Events Sponsored by the Muslim Studies Endowment

7pm November 11, 2025

Pharmacy Building 204

Virtue and ethics in Islam are rooted in the Qur’an and the way (or wont) of the Prophet Muhammad, emphasizing the cultivation of moral character as both a spiritual and social duty. Ethical behavior is not merely adherence to rules but the refinement of the soul toward God-consciousness. Core virtues include sincerity, justice, compassion, humility, patience, gratitude, and trust in God. Muslim thinkers such as al-Ghazālī integrated Qur’anic principles with philosophical virtue theory, arguing that moral excellence arises from harmonizing the soul’s faculties under divine guidance. Thus, Islamic virtue ethics views moral life as a continuous journey of inner purification and balanced action, where the good is defined by proximity to God and the perfection of one’s moral disposition.

Atif Khalil is a scholar of Islamic mysticism and ethics, focusing on Sufism, virtue ethics in the Islamic tradition, and the thought of Ibn Arabi. He has published several books and articles, possesses a wide teaching portfolio in religion and Islamic thought, and an academic training grounded in North America with immersive study in the Arab world. His work also includes engagement in interfaith dialogue and comparative mysticism, reflecting both disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary breadth.

Co-Sponsored by the Philosophy & Religious Studies Department, the Muslim Studies Endowment, and the Muslim Student Association.

7pm Thursday  October 16, 2025

Jordan Hall 141

There are over 2 billion Muslims worldwide, making Islam the second-largest religion after Christianity. As religious and social institutions, the Mosque remains central to the culture of practicing faith for Muslim communities around the world. In its simplest form, a mosque is a place of prayer, for the cultivation of “taqwa” (تقوی), a state of spiritual mindfulness, to put to practice ethical tenets of the faith – individually and collectively. Mosques as the ultimate sites of Islamic community, are richly diverse in the expressions of cultural enactment of spirituality, and as architectures of faith. The Mosque offers a multi-modal site for an anthropological consideration of the cultural heterogeneity in the Muslim world. This talk explores the importance of the Mosque for enacting the “art of piety” – through intersection of the aesthetics of a physical form with a socio-cultural place of worship.

Co-Sponsored by the Philosophy & Religious Studies Department, The Muslim Studies Endowment, and the Muslim Student Association.

7pm Tuesday September 9, 2025

Jordan Hall 141

Rustom will explore the relationship between Islam and the Wisdom Literature that the Islamic world produced. He will do this in Arabic and Persian literature. He will also address the importance of this literature in the modern world and what kind of role this type of literature played in the Western world in the last few centuries. Mohammed Rustom is a Canadian Islamic studies scholar. He is professor of Islamic thought at Carleton University and Executive Director of the Tokat Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies. His research interests include Arabic and Persian Sufi literature, Islamic philosophy, Qur’anic exegesis, translation theory, and cross-cultural philosophy.  

Co-Sponsored by the Philosophy & Religious Studies Department, The Muslim Studies Endowment, and the Muslim Student Association.

7pm Thursday March 20, 2025

Pharmacy Building 204

The study of philosophy in the Islamic world has become one of the larger subfields of Islamic Studies in the last century. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, translations of Arabic philosophical texts, works of the earliest Muslim philosophers, and studies on their thought have been written. With this said, there have been several questions and issues within the study of Islamic Philosophy that remain unresolved. In order to answer these questions, we must revisit how fundamental issues in the Greek world influenced Islamic Philosophical thought. This talk will examine the nature of “Islamic Philosophy,” “historical origins of Islamic Philosophy,” and whether “Islamic Philosophy is Mystical or Not?

Shalahudin Kafrawi, Ph.D., is currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of Peace Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. His research and thought focuses on Islamic Philosophy, Commentaries and Exegesis of the Qurʾān, Religious Extremism, and Religious, Peace and Conflict.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Muslim Studies Endowment.

View the recording here.

