THE CONFERENCE WAS HELD SHERATON HOTEL, HARTFORD, CT
ON SATURDAY 17TH OCTOBER
Agenda of the Conference was:
The place of Imam Ali (on him be peace) In Muslim Thought and History. A number of speakers, all experienced and learned academics from various educational institutions, attended and spoke on the various aspects of The Life and faith, Commitment, Justice, Divine knowledge and unmatched Bravery of the Imam. These and other virtues of Imam ‘Ali were discussed in a number of presentations made by the speakers. Here is a brief description and review of the presentations:
1. Maulana Syed Sadiq Moosvi spoke on the Nahjul-Balagha.
Maulana’s presentation was in Arabic. It was translated into English intermittently by Ghassan al-Shakiel.
a) Sayyed Sadiq Mosavi's Research (Tamam Nahjul Balagah)
b) Sayyed Sadiq Mosavi's Speech
c) Sayyed Sadiq Mosavi's Research at Yale
2. Prof. Maria Dakake, a Ph.D. from Princeton University, who teaches Islamic studies at George Mason University, spoke on the concept of Valayat and Imam Ali (pbuh).
3. Prof. Bahar Bastani, a professor of medicine at St. Louis, spoke on Imam Ali (pbuh) and Rational Wisdom.
4. Ms. Najah Bazi spoke on Imam Ali (pbuh) and Social Justice
5. Prof. Yahya Michot, a professor at the Hartford Seminary, spoke on Imam Ali (pbuh) in Sunni tradition
6. Prof. Mahmoud Ayub, professor emeritus of Temple University and currently at the Hartford Seminary, spoke on Imam Ali (pbuh) and Muslim Unity
7. Prof. Sumaiya Hamdani, also a Ph.D. from Princeton University spoke about Imam Ali (pbuh) in the Ismaili tradition
8. Abdolkarim Soroush, an Islamic philosopher specializing in mysticism, spoke on Imam Ali and Irfan
(Divine knowledge).
The program began early in the morning at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast. The all-day program was divided in four sessions of roughly 90 to 120 minutes each, with coffee breaks and a lunch break.
The overall management of the conference was done by Prof. Hasan Abbas of Harvard. Each session had an individual moderator who managed the time of the speakers and fielded the questions at the end of each session.
The conference was very well organized and very tightly managed. It began on the scheduled time and ended on the scheduled time. If a session was delayed for some reason, most of the speakers cooperated in bringing the proceedings back on time.
The conference was organized by the initiative of the Jafaria Association of Connecticut and with the additional inclusive efforts and support of the following organizations:
i. Jafaria Association of Connecticut
ii. The Hartford Seminary
iii. Islamic Institute of Ahl’l Bayt
iv. Alavi Foundation of NY
v. Universal Muslim Association of America (UMAA)
vi. Al-Hakim Foundation, Al-Najaf, Iraq
vii. Al-Fatemah Islamic Center, Albany, NY
The highpoint of this conference was its pluralistic nature. There were Muslim speakers belonging to both the Shi’a as well as Sunni preferences and those belonging to the Christian and Judaic faiths.
The organizers had expected and catered for about 350 guests in the audience. However, the conference hall was fully packed during the sessions and actually people were seen standing by the walls in all sessions.
The Imam Ali Conference organizers have created a "Imam Ali Scholarship Fund" of $3,000.00 under the Jafaria Association of Connecticut. The organizer hasdecided to use the proceeds from this conference to award partial scholarships to two international students at Hartford Seminary who are in the Master of Arts program in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations.
See link of Hartford Seminary http://www.hartsem.edu/events/2009_Imam_Conference.html
The organizers are preparing a full text of all the papers presented, which will be published in book form. For advance booking of the publication(@ $25 each including shipping), please reserve your copies by calling :
+1 860-869 8662 or, Writing to: Jafaria Association of Connecticut, 1 Meriden Rd., Rockfall, CT. 06481
Please also visit the Imam Ali Conference website, and give us your feed back for the future events. http://www.imamaliconference.org
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Imam Ali Conference
Administrative Coordinator
Tel: 860-869 8662 Fax: 860-436-9370