We are pleased to announce that Maria Dakake, associate professor in religious studies, and co-investigator Martin Nguyen of Fairfield University, in partnership with Mason's Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, have just been awarded a generous $234K+ grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a new project, “Islamic Moral Theology in Conversation with the Future” (IMTF).
IMTF will bring together Muslim scholars and thinkers from around the world to explore the relevance of Islamic moral and ethical thinking to some of the global ethical challenges in the 21st century. Project scholars will explore how Muslim conceptions of morality and the cultivation of virtue at both the individual and communal level can contribute to a cross-cultural conversation about how we address contemporary issues, from income inequality and unsustainable consumerism; to social media platforms that enhance, but sometimes also distort, our human connections; to the need to create physical spaces that reflect the value of local community and foster a greater sense of responsibility to our neighbors.
The scholarly contributions to the project will be published on the Ali Vural Ak Center’s open-access scholarship platform, The Maydan, and eventually uploaded to an online portal that will allow the scholarly conversation around these topics to continue beyond the two-year grant period. Look for the initial contributions from project leaders and IMTF affiliated scholars to begin running in The Maydan in October!
November 16, 2021
