Faculty of Islamic Studies UIII successfully held the 1st Colloquium on Islamic Studies & Islamic Studies Review (ISR)

July 18, 2022

uiii.ac.id (Depok). Faculty of Islamic Studies, University Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) successfully held the 1st Colloquium on Islamic Studies & Islamic Studies Review (ISR) Grand Launching with the theme Decentering Islamic Studies: Towards New Approaches in The Study of Islam and Muslim Societies on 12-13 July 2022, at the UIII campus, Depok, West Java.

In this two-day event, six keynote speakers from within and outside the country spoke on various topics concerning Decentering Islamic Studies, offline and online. This topic was chosen because it substantially means seeing the potential of new sources, authority, and authenticity to develop Islamic studies worldwide.

One of the keynote speakers in this colloquium, Kholoud Al-Ajarma from the University of Edinburgh, revealed that this colloquium is essential to see research methods and approaches that reflect the daily lives of Muslims because previously, research on Islamic studies was carried out by non-Muslims.

"Some cases using orientalist approaches that did not necessarily reflect the daily life of Muslims and the complexity of their tradition, including how religion part of their everyday life and so on. So this is important to look at this perspective and also look at how Islam is seen from beyond regions or specific opinions," said Kholoud.

Meanwhile, Professor Ismail Fajrie Alatas from New York University, one of the speakers at the Colloqium, revealed that this colloquium is important for its topic and critical methodological thinking. He hopes that a methodological forum like this can inspire other institutions in Indonesia so that it is not only methodological but also about empirical data from research.

"I hope a methodology forum like this can inspire other institutions in Indonesia because we need to think more about methodologies, not just empirical data or data from our research. Congratulations to the Indonesian International Islamic University and FIS for hosting this event. I am very honored to be here and participate in this extraordinary event," said Fajrie.

This colloquium convenor, Farid F. Saenong, said that UIII continues exploring new dimensions of the varied connections and continuum across the discipline of Islamic studies through the exciting themes presented at this colloquium. "We thank the top keynote speakers and all presenters for their hard work in conceptualizing their themes and helping us to attract a wide variety of excellent paper contributions," he said.

In addition to the two keynote speakers above, FIS invited four other keynote speakers: Siti Sarah Muwahidah from the University of Edinburgh, Sadek Hamed from the University of Wales Trinity St. David, Muhammad Al-Marakeby from the Indonesian International Islamic University, and Martin Slama from the Austrian Academy of Knowledge.

Meanwhile, other speakers in this colloquium came from 26 universities and institutions throughout Indonesia, the Middle East, and Africa, including the University of Cairo-Egypt, American University in Beirut-Jordan, and International Open University Gambia, Ahlul Bayt International University Tehran, and Indonesian International Islamic University University (UIII).