading role in formulating the legal system’s response to the AIDS epidemic. He has also served on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs (1990-1997, 2004-2007), the Council of the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (1993-1998), the Council of the Section of Legal Education (2006-2009), and the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline (2007-2010). In 1998-1999, Mr. Sullivan was Chair of the Section on Education of Lawyers of the Virginia State Bar.

Mr. Sullivan’s professional publications have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Dublin University Law Journal, Law and Contemporary Problems, the Northwestern Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, Legal Ethics, the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, the Warsaw University Law Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review, among others. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Dublin University Law Journal.

Mr. Sullivan’s professional and community service activities have included service on the Visiting Committees of the Divinity School and the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies of the University of Chicago, on the Board of Visitors of Southern Illinois University School of Law, and on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre. He is a Life Trustee of Catholic Theological Union, a member of the Advisory Board of the International Human Rights Institute of DePaul University, a member of the Advisory Board of DV-LEAP of George Washington University, and a member of the National Advisory Board of the Center for Religion, the Professions and the Public at the University of Missouri. In 1995-1996, Mr. Sullivan was a consultant to the government of Ireland’s Commission on the Status of People With Disabilities.

Mr. Sullivan is a member of the American Law Institute, of the Fellows of Phi Beta Kappa, and of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.

When he stepped down as Dean at Washington and Lee, the law faculty created the Barry Sullivan Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law. In 2006, the Black Law Students Association of the DePaul College of Law honored Mr. Sullivan with its “Progressives in the Profession Award.” In 2007, the American Bar Association’s AIDS Coordinating Committee recognized his service as founding Chair on the occasion of the Committee’s twentieth anniversary, and, in the same year, the Cook County Public Guardian awarded him the Advocate of the Year Pro Bono Award. In 2010, he received the Regan Award of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and was named a “Legal Legend” by the Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society.

He is admitted to practice in Illinois, Massachusetts (inactive), and Virginia (inactive). He is also a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and of many federal trial and appellate courts.

http://www.luc.edu/law/faculty/sullivan.html

The American Islamic College evening Lecture Series hosted two incredible guests: the event’s moderator, Ms. Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Director, and FBI Agent, Robert D. Grant.

Ms. Abraham articulated the complexities in dealing with critical issues that have become ever-more apparent and ever-more prevalent due to our 21^st century global context.  Her informative layout of the topic’s context transitioned agreeably into Agent Grant’s discussion on the FBI’s role in this “changing world.”  He immediately made known that the “FBI is not against Muslims.”  The lecture was highly insightful, sparking inquisitive and difficult questions, and reflective conversation that ended in deep appreciation for Mr. Grant’s sincere presentation.  The night’s participants enjoyed the lecture with a delightful Arabic cuisine and thoughtful dialogue.

Abstract :

The FBI in a Changing World

The mass murders on 09/11/2001, proved to serve as the accelerant for change.  Change was already underway fostered by an increasingly interconnected and globalized world; the collapse of the former Soviet Union; and, the emergence of new centers of power, influence and the spread of liberty.

Robert D. Grant - FBI

Mr. Grant was born in Reno, Nevada, raised in Virginia and is a 1980 graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he majored in accounting and economics.  After several years working in the private sector, he began his career as a Special Agent with the FBI in November 1983.  After graduating from the FBI Academy, he was assigned to the Memphis Field Office, where he successfully investigated White Collar Crime (WCC), Violent Crime (VC) and Drugs completed a highly successful Undercover Operation and served on the FBI SWAT Team.  In 1986 he was transferred to the New York Division where he successfully investigated International Terrorism and financial crimes.

In 1989, Mr. Grant was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters.  He worked with a team of Inspectors and Auditors conducting operational, performance and compliance evaluations of Field Offices, Headquarters Divisions and Foreign Offices of the FBI.  In addition, Mr. Grant conducted several special internal investigations; most notably the investigation of allegations of criminal and ethical misconduct by former FBI Director William S. Sessions.

