Islamic studies professor to speak, meet with students March 29-30
Dr. Hamid Mavani, assistant professor of religion and an Islamic studies scholar at Claremont Graduate University in southern California, will visit St. Thomas for events on March 29 and 30.
Here is the schedule:
- Mavani will speak on "The Morality of War in Twelver Shi'ite Islam" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29, in the auditorium of the John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts. This event, sponsored by UST's Muslim Christian Dialogue Center, is free and open to the public.
- UST's Muslim Christian Dialogue Center and the ACTC Middle Eastern Studies Minor will co-sponsor a pizza get-together with Mavani for UST students only from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, March 30, in Room 301, Aquinas Hall. Non-pork pizzas will be available. Reserve your spot. E-mail Pam Nice by Tuesday, March 27, so that the enough pizza can be ordered for all participants. Please indicate your dietary preferences. The time has been changed to accommodate students who want to attaend Jumua prayers that day.
Students are encouraged to attend the talk on March 29 if they plan to come to the luncheon discussion on March 30.
The lunch will be a chance to discuss Mavani's lecture with him personally and also to ask questions students might have about Shi'ism, which is increasingly in the news as Iraq descends into civil war and Iran becomes a major player in the Middle East.
Mavani has been active at the academic and community level in promoting interfaith dialogue, inter- and intra-Muslim dialogue, religious pluralism, civil society, democratic governance, reform in the Islamic legal tradition, gender and religion, and environmental ethics.
Mavani's primary fields of interest include Islamic legal reform, Muslims in America, Twelver Shi’ism, Qur’anic studies and contemporary developments in the Muslim world. He is working on a book dealing with the doctrine of temporal and spiritual authority and leadership (imamology) in Twelver Shi'ism.
