Time, location change for Friday's lunch with Islamic studies scholar
Hamid Mavani, assistant professor of religion and an Islamic studies scholar at Claremont Graduate University in southern California, is visiting St. Thomas for events today and tomorrow. Please note a time and location change on the lunch discussion with Mavani tomorrow.
Mavani will speak at the following events:
- Mavani will speak on "The Morality of War in Twelver Shi'ite Islam" at 7:30 p.m. today, 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 program 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 the Fireside Lounge of Koch Commons. Non-pork pizzas will be available. Reserve your spot. E-mail Pam Nice by today 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 attend Jumua prayers that day.
Students are encouraged to attend today's talk if they plan to come to the luncheon discussion on Friday.
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.