In 1994, Mr. Grant was selected to serve as a Supervisor in the Chicago Field Office, where he supervised Health Care Fraud, Public Corruption and other white collar crimes.  While in Chicago, he successfully supervised the investigation of Mark Whitacre, former President of the BioProducts Division of the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Co., after allegations surfaced that Whitacre was involved in criminal activity while working as an informant for the FBI during a price-fixing investigation of ADM and others.  These investigations formed the basis of the bestselling book, The Informant, by NY Times author Kurt Eichenwald.

In 1998, Mr. Grant was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the San Antonio Field Office, where he was responsible for all criminal and national security investigations in San Antonio, Austin and along the southwest border with Mexico.

In 2002, Mr. Grant was promoted to Inspector, Inspection Division, FBI Headquarters, leading inspections of FBI operations and was later promoted to Chief Inspector of the FBI.  As Chief Inspector, he was responsible for the planning and execution of all inspections of FBI operations domestically and internationally.

Mr. Grant was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office in January 2005.

Moderator

Christina Abraham
CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director

Bio: Christina Abraham is the Civil Rights Director at CAIR-Chicago. Christina has spoken and written on issues related to Arab and Muslim civil rights, and actively works to pursue successful resolutions to incidents of discrimination through legal and non-legal channels. Christina is a member of the Advisory Board for the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights and a member of the Advisory Board of the BRussels International Tribunal. Christina holds a Masters in the Arts of Social Sciences (M.A.) from the University of Chicago where her focus was on Politics in the Middle East, and a Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law, where she received membership in the Order of the Barristers.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Abstract:

President Barack Obama’s rejection of the clash civilizations thesis and the offer for an engagement with the Muslim world came as a pleasant development for many observers of international affairs. In our contemporary global village this offer has the ingredient not only for international peace and justice, but also for harmony and stability in the Muslim world. In Pakistan for example, where the founding leaders legitimized their claim for a separate nation for Muslims in the sub-continent on the premise of having a modern state to be governed on Qur’anic principles, controversy on the issue continues. In the current Afghan-Pakistan conflict questions have been raised on Pakistan’s Islamic identity. Why are the demands for an Islamic state and rule of shari’ah resurfaced now? What went wrong? Has Pakistan – a constitutionally declared Islamic republic – failed to realize the vision of an Islamic state? Are Qur’anic teachings for good governance inadequate for 20th and 21st centuries? Are Qur’anic teachings incompatible for the needs of contemporary times? All these questions are relevant to this current conflict.

Questions may also be raised on the nature of Obama’s offer: What sort of democracy does the US want to promote in the Muslim world? Is there any role of the Enlightenment values such as transparency and accountability in this democratic process? Or does Obama Administration want to promote Muslim interest groups nourished by lobbies in Washington? Is there any role of Qur’anic teachings of amanah, ‘adalah, shura and Islamic understanding of maqasis and maslaha in the practice of democracy in the Muslim world? Do Obama Administration’s current actions in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir reflect the promises the President made in his speeches in Turkey and Egypt? We propose to examine these questions in the light of Qur’anic and Western values.

Professor at International Institute
of Islamic Thought Civilization (ISTAC)
International Islamic University Malaysia

Bio: Abdullah al-Ahsan is professor at International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), International Islamic University Malaysia. Graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Canada (M.A.), and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (Ph.D.), Dr. Ahsan has contributed many articles on the relationship between contemporary Islamic and Western civilizations. His works include: The Organization of the Islamic Conference: Introduction to an Islamic Political Institution (1988) and Ummah or Nation: Identity Crisis in Contemporary Muslim Society (1992). Jointly with Stephen B Young he has recently published Guidance for Good Governance: Explorations in Qur’anic, Scientific and Cross-cultural Approaches (June 2008). His books and articles have been translated into Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Turkish and Urdu. He is currently working on Muslim Nations in Contemporary History and Rise and fall of Civilizations.