5pm Tuesday March 18, 2025

Pharmacy Building 204

The issue of women’s rights in Islam has been a contentious area of discussions and intense debates both in the Muslim world and in the West. One the one hand, Muslim scholars have strictly interpreted verses of the Qurʾān and ḥadīth to emphasize “traditional” roles that women should play in society. More liberal scholars in the East and West have tried to interpret the Qurʾān, ḥadīth, and other religious sources to empower women and give them a larger place in society. Etin Anwar will address the role of women throughout the history of Islam, and their larger place in the contemporary world.

Etin Anwar, Ph.D. is currently Chair of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has edited works such as The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality: Western, Islamic, and African Perspectives, A Genealogy of Islamic Feminism: Pattern and Change in Indonesia, and Gender and Self in Islam. She is currently the chair of the Society Unit and Religion in Southeast Asia Unit at the American Academy of Religion.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, the Muslim Studies Endowment, and the Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.

View the recording here.

7pm Thursday January 30, 2025

Gallahue Hall 104

The importance of history in the Islamic world cannot be overstated. The importance of history can be found in the Qurʾān itself to chronicles imported from the Jewish world. The Islamic world is not only known for preserving history but also producing the earliest critiques of the study of history. Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) was known for being one of the first historiographers who critically examined the nature of history and the authors behind some of the most important historical Arabic chronicles. Ahmed Hassan (PhD Candidate at Indiana University) is a historian of Islamic Studies.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Muslim Studies Endowment.

View the recording here.

7pm Tuesday November 5, 2024

Gallahue Hall 104

Shīʾite Islam is the second largest branch of Islam. It consists of 15-25% of the Muslim population. However, its small number does not at all reflect the impact it is had on the larger Muslim world. From its inception, Shīʾite Muslims have seen themselves as the defenders of the oppressed. Unlike other world religions, the question of divisions of Islam does not only have to do with issues of politics and anthropology. Instead, Shīʾite Islam is born out of theological dispute which occurred at the time of the death of the Prophet Muhammad. An essential question which Dr. Khetia will address is whether the first division of the Muslim community came out of the question of who should succeed the Prophet or what kind of entity should have succeeded the Prophet? Dr. Khetia traces the importance of this question back to the seventh century and addresses how this question still informs Shīʾite Muslims today. Khetia will address what kind of role Shīʾism plays in the larger Muslim world and wider religious discourses.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

View the recording here.

7pm Tuesday October 15, 2024

Gallahue Hall 104

Every religion has an esoteric path associated with it. For example, many groups of Christianity possess a monastic tradition. Judaism has the Kabbalah. Within the Islamic tradition, one mystical tradition is Sufism. The path of Sufism consists of esoteric litanies, prayers, and visitation of shrines. Furthermore, most Sufis also take on a guide or a teacher who claims that they could guide one back to God. Dr. Shobhana Xavier addresses why Sufism is an important component in Islam, and how Sufis perceive their own tradition in light of the larger Islamic world. Furthermore, she addresses the role of love and knowledge within the Sufi tradition.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

View the recording here.

7pm Wednesday September 18, 2024

Pharmacy Building 103

Sunni Islam comprises of the majority of the population of the Muslim population. The word “Sunni” is a shortened form of the phrase “The People of the ‘Way’ and the Community” (ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah). Sunnis interpret the phrase “the way” as a way of giving homage to the way of the Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions, and an agreed upon way to regulate the religion of Islam from legal, spiritual, and ethical perspectives. Imām Anisse will speak to us about the development of these schools and how they play an important role in the Islamic world today.

View the recording here.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment, the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and The Compass Center.

7pm Thursday September 12, 2024

Jordan Hall – Room 141

Cyrus Ali Zargar will unravel the complexities of this question by examining the monumental significance of the Quran in the history of Islam. He will explore the rise of Islamic theology as a dialectic, not only among Muslims but also in dialogue with other monotheists in Western Asia and North Africa, where questions about Quranic revelation took center stage. The theme of revelation influences every branch of learning valued by Muslims, as well as the arts they have cultivated over the centuries, including calligraphy, literature, and architecture. Of particular importance are practices centered on the love of God and the admiration for the beauty within God’s creation. Islamic art, literature, and ritual emphasize God’s presence in all things, a theme that continues to resonate in Muslim cultural expressions. Drawing from his research on Sufism, aesthetics, and Islamic virtue ethics, Zargar approaches the question, “What is Islam?” in a uniquely interdisciplinary way.

