Welcome to the ICAIR Conference 2024: God in the Modern World! Join us in Toronto, Canada, at the Jaffari Community Centre for a thought-provoking event that brings together a diverse group of scholars, theologians, and thinkers to explore the evolving role of faith in the 21st century.
In the contemporary world, the convergence of secularism, postmodernism, technological evolution, and scientific discovery poses significant challenges to traditional religious beliefs and our understanding of God. These challenges necessitate an ongoing, interdisciplinary dialogue to comprehend and articulate the role of God in an increasingly complex and diverse global landscape. Through a series of talks, panel discussions and workshops, delivered by a distinguished lineup of speakers from various fields, participants will engage in a deep examination of spirituality in a globalized, technologically advanced age, and its impact on religious practices and beliefs.
This conference promises to be a significant contribution to both academic and public discourse on religion and spirituality and aims to make scholarship accessible to the community. Accordingly, the conference is open to academics, students, and the general public.
Additionally, the conference will feature the announcement of the winners of ICAIR's photography competition, which encourages community members worldwide to creatively express their understanding of faith in the modern world through the lens of their cameras.
This is an in-person event. Registration is required. Please book a ticket for each session you would like to attend.
Saturday 20th April
09:00-09:30: Registration and Breakfast
09:30-10:30: Welcome
10:45-12:30: Panel 1 - Technologies of Faith
- Br Arifali Hirji - The Human, the Machine and the End of Times
- Aalima Razia Batool Najafi - Does technology pose a threat to faith?
- Prof Cyrus Ali Zargar - Inspired Wisdom and the Child Prodigy: Morality Beyond the Empirical in the Shiʿi Hagiographical Tradition
12:30-13:45: Lunch and Congregational Prayers
13:45-15:30: Panel 2 - Theology and History
- Br Habib Mazahir - From Ithnā ‘Ashariyyah to Western Academia: Twelver Reactions to Historical Studies of the Formation of Twelver Doctrine
- Dr Mostafa Movahedifar - From Historicity to Authoritativeness: Can academic methods of hadith dating inform Imāmī traditional scholarship?
- Shaykh Dr Murtadha Alidina - Reading the Qur'an in a Secular Age
- Prof Aun Hasan Ali - The Sanctuary of The Twelfth Imam in Hillah
15:30-16:00: Coffee Break
16:00-17:45: Panel 3 - Faith-Based Activism
- Shaykh Dr Mohammed Ali Ismail - Environmental Stewardship in the Qur’anic Narratives of Prophets
- Dr Mahjabeen Dhala - Faith-Based Activism: Muslim Women Raising Social Consciousness
- Sayyid Sulayman Hassan - Wilayah as a solution to the Ummah's Crisis: Imamah in Light of the Qur'an
17:45-18:15: Announcement of Photography Competition Winners
Sunday 21st April
09:00-09:30: Registration and Breakfast
09:30-10:30: Keynote Address by Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli
10:45-12:30: Panel 4 - God and Society
- Sayyid Ali Imran - Muslim School Teachers’ Perceptions of Tarbiyah & Implications for Professional Development
- Dr Hawraa al-Hassan - Ghurba and the Emergence of a Gendered Pious Consciousness in Popular Religious Novels by Arab Women
- Dr R. David Coolidge - Past History, Present Struggles: Devotional Theism in the 21st Century
12:30-13:45: Lunch and Congregational Prayers
13:45-15:30: Panel 5 - Theism and Atheism
- Prof Nebil Husayn - Atheists who love religion, anti-theism, and debates about God
- Shaykh Dr Saeid Sobhani - The Teleological Argument in the Modern World
- Shaykh Afzal Merali - Exploring Miracles from a Religious Perspective: Navigating Between the Supernatural and Suprarational
15:30-16:00: Coffee Break
16:00-17:45: Panel 6 - Paths to God
- Dr Syed Ali Zaidi - The Brethren of Purity’s Conception of God
- Shaykh Shuja Ali Mirza - The Incomprehensible God of Abraham and the New Agnostics
- Shaykh Rizwan Rashid - Entropy in the Modern World and the Persisting Paths to God
17:45-18:15: Conference Closing Ceremony