PAMPORE: A One Day International Conference on ‘Recent Advancements and Approach in Islamic Studies Discipline’ was organised by the department of Islamic Studies, government Degree College Pampore Pampore on Tuesday.
Reputed scholars from all over the globe and the country attended the conference and deliberated upon the new vistas and research approaches that have emerged in contemporary times.
Noted persons who took part in the conference include Professor Hamid Ullah Marazi, Director Center of Spiritual Studies, IUST, Professor Abdul Rashid Bhat, Professor of Islamic Studies, IUST, Dr. Mohamad Obaidullah Founder IBF Net Indonesia and Dr Afroz Ahmed Bisati, Head, Department of Islamic Studies IUST. The conference was moderated by Dr Iqbal Malik HoD Islamic Studies, and rapporteur duties were performed by Dr Huzaifa Pandit (Assistant Professor, English), Principal GDC Pampore Dr Pro Seema Naaz told Kashmir Reader.
A welcome address was delivered by Prof Aijaz Mansoor HoD Political Science. His address extended a warm welcome to the participants and resource persons for consenting to attend the event.
The inaugural session commenced with the key note address delivered by Prof Hameed Naseem Rafiabadi on ‘Recent trends and advancements in Islamic Social Sciences’.
His address started with outlining the genesis of Islamic studies as a formal discipline, and its journey from western academia (where it began as an attempt to understand oriental muslim subjectivities in order to aid colonial project) to east and especially Kashmir.
Next Prof Dr Obaidullah spoke on the topic “Scope of Fin Tech in Islamic Economic system”. He elaborated on the concept of Fin Tech, and its evolution as a system of investigation. Drawing upon the principles outlined by Sharia, he outlined the scope of blending the approaches of modern economics and artificial intelligence to create an alternative non capitalist financial universe.
The inaugural session concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Parvez Ahmed, HoD Urdu who thanked the experts for their illuminating addresses.
Later a technical session comprising of five papers was held next, which was chaired by Dr Altaf Hussain Yatoo. Papers were read by Prof Ab Rashid Bhat, Dr Afroz Ahmed Bisati, Dr Showkat Hussain Dar, Dr Nazir Ahmed Zargar and Mr Ather Shahbaz. The session was begun by Prof Bhat who read a paper on ‘Recent trends and advancements in Islamic Social Sciences’. He outlined the intersections between social sciences and Islamic studies by tracing first the genealogies of social science as a field of academic inquiry and linking it to the Islamic principles of knowledge production like study of Tawheed within blended frameworks. Such knowledge production offers an alternative to capitalist and generic meta narratives that offer no outline of the specificities of the lived experience of Muslim World. Next, Dr Showkat Hussain Dar, Sr. Assistant Professor spoke on ‘Multidisciplinary views of Islamic Education.” He started by dwelling on the trend of ‘tawasul ʻtarfayn and provided an inventory on various thematic approaches to Islamic studies like Islamic Social Sciences with concurrent themes like Islamic Economics and Islamic Stylistics. He delved into the differing approaches and their impact on the knowledge production in the Islamic studies world. The final presentation of the session was delivered by Ather Shehbaz Doctoral scholar at IUST who spoke on ‘Islamic Finance: An emerging academic discipline’.

BILAL HABIB