Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO)

Institute of Political Science and Law, Tehran University

Cultural Center, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran, Moscow

Islamic Civilization in the Globalizing World

International Workshop

June 26-27, 2003, IMEMO, Moscow

June 26

Session 1.

Welcoming Address — Prof. Gennady Chufrin, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Director of the IMEMO;
Mekhdi Sanai, Director of the Cultural Center of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Russian Federation, Moscow.

Introduction — Prof. Vladimir Khoros, Head of the Center for Development and Modernization Studies, IMEMO, Project Coordinator.

Presentation: “Islamic Civilization, its Basic Values and Institutions” — Prof. Taufic Ibrahim, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Round-table Discussion.
Major Subjects:

1. Realms of the Secular and the Sacral.
   • Islam as compared to the other Abrahamite religions (Judaism, Christianity).
   • The role of sacred texts. The centrality of the Holy Quran.
   • Relations between God and man. The problem of the freedom of will.
   • Theoretical (kalam) and practical (fikh, shariah) theology.
   • Simplicity of creed.
   • Democratic character of religious organization.
   • Sufism and popular Islam.
   • The centrality of religion in the structure of Islamic civilization
2. Man and Society.
   • Confessional, ethnic and legal principles of social hierarchy. Elites (khassah) and masses (ammah).
   • Ummah as a community of believers. Mutual solidarity (asabiyah) as a specific feature of societies belonging to Islamic civilization. Egalitarian tendencies.
   • The urban character of Islamic civilization.
   • Specific features of family relations (polygamy, the status of women, etc.).
3. Man and Power.
   • The supremacy of law.
   • Theocracy as ideal, autocracy as reality.
   • Shiite legitimism.
4. Labor and Property.
   • Labor as religious duty.
   • Hierarchy of the types of labor (trade, handicrafts, agriculture, etc.).
   • Types of property, its legitimization and limitation.

Session 2.

Presentation: “Historical Dynamics of Islamic Civilization” — Prof. Mikhail Meyer, Rector of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University.

Round-table Discussion.
Major Subjects:

1. Natural and Historical Premises of Islamic Civilization.
2. Cycles of Historical Evolution. Causes of Stagnation after the 14th Century.
3. Islamic World in the Process of Modernization (18- 20th Centuries).
   • Internal and external factors of modernization.
   • Early and later stages of modernization. Ottoman Empire. Kemalism.
   • Reformation movements in Islam.
   • Economic, political, legal and cultural modernization in the Islamic world.

   June 27

   Session 3.
   
   Presentation: “Islamic Civilization in the Globalizing World” — Prof. Georgy Mirsky, (IMEMO).
   
   Presentation: “Culture as a Pre-condition for the Civilizations Dialogue” — Dr. Mekhdi Sanai, (Cultural Center, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran, Moscow).

   Round-table Discussion.
   Major Subjects:

   1. Differences in the positions of Muslim countries in the World community. The core and the periphery of the Islamic world.
   2. The Muslim diasporas.
   3. Islamic world in the global economy.
   4. Adaptation to the post-industrial/ information age.
   5. The Muslim world in external and internal conflicts.
   6. Prospects for the dialogue with other civilizations and religions (primarily with the West and the Christian world).
   7. Islamic Renaissance in Russia.
   8. Vitality of Islamic civilization.

   Concluding Remarks: Prof. Vladimir Khoros, (IMEMO).