Moderator

Dr. Hasan Kosebalaban

Department of Politics
Lake Forest College

Bio: Hasan Kosebalaban is an assistant professor of political science in the department of Politics at Lake Forest College, IL. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Utah in 2006. Following that he was a visiting assistant professor at Mississippi State University in 2005 and Michigan State University between 2006 and 2008. At Michigan State, he worked with Professor Mohammed Ayoob as his post-doctoral research assistant. Dr. Kosebalaban’s previous educational experiences include International Islamic University, Malaysia, (BA in Political Science, 1995) and International University of Japan (MA in International Relations, 1997). He also conducted academic research at Tuebingen University, Germany, in 1998. With Mohammed Ayoob, Kosebalaban co-edited a volume on religion and politics in Saudi Arabia (Lynne Rienner, 2008). He is currently working on a book manuscript examining new dynamism in Turkish foreign policy to be published by Palgrave Macmillan. He also has various peer-reviewed articles and reviews in academic outlets such as Middle East Policy, Middle East Critique, Middle East Journal, Mediterranean Quarterly, World Affairs, and American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences. His articles mainly deal with the question of identity, globalization, and economic development of the Muslim world. Kosebalaban has presented papers at leading international and national conferences on international relations and comparative politics of Turkey and the Muslim World.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Bio: Rashad Hussain (born in 1978, in Wyoming), an Indian-American Muslim, is the Representative of the United States of America to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, an intergovernmental group with 57 member states, with the rank and status of Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.[1][2]

Hussain is the son of Indian-born US citizens, and was raised in Plano, Texas, where his parents still live. His father, Mohammad Hussain, is a retired mining engineer from Bihar, while his mother Ruqaiya is a medical doctor. His older sister, Lubna, is also a physician, and his younger brother, Saad, is a medical student. [3]

He is a graduate of Greenhill School in Dallas, Texas. While at Greenhill, Hussain was a member of the school’s nationally recognized policy-debate team, partnering with Josh Goldberg to win the Texas state debate championship.[4]

Hussain completed a bachelor’s degree in two years, in both philosophy and political science, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His philosophy thesis was titled “Assessing the Theistic Implications of Big Bang Cosmological Theory.”[5] He holds a Masters degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Yale Law School. At Yale, he served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.[6]

Between Harvard and Yale, he worked as a legislative aide on the House Judiciary Committee , where he reviewed the USA Patriot Act and other bills.[5] He was a 2003 Fellow of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.[7]

While law clerk for Damon J. Keith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in August 2008, Hussain co-authored “Reformulating the Battle of Ideas: Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy” for the Brookings Institution, a paper that advocates the use of Islam in countering terrorist ideology.[8].

As envoy, he has sought to expand partnerships between the United States and the Muslim World and has been outspoken on the need to combat terrorism, recently stating in a speech to Muslim Foreign Ministers, “It is our duty to eradicate this ideology completely and blaming the foreign policy of any country is not the answer. No policy grievance justifies the slaughter of innocent people.”[9]
[edit] Deputy Associate Counsel

In January 2009, Hussain was named deputy associate counsel to President Barack Obama. Previously, he has served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.[10]

The Washington Post reported that, “After the 2008 election, Hussain was recruited to the White House Counsel’s office by Cassandra Butts, a fellow Tar Heel and Obama’s former Harvard Law classmate. He has worked there on national security and new media issues, and helped inform the administration’s Muslim outreach efforts.[11] Mr. Hussain also “began advising the president on issues related to Islam after joining the White House counsel’s office in January 2009.” [12] Ben Rhodes, Obama’s chief foreign policy speechwriter, sought Hussain’s counsel last year as he drafted the president’s Cairo address.”[4]
[edit] Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference

On February 13, 2010, President Obama appointed Hussain as the United States special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.[13] After the appointment, President Obama said:

As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo. And as a Hafiz of the Quran, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community, and I thank him for carrying forward this important work.[1][14]

The first official U.S. envoy to the OIC, Sada Cumber, was appointed by President George W. Bush in February 2008.[15] Cumber has said that Hussain: “will face the twin challenges of showing the Muslims that Obama’s Cairo speech was more than flowery rhetoric while also demonstrating to the American public that the current administration’s emphasis on soft power is paying concrete dividends.””[16]

Journalist Claudia Rosett opined in Forbes in February 2010:

it’s a strange priority that one of Hussain’s prime credentials listed by Obama is his total recall of the Koran [as a Hafiz]. That would make more sense as a core credential for a special envoy from the OIC. The real question is whether Rashad Hussain will vigorously represent and defend the interests, values and constitution of the U.S. If not, far better to have no special envoy to the OIC at all.[17]

Moderator
Shakeela Hassan

Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago is a Chicago-based Philanthropist and Executive Producer with the Harran Productions Foundation.

