Islam and Liberty Podcast

Episode 032 - Saeed Ahmed Rid; Does Democracy positively affect Religious freedom? A case Study of Pakistan

Saeed Ahmed Rid is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. He did his PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK and his postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, UK.

In this paper, he tried to explain how a regime type affects religious freedom in same country. Does personality of the ruler and his political vision matter as well? What type of complexities are created by the changing international environment? What kind of new forums and avenues are available to the religious minorities in democratic dispensation that cannot be provided by the dictatorial regimes?

 

Episode 031 - Jani Kinnunen, The Role of Freedom of Religion and Political Regime for Human Development Indices

Jani Kinnunen is a researcher at Åbo Akademi, Finland. His research interests include data science related to economics and political science. His application work has focused on freedoms in economic and political systems, mergers and acquisitions, and real options.

His paper studies how the combination of political regime and religious freedoms are related to human development indices. The tested hypothesis states: the higher the quartile level of religion-democracy combination, the higher the levels of economic and political freedoms, as well as, the human development.

 

 

Episode 030 -Faisal Aziz; Proportionality in Hate Speech Laws

Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz or Faisal Aziz as he is more commonly known, is President of Muslim Youth Movement Malaysia (ABIM) and Deputy Chairperson of  the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih). He is a lawyer by profession and previously served as the Head of Litigation Department focusing on public interest litigation and criminal defenses. He is a columnist for Malaysiakini portal and is active on twitter with the username @faisalazizfa.

 

His presentation highlights the need from the authorities to consider applying the doctrine of proportionality in order to ensure the preservation of the elements of justice, reasonableness and equality when imposing punishments. Further, the paper outlines the need for the National Harmony Bill as an amicable solution.

 

Visit us at islamandlibertynetwork.org to explore more on the muslim case for freedom.

Episode 029 - Zainal Abidin Bagir; The Politics and Law of Blasphemy in Indonesia

Zainal Abidin Bagir is the executive director of the Center of Religious and Cross Cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia. Bagir specializes in philosophy of religion, religion and science, and religion and ecology.

His presentation speaks on blasphemy law in Indonesia, comparing it globally, seeing how has it been used, current revitalization of the law and paths for revision.

 

Episode 028 – Robert Hefner; Religious Freedom, Harmony and Inclusion

Robert W. Hefner is professor of anthropology and former director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) at Boston University. He is former president of the Association for Asian Studies. Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited 19 books.

Visit our website at islamandlibertynetwork.org

Episode 027 - Mohd. Izharul Haque Mikrani; IMAN: Efforts for Religious Freedom in Nepal

Mohd. Izharul Haque Mikrani is a prominent media personality and a fighter for Democracy, Human Rights, Pluralism, Freedom of Religion or Belief despite challenges and threats. Currently, Mr. Mikrani is the president of the Intellectual Muslims Association of Nepal (IMAN). This organization works to promote interfaith dialogue among people of different faiths. He is also the Chief Editor of Sajha Awaz (an online news portal of Nepal). Izhar Mikrani is a founder member and current chair of SAFFoRB (South Asian Forum for Freedom of Religion or Belief), Nepal Chapter. He is also an active member of the EU working group on HRDs.

His presentation speaks about IMAN (Intellectual Muslims Association of Nepal), a non-profitable organization working for minorities’ rights in Nepal upholding the principles of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and its efforts.

Episode 026 - A.K.M Iftekharul Islam, Secularism, Islamism and Religious Minorities: the Case of Bangladesh

A. K. M. Iftekharul Islam is assistant professor of Department of Islamic History & Culture at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has a masters in Islamic History & Culture and have various of his articles referred to in journals.

His paper is an attempt to examine the present condition of religious minorities in Bangladesh; impact of religious tension of India and Myanmar on it and policy options for the government; and the civil society to ensure religious co-existence of all sorts of people.

 

Episode 025 - Mujeeb Hussain Gattoo, The Ahmediyya question, the response of Muslim Scholars, and the (im)possibility of religious co-existence in Contemporary Islamic Thought.

Mujeeb Hussain Gattoo is an Assistant Professor at the Higher Education Department, Govt of Jammu and Kashmir.

Their paper tackles the Ahmediyya question through analyzing the issues raised above and probing into the (im)possibility of religious co-existence in Contemporary Islamic thought.It is also an attempt to compare the views of Muslim scholars (across different spectrums of thought) towards the Ahmediyya’s

Episode 024 - Amel Azzouz, Revisiting Religious Freedom in a Muslim Democracy: Case of New Tunisian Constitution

Amel Azzouz is a member of Ennahdha Party Shura Council and a former member of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly. She is a teacher of English literature in the Tunisian University, and she received her political science master’s degree from the Faculty of Juridical, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis. In her paper, she sheds light on the constitution of post-revolution Tunisia, the most progressive constitution in today’s Muslim world. She explains how this success was achieved not only thanks to the joint efforts of legislators and politicians but also to a serious social dialogue.

 

Episode 023 - Azeemah Saleem; Revisiting Religious Freedom in ‘Secular’ and ‘Islamic’ Constitution

Azeemah Saleem, Doctoral Candidate in Center for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is working on “Syrian Refugees in Germany: An Understanding through the Prism of Global Justice” as her PhD Thesis. Her area of interest includes understanding Global Justice in the context of Refugees, Rawls theory of Justice, Kantian Cosmopolitanism, Humanitarian crisis, global refugee issues, women development studies, social and societal fragmentation in North Africa, conflict analysis in West Asia along with identity politics and critically analysing human rights issue.

Her paper aimed to understand religious freedom in the constitution of Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. It will scrutinise how the constitution derived from secular and Islamic values reflected the functioning of society. Is Secular constitution is moving towards an inclusive society and Islamic constitution is moving away from being a tolerant society. It also aimed to understand whether the ‘Secular’ constitution makes a nation more inclusive as compared to the ‘Islamic’ constitution. The consequences of the respective constitution in society. Lastly, it will redefine the idea of secularism compatible with the freedom of religion in both the nation of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.