"Does Islam Have a Liberation Theology?"

The Annual Muslim Studies Conference will be held March 26-27 this year. The theme is "Does Islam have a liberation theology?" This event will be held on Zoom and registration is required.

View the agenda here.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

• Opening Remarks (9:40am EDT)
• Nareman Amin, Titus Awokuse, and Mohammad Khalil

• Panel 1: "Definitions and Delineations of Islamic Liberation Theology" (9:40-11:30am EDT) 
• Esra Akay Dag, “Can Islam Have a Liberation Theology? Methodological Insights from the Catholic Experience”
• Shadaab Rahemtulla, “The Prophet was an Entrepreneur': Unearthing Islamic Theologies of the Right"
• Celene Ibrahim, “Gender Justice and the Unfinished Project of Islamic Liberation Theology”

• Panel 2: "From Individual to Communal Liberation" (12:00-1:00pm EDT) 
• Haroon Bashir, “Slavery, Abolition and Liminal Spaces: Negotiating Authority and Liberation in Islamic Thought”
• Jawad Qureshi, “Theodicy instead of Liberation Theology? ʿAbdallah ibn ʿUmar (d. 73H/693CE) and the Fitnas of Early Islam”

•  Panel 3: "Malcolm X’s Legacy as a Liberation Theologian" (2:00-3:00pm EDT) 
• Martin Nguyen, “Malcolm X and the House of Pharaoh: Imagining a Theodicy and Ethics of Liberation in the American Muslim Present”
• Junaid Rana, “The Sigh of the Oppressed: 100 Years of the Black Radical Tradition and Islamic Liberation Theology”

• Keynote (3:00-4:15pm EDT)
• Ebrahim Moosa, “Beauty, Truth, and Justice in Muslim Liberation Theology”

Friday, March 27, 2026

• Panel 4: "Liberation on a Global Scale" (8:30-10:00am EDT) 
• Matthew Palombo, “Liberation Theology and the Somali Community: Decolonizing the Terrorism Discourse in Minnesota”
• Iskander Abbasi, “The Earth as New Margins: Towards an Islamic Ecoliberation Theology of the Earth”
• Shameer Modongal, “Reimagining Global Politics: Islamic Liberation Theology as Normative Framework”

• Panel 5: "Liberatory Lessons and Questions from the MENA Region" (10:30am-12:00pm EDT) 
• Nermeen Mouftah, “Predicaments of Orphan Care: Scenes of Muslim Obligation and Abandonment”
• Joseph Alagha, “Jihad al-Tabyyin and Jihad al-Lisan as a Liberation Theology”
• Yasmin Moll, “Coexistence as Revolutionary Ethos: The Social Life of Theology in (What Could Have Been) the ‘New Egypt’”

• Keynote (12:00-1:15pm EDT) 
• Sylvia Chan-Malik, “‘Eastern Sounds’: The Islamic Liberation Theology of Yusef Lateef”

• Closing Remarks (1:15-1:30pm EDT) 

Organized by the MSU Muslim Studies Program and supported by the Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact, Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality, Department of Religious Studies, and Asian Studies Center. Additional cosponsors include the African Studies Center, James Madison College, Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities, Center for European and Eurasian Studies, and the Middle East and North African Faculty and Staff Association