Conflicting Arab Identities

A reflection on language, tradition and modernity in the Arab-Islamic world with Wael FAROUQ, Author and Professor at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center and Westminster Institute

In his new book, Egyptian scholar Wael Farouq addresses such issues as tribal culture in Arab identity, the invention of the Caliphate, and the history and the role of the fatwā, including an analysis of what European Muslims are looking for as shown in their requests for fatwās today. Throughout, he examines the deeper roots of the perilous predicament of Arab reason revealed in the contemporary clash between religious and modernist discourse.

Professor Farouq is currently professor of Arabic language, literature and culture at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Catholic University of Milan and at the Faculty of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures of the same university. Previously, he has been professor of Arabic language at the American University in Cairo (Egypt), Straus Fellow at the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice at the University of New York, and vice president of the Cairo Meeting.

An excerpt from his monograph Hats and Turbans: Adaptation to Modernity and Conventional Mind, (New York, 2012), can be read here.

The reception and event are free and open to the public. Registration kindly requested here.

About this Event

Date: Date: Wednesday, May 23rd 2018
Time: 7:30 pm
(preceded by reception @7:00 PM)
Location: Westminster Institute
6729 Curran Street
McLean, VA 22101
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About the Speaker

Wael Farouq
Professor at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

Video

Click here to watch.

Photos - click on image below