March 25, 2004: Professor Ross Dunn
On March 25, 2004 the CIAS successfully hosted its first major public event as part of the CIAS speaker series. Professor Ross Dunn, of SDSU’s Department of History, gave an illustrated talk called “Ibn Battuta - The Great Muslim Traveler: A 700th Anniversary Celebration.” More than 100 SDSU students, faculty, and members of the San Diego community came to attend Professor Ross Dunn’s lecture about the life and travels of Abu Abdallah ibn Battuta, the Muslim lawyer from Morocco who crisscrossed the Eastern Hemisphere in the second quarter of the fourteenth century and at the end of his travels wrote an exhaustive account of what he saw and did. The lecture was followed by an extensive and lively discussion during which the audience and Professor Dunn further engaged in reflecting on ibn Battuta as a scholar, traveler and man, as well as the significance of his writings for today.

April 15, 2004: Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim’s lecture, entitled “Toward an Islamic Reformation,” addressed Islam, democracy, and civil society, and highlighted the emergence of new Islamist voices in the Arabic-speaking world emphasizing non-violence, tolerance, and basic rights and liberties. Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is one of Egypt’s leading public intellectuals and human rights activists, and the founder and Director of the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldun Center for Developmental Studies, a non-governmental research organization concerned with issues of democratization and civil society. In 2000, he was sentenced to a seven year term in jail on several charges connected to his work at the Center, including defamation of the Egyptian government. He was eventually acquitted in March 2003. Over 220 students, faculty, staff, and community members attended the event. Moreover, the intensity of the audience's interest during the long and lively question and answer period indicates that the Center and especially its speaker series are meeting an important need in the San Diego area. If you missed this talk or wish to review it, a video of Dr. Ibrahim’s lecture is available for viewing at the SDSU Love Library Media Center under the name of Professor Farid Abdel-Nour.

Brown-Bag Lunches
Brown-bag presentations are focused on ongoing research projects by scholars of Islamic and Arabic Studies in the San Diego academic community. The presentations, that are a continuation of a Center tradition, are designed as an opportunity for the university community to discuss and debate current research in Islamic and Arabic Studies. This informal setting promotes a comfortable intellectual atmosphere, and allows for an open conversation to take place among scholars.

November 3, 2003: Professor Huma Ahmed-Ghosh
Professor Ahmed-Ghosh of SDSU’s Department of Women’s Studies, showed a film she was working on, entitled “Stories of Afghan Women: Making Changes in their Lives.” The film addressed recent developments in Afghan society, particularly issues relevant to Afghan women and the changes women make in their country’s society. Professor Ahmed-Gosh spent parts of the summer of 2003 in Afghanistan talking to women of different educational and social backgrounds about their present work regarding the promotion of women’s education and opportunities for development. Professor Ahmed-Gosh took the opportunity to further elaborate on crucial and controversial developments Afghanistan has seen since the ousting of the Taliban.

February 26, 2004: Professor Khaleel Mohammed
Professor Khaleel Mohammed, who teaches in SDSU’s Department of Religious Studies, gave a presentation entitled “The Qur’an and Sex,” which explored the Qur’an’s views on sex and sexuality. He examined some of the Qur’anic verses in light of related issues found in other religious communities, particularly the Jewish community, at the time of Muhammad.