Sh. Kifah A. Mustapha

Bio: Sheikh Kifah Mustapha is an Imam and the Associate Director of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview IL. He is also a teacher of Islamic Studies at Universal High in Bridgeview Illinois. Sheikh Kifah Mustapha is the appointed religious affairs representative for Darul Fatwa in the Lebanese Republic on behalf of the Lebanese Community in the USA. Sheikh Kifah Mustapha serves as a committee member on the Advisory Board of Mission and Spiritual Care for Advocate Health Group in Illinois. He is also a volunteer Chaplain with FEMA and a member of the Red Cross Spiritual & Critical Response Team. Sheikh Kifah Mustapha serves as the Interim President for SIFCA (Shura of Islamic Family Counselors of America). He is also the Chairman of the Board for The Quran Academy Institute of Chicago. Sheikh Kifah Mustapha is an experienced public speaker and an active participant in interfaith relations.

Moderator/ Discussant
Kemal Karic

Event Shots

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Speaker
Dr. Eboo Patel

Bio: Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based institution building the global interfaith youth movement. Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio and CNN.  He is a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

Moderator
Azam Nizamuddin

Bio: Azam Nizamuddin is an attorney and principal of The Law Office of Azam Nizamuddin, P.C., where he practices Business litigation, Family Law, and Real Estate.  His firm advises business clients for their litigation needs, as well as not-for-profit organizations in various industries.  In addition, he is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology at Loyola University of Chicago where he teaches courses on Islam.  Moreover, he serves as Co-Chair of the Interfaith Committee of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

Event Shots

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Abstract:

The 2008 financial crisis has touched almost every nation around the world resulting in the loss of trillions of dollars in wealth. People began seriously questioning the fundamentals of free market system.  While some blame politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate leaders for their mistaken policies, others blame human nature. In Alan Greenspan’s terms, “The cause of our economic despair, however, is human nature’s propensity to sway from fear to euphoria and back.” Even though Dr. Aydin agrees with Greenspan that the current financial crisis, and perhaps all economic crises, is driven by human nature, he  disagrees with him that such crisis is unpredictable.

There have been growing interests in Islamic finance after the 2008 financial crisis. Even Daily Vatican newspaper, ‘L’Osservatore Romano, published an article suggesting the principles of Islamic finance as a possible solution to the financial crisis. Dr. Aydin offers a new theory of human nature from an Islamic perspective to predict and prevent irrational and irresponsible behaviors of populist politicians, greedy capitalist, and conspicuous consumers. Dr. Aydin will present a paper on the same topic at the Ninth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance on March 27 & 28, 2010.

Speaker
Dr.Necati Aydin
Professor of Economics at
Florida A & M University

Bio: Dr. Necati Aydin currently works as the director of the Nueroeconomics and Well-being Program at Florida State University. The program specializes in well-being studies both at individual and societal levels bringing experts from different subject matters to conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis of happiness related issues. Dr. Aydin received his bachelor’s degree in Public Finance, master’s degree in International Economics, and doctoral degrees in both Education and Economics. He has been working as a researcher since 2002. He has conducted research in variety of topics including local and state government budget analysis, economic impact studies, tourism, higher education, virtual education, information technology, and Medicaid. Dr. Aydin has completed over thirty research projects; authored six, translated two, and co-authored three books; and published many peer-reviewed articles. He also writes op-ed articles in Zaman, the most widely circulated Turkish newspaper. He has written several articles and book chapters on happiness in Turkish and English for several years. One of his articles on happiness titled “the Struggle between Virtue vs. Decadence: The Struggle of Civilizations within the Global Village” was published in a book by Ashagate in England. The other one titled ` (Happiness) Crisis of Global Capitalism` was published in Turkish. Dr. Aydin currently works on a book project titled as “A Happiness Highway for Everyone”. Dr. Aydin is married with five children.

