The goal of the upcoming conference is to introduce an analytical framework that can be applied to a comparative study of Muslim minorities globally (and in Europe in particular), including Muslims in Israel who consider themselves to have a special status as an indigenous minority group.Comparisons will focus on three levels: identity, Islamic legislation, and politics.

Among the issues that will be discussed at the conference:

• The similarities and differences between attempts to bridge between Islamic law and the challenges of a modern European lifestyle, and corresponding attempts in Israel

• The impact of the Fiqh al-Aqaliyyat Doctrine (“Minorities Doctrine”) on the Islamic Movement in Israel, if any

• Whether the process of shaping an Islamic agenda is similar in all non-Muslim-majority countries

• Has the Islamic Movement in Israel developed a unique national-political platform as a result of the “double marginalization” of Israel’s Arab minority?
  

Program

Registration and Greetings

Dr. Ephraim Lavie, Acting director of the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation
Dr. Lars Hänsel, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Israel
Prof. Eyal Zisser, Head of the Moshe Dayan Center

First Session: Islamic Identity – A Comparative View

Dr. Leah Kinberg (Tel Aviv University)
Dr. Uriya Shavit (Tel Aviv University)
Structuring Islamic identity in Europe and Israel: Outlines for a comparative discussion Dr. Sagi Polka (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi’s Fatwas on Europe’s Muslims: Shaping Muslim identity in Western society

Discussant: Mr. Harold Rhode

Second Session: Islamic Identity – The Case of Israel

Dr. Ephraim Lavie (Tel Aviv University)
Dr. Elie Rekhess (Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University)
The Islamization of the Arab Identity in Israel – The Islamic Movement, 1972-1996
Dr. Nimrod Luz (Western Galilee academic college)
The Islamic Movement and the seduction of the sacred Landscape: The struggle over land through the holy sites
Mr. Ibrahim al-Quran (Ben Gurion University in the Negev)
The rising national-Islamist consciousness of Negev Bedouin

Intermission

Third Session: The Legislative-Islamic Dimension

Prof. Ilai Alon (Tel Aviv University) Mr. Shammai Fishman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Sheikh Taha Jabir al-Alwani and the link between Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat (Muslim Minority Jurisprudence) and the Gates of Ijtihad Dr. Ashraf Abu Zarka (University of Haifa) The position of the Islamist Movement on Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat Qadi Iyad Zahalka (Sharia Court, Haifa) The position of the Muslim community in Israel on Sharia Jurisprudence

Coffee break

Forth Session: The Islamic Movement in Israel – The National-Political Dimension

Dr. Elie Rekhess (Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University)
Mr. Mohanad Mustafa (University of Haifa)
Political participation of the Islamic Movement – An interim status report
Dr. Mansour Abbas (Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Islamist Movement)
The Islamic Movement: Caught between Islamic Jurisprudence and State law Dr. Mordechai Keidar (Bar-Ilan University)
The Islamic Movement: Religious movement or political party?

Lectures will be delivered in Hebrew.

Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.