Pitt to Present March 30 Lecture on Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam by Qamar-ul Huda

PITTSBURGH— Pitt’s Ford Institute for Human Security will present a free public lecture by Qamar-ul Huda titled “The Crescent and Dove: Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam” at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in 3911 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. Huda is a senior program officer in the Religion and Peacemaking Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The lecture is part of the Ford Institute Speaker Series. 

Huda, a scholar of Islam, will discuss diverse interpretations, concepts, and problems in the field of Islamic peacemaking and will highlight contemporary thought on nonviolent interventions, human rights, mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills in an Islamic context. 

Huda’s expertise is in Islamic theology, intellectual history, ethics, the language of violence, conflict resolution, and nonviolence in contemporary Islam. He is the editor of The Crescent and Dove: Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2010), which provides a critical analysis of models of nonviolent strategies, peace-building efforts, and conflict-resolution methods in Muslim communities. His research is on comparative Sunni-Shi’ite interpretations of social justice, ethics, dialogue, and the ways in which the notion of justice is used and appropriated. His earlier book, Striving for Divine Union: Spiritual Exercises for Suhrawardi Sufis (Curzon, 2007), examined the theological, political, and social dimensions of the Suhrawardi Sufis from Iraq to South Asia. 

Huda is an adjunct associate professor in Georgetown University’s Conflict Resolution Program. He has taught Islamic studies and comparative religion at Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, and Brandeis University. 

The Ford Institute for Human Security promotes effective responses to severe threats faced by civilians as a result of violent conflict. The institute conducts research on the causes and consequences of political violence and works to advance the idea that governments have a sovereign responsibility to protect their people. The institute is a research center within Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. 

For more information on the March 30 event or the Ford Institute for Human Security, contact Diane Roth Cohen at 412-648-7434 or drc51@pitt.edu.

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