Moderator
Talat M.Othman
President of Grove Financial

Bio: Talat M. Othman is President of Grove Financial, Inc a financial consulting and investment firm and  chairman of AMANA Mutual Funds, Islamic growth and income funds.  He served on several corporate boards including Bank One Wisconsin Corporation, PathoGenesis Corp., HartMarx Corp. Harken Energy, as well as the board of Governors and Directors and past Chairman of ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee and the Dean’s Council of Harvard Universities Kennedy School of Government. Among the honors received were: Illinois Governor proclaiming November 1, 1997 as Talat M. Othman Day in Illinois and an Honorary Doctorate from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Shot Events

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Abstract: A way of getting at what’s wrong with many interfaith approaches, which in effect say “if I can get you to believe as little as I do and act as casually as I do, we will tolerate each other and get along well,” whereas in “hospitality” both (or more) parties keep to the integrity of their faith and commitments and reach from the heart of one to the heart of the other.

Speaker
Martin E. Marty
Professor Emeritus at the
University of Chicago

Bio: The Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the  University of Chicago, where he taught chiefly in the Divinity School for 35 years and where the Martin Marty Center has since been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors.

• Columnist for the Christian Century, on whose staff he has served since 1956 and in which his “M.E.M.O” column appears.
• Editor of the semimonthly Context, a newsletter on religion and culture, since 1969.
• Weekly contributor to Sightings, a biweekly, electronic editorial published by the Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School
• Lutheran pastor, ordained in 1952. He served parishes in the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago for a decade before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1963.
• Author of more than 50 books. Among the books Marty has written are Righteous Empire, for which he won the National Book Award; the three-volume Modern American Religion; The One and the Many: America’s Search for the Common Good; and, with photographer Micah Marty, Places Along the Way; Our Hope for Years to Come; The Promise of Winter; and When True Simplicity Is Gained. His Martin Luther in the “Penguin Lives” series was published in February 2004.
• Author of numerous essays, articles, papers, chapters, and forewords. Marty has authored more than 5,000 articles; for specific listings, see the annual volumes of Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, where hundreds of Marty’s articles are indexed; others are accessible on the web. (For a list of writings since 1998, see Recent Writings.)
• Past president and director of several associations, institutions, and projects. Marty was president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association. He also has served on two U.S. Presidential Commissions and was director of both the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago. He has served St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, since 1988 as Regent, Board Chair, Interim President in late 2000, and now as Senior Regent. (The Martin Marty Chair at the college is designed to advance its religious program and connections.) He was the founding president of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics and is now the George B. Caldwell Senior-Scholar-in-Residence there.Recipient of numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Award, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools, and the Order of Lincoln Medallion (Illinois’ top honor). Marty is an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society and of the Society of American Historians, an elected fellow of the American Philosophical Society, and is the Mohandas M. K. Gandhi Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. Marty has received 75 honorary doctorates.

Moderator/Discussant

Dr. Zaher Sahloul
Chair, The Council of Islamic
Organizations of
Greater Chicago (CIOGC)

Bio: Dr. Sahloul served at different levels in governing many local nonprofit religious, civic, professional and medical organizations.

Dr. Sahloul is active at the Interfaith level with Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Jewish faith groups. He serves at the National Advisory Board of Bernadin Center of the Catholic Theological Union, and at the Board of advisers of the Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

At the Professional level, Dr. Sahloul is a physician at Advocate Christ medical center. He is a founder of the Syrian American medical society, Midwest chapter and its Foundation.

He wrote several articles about about Muslims and Civic Life, Mosques, leadership, Environment, civic engagement and activism from an Islamic perspective. He is married with three children.

Event Shots

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Speaker
Prof. M. Cherif Bassiouni
Professor of Law, DePaul University

Bio: His legal education was in Egypt, France, Switzerland and the United States where he received the following degrees: LL.B. University of Cairo; J.D. Indiana University; LL.M. John Marshall Law School; S.J.D. George Washington University. In addition, he received several honorary degrees from: Catholic Theological Union, USA (Doctor of Humane Letters) (2009); National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland (LL.D.) (2001); Niagara University, USA (LL.D.) (1997); Docteur d’Etat en Droit honoris causa, University of Pau, France (1986); Dottore in Giurisprudenza honoris causa, University of Torino, Italy (1981).

