We echo this news, published by the Spanish newspaper Córdoba Hoy and disseminated by the Observatory of Islamophobia in the Media, about the creation of the Ibn Masarra Thought Forum, a new forum for reflection on contemporary Islamic theology.
The Islamic Board of Spain and the Las Fuentes Foundation have created “a new interdisciplinary project to offer a forum of contemporary Islamic thought and theology at the European level”, being the city of Cordoba the chosen one to be its headquarters, “for being an intellectual and historical reference of Islamic thought”.
In fact, according to information provided to Europa Press by the Islamic Board, the forum takes the name of the famous Cordovan Ibn Masarra, who was the first philosopher of Al-Andalus, and the intention of the forum that bears his name is to organize, throughout this year 2022, several working days on current issues and edit different publications to communicate their results.
In this regard and from the presidency of the Islamic Board, which has its headquarters in Cordoba and is in the hands of Maryam Isabel Romero, it has been pointed out that “thinking about Islamic theology today in the West is an urgent need and for this we offer a laboratory of ideas where to do it, which also raises a community project”.
This space is heir to the previous work of the Islamic Board in the development of contemporary Islamic thought from the historic magazine ‘VerdeIslam’, or the various conferences and seminars held throughout the 30 years of life of the organization.
Islamic theology and critical thought
“Thinking about Islamic theology today in the West is an urgent need and for this we offer a laboratory of ideas where to do it, which also raises a community project.”
Tradition and contemporaneity go hand in hand in the Ibn Masarra Forum of Islamic Thought, “to offer alternatives and intellectual production that responds to today’s world” and, for this reason, according to its creators, “it is open to Muslim thinkers, intellectuals, scientists and theologians of all nationalities and ages”.
The theological lines contemplated by the forum are those signed in the Amman Message in 2004, which recognizes the Islamic tradition and the legitimacy of diversity in its schools of thought. Its themes will include classical aspects of Islamic theology and contemporary reflections on Islam, as well as current issues such as science and bioethics, halal and Islamic economics.
Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.
In the words of the director of the forum and the vice-president of the Islamic Board, Antonio de Diego, this is “an opportunity, through critical thinking and intellectual work, to remove the populist and radical stigma that has hung over Islam in recent years”.
The new forum expects, throughout 2022, to organize several working days on current issues and different publications to communicate its results. The first activity is the open publication of the journal ‘Tafsira-Papeles de diálogo teológico’ (Tafsira-Papers of Theological Dialogue). The first issue, already available online and in open access in Spanish and English, deals with “a return to humanism in Islam, as a methodology to propose a new Islamic theology”.
Source: Córdoba Hoy
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