View the recording here.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

7pm Tuesday February 13, 2024

Jordan Hall – Room 141

What is the difference between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, and what are their origins? How do the two groups relate, and why do their differences lead on occasion to tensions or even conflict? How do their differences inform contemporary politics in the Middle East? Dr. Ibrahim Kazerooni, Imam at the Islamic Center of America (Dearborn, Michigan), joins us to speak on these and related topics.

View the recording here.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

Tuesday November 7, 2023

Jordan Hall Room 141

Guantánamo-the-prison was established in January 2002 to detain Muslim males captured in the US “war on terror.” The process that went into its creation revealed a preexisting but unacknowledged weakness in the rule of law and its continued existence more than two decades on actively degrades the universal principle of humanity. Guantánamo has acquired an international significance that far exceeds its physical presence on the US naval base in Cuba.

View the recording here.

Sponsored by the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab and the Muslim Studies Endowment

Monday November 6, 2023      The Mauritian  – Film Screening and Q&A with Dr. Lisa Hajjar – Kan-Kan Cinema, Indianapolis

Part of the Butler Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies Movie Series

Monday, October 30 2023

Shelton Auditorium

This seminar is a collaborative effort with the Muslim Student Association to bring the Islamic and African Studies scholar Dr. Rudolph “Butch” Ware II. He will provide knowledge and insight on his research of West African Muslim communities of Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania that serve as the basis for his book The Walking Qur’an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa.

View the recording here.

Sponsored by the Center for Faith and Vocation in partnership with the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement 

Thursday March 30, 2023 –  Lecture –  “Political Islam in Action”; 

Friday March 31, 2023  – Faculty workshop on Islam/Muslims, gender and sexuality

Thursday November 3, 2022 –  Lecture  “Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American West”

Co-Sponsored by the department of History, Anthropology & Classics

August 20, 2021 performance for faculty and staff;  October 11, 2021 with College of Communication students

Negin Farsad is a comedian, writer, actor, and director. Named one of the 10 Best Feminist Comedians by Paper Magazine, Negin Farsad was selected as a TedFellow for her work in social justice comedy. She is the author of How to Make White People Laugh, which was nominated for the Thurber Prize for Humor and recommend by Oprah Magazine. Additionally, she is the host of Fake the Nation, a political comedy podcast, and is a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. She is also the director and producer of The Muslims Are Coming!

Co-Sponsored with the Office of the Provost

October 26, 2021 – As part of the Religion and Global Affairs Seminar

Author Marcia Inhorn is the William K. Lanman Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs in the Department of Anthropology and MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. She also chairs the Council on Middle East Studies. Inhorn specializes in Middle Eastern gender, religion, and reproductive health issues, and is the author of six books on the subject.

Co-Sponsored with the Center of Faith and Vocation and the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department

November 9, 2021

G. Willow Wilson is an American comics writer, prose author, essayist, and journalist. Her debut graphic novel Cairo, with art by M.K. Perker, was named one of the best graphic novels of 2007 by Publishers Weekly and Comics Worth Reading. Additionally, the paperback edition of Cairo was named as one of 2009’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens by the American Library Association. Recognized globally, Wilson has also written for some comic book series, such as The X-Men, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Additionally, she has published The Butterfly Mosque (2010), Alif the Unseen (2012), and The Bird King (2019). Wilson’s work has been translated into over a dozen languages.

Co-Sponsored with the Visiting Writers Series

February 15, 2022 – As part of the Religion and Global Affairs Seminar

Juliane Hammer is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her specialization includes the study of gender and sexuality in Muslim societies and communities, and race and gender in US Muslim communities. She has written and edited six books, including Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence (Princeton University Press, 2019).