He is the author of 32 and editor of 47 books on International Criminal Law, Comparative Criminal Law, Human Rights, and U.S. Criminal Law; and the author of 240 articles published in law journals and books in the U.S. and other countries. These publications have been written in Arabic, English, French, Italian and Spanish. Some of them have been cited by the International Court of Justice; the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY); the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR); the United States Supreme Court; the United States Circuit and Federal District Courts and various State Supreme Courts. Several of his works have been translated into: Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Between 1975-2005, he served in the following United Nations positions: Independent Expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Commission (2004-05); Independent Expert on The Rights to Restitution, Compensation and Rehabilitation for Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1998-2000); Chairman, Drafting Committee, United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (1998); Vice-Chairman, General Assembly’s Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (1996-98); Vice-Chairman, General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (1995); Chairman of the United Nations Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council 780 (1992) to Investigate Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Former Yugoslavia (1993-94), and the Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Gathering and Analysis of the Facts (1992-1993); Consultant to the Sixth and Seventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention (1980 and 1985); Consultant to the Committee on Southern African, Commission on Human Rights (1980-81); Co-chairman of the Independent Committee of Experts on drafting the Convention on the Prevention and Suppression of Torture (1978); Honorary Vice-President, Fifth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention (1975).

He also served, between 1973-1980, as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of State and Justice on projects relating to international traffic in drugs (1973) and international control of terrorism (1975 and 1978-79) and as a consultant to the Department of State on the defense of the U.S. hostages in Iran (1979-80).

Among the distinctions and awards he received are: Nomination to the Nobel Peace Price (1999); Special Award of the Council of Europe (1990); Defender of Democracy Award, Parliamentarians for Global Action (1998); the Adlai Stevenson Award of the United Nations Association (1993); the Saint Vincent DePaul Humanitarian Award (DePaul University 2000); the Hague Prize for International Law (2007).

He received the following medals from Austria, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy and the United States: Order of Merit of the Republic, Italy (Cavaliere di Gran Croce) (2006); Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Republic of France (Commander) (2006); Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany (2003); Legion d’Honneur (Officier), France (2003); Order of Lincoln, Illinois, USA (2001); Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic (1990); Order of Scientific Merit (First Class), Egypt (1984); Order of Merit of the Republic, Italy (Grand’Ufficiale) (1977); Order of Merit of the Republic, Italy, (Commendatore) (1976); Order of Military Valor, Egypt (1956).

Moderator
Dr Mohammad Wasiullah Khan
Founder and Chancellor of East-West University

Bio: Dr Mohammad Wasiullah (Wasi) Khan, a Pakistani American, got his M.A. and M.Ed.Honors degrees from Punjab University and Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Indiana University. He has been a teacher and administrator in Pakistan before he came to Berkeley, California in the 1970’s. Later he was an educational researcher in Indiana and became Academic Dean in a minority college in Chicago. In November, 1978, he convened a Planning Group to establish a new, multi-cultural institution of higher learning in Chicago. After requisite approvals from the state and federal agencies, East-West University as a not-for-profit institution started operations in September, 1980 (1400 Anno Hegira) offering Bachelor’s and Associate degrees in several professional areas. Twenty six classes of graduates have come out since the University achieved accreditation in 1983. For many years, it has been listed in “America’s Best Colleges” guide of the weekly U.S. News and World Report. The University has grown large with ove  1200 students and more than $14 million budget. As founder-chancellor of the University, Dr. Khan and the board of trustees have envisioned graduate programs and other campuses of the University in the next decade. Dr Khan has been diligently involved in several Pakistani/Muslim organizations. In 1990, he was one of the eleven members of an ad-hoc committee which established the Pakistani- American Congress and with four other members drafted its constitution. He served as vice-president (1995-1997), general secretary (1997-2001), and senior vicepresident (2001-2003) and as president (2005-2007) of the Congress. He was elected as chairman of the Indus Society, Chicago for 2002-2004 term. He has also been active in the Association of Muslim Social Scientists and worked with the late Dr Ismail Ral-Faruqi. Dr Khan has to his credit many published articles and a book which he edited and contributed an extensive introduction to: Education & Society in the Muslim World, published by Hodder and Stoughton, Kent, U.K

Event Shots

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]