Event Title
Biographies
BEVERLY MORAN
Professor of Law and Sociology, Vanderbilt University Law School
Professor Beverly Moran is a leading tax scholar whose work includes a path-breaking analysis of the disparate impact of the federal tax code on blacks and an innovative text on the taxation of charities and other exempt organizations. Professor Moran is a member of the American Bar Association Initiative on the Middle East and North Africa and has won a number of teaching awards and grants, including a Fulbright award, a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and a grant from the Ford Foundation. She has served on the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools, the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers, and as the first director of the Vanderbilt University Center for the Americas. Before joining Vanderbilt’s law faculty, Professor Moran taught at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she directed the Center on Law and Africa. She began her academic career on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Professor Moran has been a visiting professor at the University of Colorado, the University of Kentucky College of Law, Michigan State University, the University of Asmara in Eritrea, the People's University in Beijing, the Peking University, and the University of Giessen in Germany.
RAHIMJON ABDUGAFUROV
P.h.D., Candidate, Emory University
Rahimjon Abdugafurov is from Uzbekistan, one of the Central Asian countries. He is a doctorate student at the Islamic Civilizations Studies Program of Emory University. His overarching research interest is on the treatment of non-Muslims by Muslim scholars in fields such as Islamic Mysticism, Law, Philosophy and Theology. The current co-authored presentation with Professor Beverly Moran touches upon the aspect of Mr. Abdugafruov’s research interest, i.e. the treatment of non-Muslims, and understanding the concept of jihad through fatwas or Islamic legal opinions.
Mr. Abdugafurov’s doctoral dissertation is on the works done by ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili (1365-1422), a Muslim humanist, theologian, and Sufi. Al-Jili is one of the Muslim scholars who breaks up with the traditional legal and theological interpretations of Islam about non-Muslims. For Al-Jili, there is no difference between a Muslim and non-Muslim as they both worship the same God and fulfill his commands. Al-Jili’s work is important from a theological point of view as well. He treats all humans through religious humanism in which he ties everyone to Adam, the first human. He proves all his views through the Qur’anic verses and Prophetic traditions.
Mr. Abdugafurov holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Wyoming (2013), a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Vanderbilt University (2004), and a five-year higher education diploma from Namangan State University (1998), Namangan, Uzbekistan.
HAIDER ALA HAMOUDI
Associate Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Professor Hamoudi received his B.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993. He was both a member of the Physics Honor Society, Sigma Pi Sigma, and a Burchard Scholar for Excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 1996, Professor Hamoudi received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Constance Baker Motley in the Southern District of New York and then worked as an Associate at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton until 2003. Although not exclusively, Professor Hamoudi’s scholarship particularly focuses on Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, particularly, pertaining to matters of commerce. He has written for numerous law reviews, spoken at conferences in distinguished academic and practitioner venues such as Yale University, Harvard University, Columbia University, the American Association of Law Schools and the New York City Bar Association, and given interviews to various news organizations including The New York Times, Forbes.com, Slate.com, the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour Online and the New York Law Journal. In 2009, the American Society of Comparative Law awarded Professor Hamoudi the Hessel Yntema prizefor the best article produced in the American Journal of Comparative Law the previous year by an author under the age of 40.
SAHAR F. AZIZ
Associate Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law
Sahar F. Aziz is an associate professor at Texas A&M University School of Law where she teaches national security, civil rights, and Middle East law. Professor Aziz served as a senior policy advisor for the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where she worked on law and policy at the intersection of national security and civil rights. Prior to joining DHS, Professor Aziz was an associate at Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll PLLP in Washington, D.C. where she litigated class action civil rights lawsuits alleging a nationwide pattern and practice of gender discrimination in pay and promotion. Professor Aziz clerked for the Honorable Andre M. Davis on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.Professor Aziz’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of national security and civil rights law with a focus on the post-9/11 era. Professor Aziz incorporates critical race theory into her examination of the disparate impact of national security laws and policy on ethnic, racial, and religious minority groups in the United States. Professor Aziz also writes on rule of law and democracy in Egypt with a particular focus on judicial independence, election laws, and comparative counterterrorism.
KARIMA BENNOUNE
Professor of Law, University of California Davis School of Law
Karima Bennoune is a professor of International Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. In the summer of 2015, she taught in the Oxford University/George Washington University School of Law human rights program. She is a former legal advisor for Amnesty International and a former member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. Currently, Bennoune sits on the board of the network of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). She has appeared repeatedly on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, and has made frequent appearances on MSNBC, including on All In With Chris Hayes, after the Paris attacks. Her recent book, “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism,” which details local struggles against extremism, is based on 300 interviews with people of Muslim heritage from 30 countries. It won the 2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. The related TED talk, “When people of Muslim heritage challenge fundamentalism,” has received over 1.3 million views. For more information about her work, please visit www.karimabennoune.com.
Location
Moderator: Noah Weisbord, Associate Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law
Start Date
23-10-2015 9:10 AM
End Date
23-10-2015 10:40 AM
Description
This panel will explore topics of the Holy Wars. Associate Professor Haider Ala Hamoudi will speak about Muslim expansionism and its compatibility with modern notions of international relations and how “lone wolf” terrorism bears little resemblance to Islam’s history. Associate Professor Sahar F. Aziz explores how the religion and race of Muslims in America has been closely intertwined and has created the “racial muslim,” which exposes Muslims to discrimination with no legal recourse or civil rights protection. Also, Professor Beverly I. Moran and Mr. Rahimjon Abdugafurov will speak on whether Muslims are required to engage in Holy War.
Included in
First Session: Holy Wars
Moderator: Noah Weisbord, Associate Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law
This panel will explore topics of the Holy Wars. Associate Professor Haider Ala Hamoudi will speak about Muslim expansionism and its compatibility with modern notions of international relations and how “lone wolf” terrorism bears little resemblance to Islam’s history. Associate Professor Sahar F. Aziz explores how the religion and race of Muslims in America has been closely intertwined and has created the “racial muslim,” which exposes Muslims to discrimination with no legal recourse or civil rights protection. Also, Professor Beverly I. Moran and Mr. Rahimjon Abdugafurov will speak on whether Muslims are required to engage in Holy War.