Co-Sponsored with the Center of Faith and Vocation and the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department

April 12, 2022 – A Conversation between Martin Nguyen and Brent Hege

Dr. Martin Nguyen is a professor at Fairfield University, in which he teaches classes on Islam. He obtained his Master of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School and then obtained his PhD from Harvard’s University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Prof. Nguyen is also the author of several books, including his most recent book Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).

Brent Hege is a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classics at Butler University. In 2017, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching from Butler’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He was appointed Center of Faith and Vocation (CFV) Scholar in Residence in 2017, which included working with the CFV Scholars on issues of interfaith engagement and vocational discernment. In 2020, Prof. Hege was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Religion and currently holds affiliate faculty status in the programs of Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Science, Technology, and Environmental Studies. He has been teaching at Butler since 2008.

Watch the conversation

March 25, 2022  – Islamic Illuminations (campus and community)

March 26, 2022 – Introduction to Illuminations Workshop

Islamic Illumination, tazhib, is an art practiced in many parts of the Muslim world for over a millennium. Tazhib is derived from zahab, which means gold in Arabic. Tazhib was primarily used to decorate manuscripts, a practice which still continues today in parts of the Islamic world. Nowadays, tazhib is usually practiced in conjunction with calligraphy. Illuminators use small brushes to create a wide variety of motifs from crushed gold, gouache, watercolor, and natural pigments. In this workshop, students will be introduced to the material and techniques of this traditional art.

Artist Behnaz Karjoo was born in Tehran, Iran, but later moved to the United States at a young age. She studied jewelry design and photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Karjoo would later pursue training in the traditional Islamic art, as she was influenced by her early memories of Iranian mosque architecture, illumination, and calligraphy.

Co-Sponsored with the Jordan College of the Arts

April 6, 2021

Dr. amina wadud is a world-renowned scholar and activist with a focus on Islam, justice, gender and sexuality. This talk will provide historical background, development and epistemology to highlight the most dynamic aspect of Islamic reform, the reform of gender as a knowledge building project achieving more inclusive ethics, culture and policies.

Watch Dr. amina wadud’s talk

Co-Sponsored with the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement; and the Race, Gender, and Sexual Studies Program

February 23, 2021

Dr. Nabil Echchaibi, Associate Director of the Center for Media, Religion & Culture at the University of Colorado-Boulder, uses examples from popular culture and art to discuss how to speak as Muslims and of Muslims away from the paranoia of terror and the politics of suspicion imposed by demands of strategic transparency.

Watch Dr. Nabil Echchaibi’s discussion

Co-Sponsored with the College of Communication.

October 23, 2019

Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American rapper/poet living in Los Angeles. Known for his unique blend of Hip-Hop and Arabic poetry, he is featured on prominent world news outlets, lectured at a number of prestigious academic institutions, collaborated with major museums and cultural organizations, and helped raise millions of dollars for various humanitarian relief groups. A graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, he has carved a distinct path for himself as a thoughtful entertainer/activist able to speak to a multitude of relevant issues and diverse global audiences over the course of his decade-long career.

Co-sponsored with Global and Historical Studies and the Center for Faith and Vocation

October 29, 2019 – As part of the Religion and Global Affairs Seminar

Many of America’s prisoners have embraced Islam while incarcerated, and Muslims have also been active in caring for the social and religious needs of ex-offenders. In this session of the Center for Faith and Vocation’s Seminar on Religion and Global Affairs, we explored what Islam has to say and what Muslims are doing about incarceration in America with guests from Chicago’s Interfaith Muslim Action Network, Dr. Harriet Lewis and Nasir Blackwell, and experts engaged in similar work locally, Kareem Bilal and Judge David Shaheed.

Watch video recording

Co-sponsored with the Center for Faith and Vocation; the NEH/Frederic M. Ayres Fund; the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab; and the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classics

March 2, 2020

An evening with Leila Fadel, National Correspondent on the race, identity and culture beat for National Public Radio.

Co-sponsored by Butler University’s Muslim Studies Endowment, The Global and Historical Studies Program, College of Communication, and Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies

Watch Leila Fadel’s talk