The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is holding their annual convention at the Douglas E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL this weekend beginning August 31 with the theme of Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity. I’ll be there Insh’Allah and thought I’d highlight a couple of lectures that seem on point and interesting:
At 10:45am on Saturday, there is a lecture entitled Not in the Name of Islam-Addressing the Root Causes of Terrorism. Among the speakers are Dr. Hatem Bazian, professor at UC Berkeley and Robert Pape, author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, a very good book in which he discusses the origins of suicide terrorism (it didn’t originate from the Muslims) and the demographics of these terrorists since its inception.
At 9am on Sunday, author Michael Hamilton Morgan talks about his book in one of the convention’s many Meet the Author series. His book, Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists delves into the contributions Muslims have made to society that have been forgotten and looked over. 
I’m about half way through this book and have learned quite a bit (full review to come soon). In a previous post, I wrote about an article in Salon.com that interviewed a Turkish physicist, Taner Edis who just came out with a book entitled An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam, so it is good to know that Morgan has written a book that can be an answer to Edis’s book (which I’ll still check out though and let you all know how it is).
Check out ISNA’s full program here.
