Abdal Hakim Jackson – My Body, This Paper, This Fire: The Future of Violence in Islam

Abdal Hakim JacksonJune 14, 20130 comments

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Extremism & Radicalism Contemporary Muslim Thought Islamic History Religion & Politics Islamic Law Fiqh Islam & the West Jihad

About this lecture

In this lecture, Professor Sherman Jackson (Abdul Hakim Jackson) of USC examines the complex relationship between Islam and violence, focusing on the institution of jihad and how its meaning has evolved — and must continue to evolve — in light of changing historical realities. Drawing on classical jurists like Ibn Rushd, contemporary scholars like Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and the remarkable self-critique of Egypt's al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, he argues that a "frozen historical consciousness" shared by both Western alarmists and Muslim radicals obscures the genuinely negotiated, context-dependent nature of jihad within the Islamic legal tradition. The lecture makes a compelling case that authentic, deeply religious engagement with Sharia — not secularization — is the most credible path toward reducing the role of violence in the Muslim world.

Abdal Hakim Jackson

Dr Abd al-Hakim Jackson is a respected scholar and one of the foremost authorities on Shariah and Islam in America. Dr. Jackson is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Visiting Professor of Law and Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). Dr. Jackson has authored several books including On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s Faysal al-Tafriqa (Oxford, 2002), the controversial Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection (Oxford, 2005) and most recently Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering (Oxford, 2009). Dr. Jackson received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) in 1991 and has taught at several institutions including the University of Texas (Austin, TX), Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) and Wayne State University (Detroit, MI). Dr. Jackson will join the faculty of the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) in 2011. Dr. Jackson has served as the Executive Director of the Center of Arabic Study Abroad (Cairo, Egypt). Dr. Jackson is a co-founder, Core Scholar, and member of the Board of Trustees of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM), an academic institution where scholars, professionals, activists, artists, writers, and community leaders come together to develop strategies for the future of Islam in the modern world. Dr. Jackson specializes in teaching Additionally, Dr. Jackson is a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America, form Presdient of the Shari’ah Scholars’ Association of North America (SSANA) and a past trustee of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). He has contributed to several publications including Washington Post-Newsweek blog, On Faith, and the Huffington Post. Dr. Jackson is listed by the Religion Newsriters Foundation’s ReligionLink as among the top ten experts on Islam in America and was named among the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman, Jordan and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

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