Tulane Hosts Symposium on Relations Between the U.S. and the Islamic World

Writer and Muslim reformer Hussein Ibish will be the keynote speaker at Tulane University on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the second annual symposium on relations between the United States and the Islamic world. This daylong series of events, sponsored by the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer, is free and open to the public. All events – lectures, poetry readings, music, art exhibitions and more -- will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall (Room 213) of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life. A free luncheon of Halal food, catered by Mona"s Café, will be served at 12:30 p.m.

The morning and afternoon sessions will feature academic panels on topics such as Islam and its popular misperceptions in the U.S., identity issues faced by Muslims Americans, women"s issues, and the problems associated with documenting history. Kamal Nawash, president of The Free Muslims Coalition, al-Husein N. Madhany, executive editor for Islamica Magazine, Sarwat Husain, president of the Council on American Islamic Relations-San Antonio, and Nadhira Al-Khalili, legal counsel for the Council on American Islamic Relations, are among the experts who will lead panels throughout the day.

At 4 p.m., Hussein Ibish will deliver the keynote address. A writer and advocate for Arab causes in the United States and a self-identified progressive Muslim working to reform Islam, Ibish is a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine and executive director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership.

At 5 p.m., a Majlis will be held, featuring Urdu poetry readings by Sarwat Husain, music, and informal conversation. Artwork by nineteen different artists, organized by local Muslim artist Haitham Eid, will be on display in the LBC foyer.

This symposium is sponsored in part by the Payson Center Graduate Student Association, the Office of the Provost, and the Margaret W. and Eamon M. Kelly Distinguished Chair in International Development.

For a full schedule of events, visit www.paysonislam.com