The Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will host a number of discussions and lectures this month with subjects that range from Japanese Islamic poetry to alternative currencies such as bitcoins and from an exploration of diabetes in Qatar to an examination of the role of Islamic finance when building successful small businesses.
All HBKU public lectures, symposiums and discussions are free and open to all.
HBKU’s College of Law and Public Policy will hold a public colloquium titled “The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies” on March 15. The colloquium intends to generate awareness and facilitate a better understanding of the actors, phenomena and dynamics of FinTech – the intersection of finance and technology – with a focus on the Middle East.
The discussion will particularly explore the opportunities and challenges that relate to the emergence of Blockchain technology, which has taken the form of various cryptocurrencies, or digital currencies, such as bitcoin.
Speaking at the event will be Mohamed Zebian, innovation manager at Qatar Science &Technology Park, and Dr Yazan Boshmaf, research scientist at HBKU’s Qatar Computing Research Institute.
HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies is hosting several public events starting with a lecture to be held on March 15. The lecture will tackle the importance of small and medium industries in Qatar and explore the suitability of Islamic finance to their development.
The lecture will also explore the Islamic sources of finance available to small and medium enterprises.
On March 27, HBKU’s Muhammad Bin Hamad Al-Thani Centre for Muslim Contributions to Civilisation will hold a public symposium titled “The Contributions of the Japanese Scholar Toshihko Izutsu to Islamic Studies”.
The symposium, which is led by William Chittick, professor in the Department of Comparatives Studies at the State University of New York and one of the world’s leading translators and interpreters of Jalaluddin Rumi’s mystical poetry, will shed light on the scientific heritage of one of the greatest scholars of contemporary Japan in Qur’anic studies.
A series of experts in the field will join Chittick, including Dheen Mohamed, professor of comparative religion at HBKU’s CIS, Dr Joseph E B Lumbard, assistant professor in the department of Arabic and Translation Studies at the American University of Sharjah, and Kamada Shigeru, professor of Islamic Studies at University of Tokyo.
Also hosted by HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies will be a public lecture on March 28 titled “Is there an Islamic Public Administration? A Humanistic Alternative to Managing a Just and Welfare-based Society’.
Dr Eugenie A Samier, visiting associate professor at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, will present a humanistic alternative of public administration grounded in a long history and set of foundational principles in the Islamic world, as opposed to the globalised dominance of the Western model.
Finally, the university will host a discussion around the subject of tackling diabetes in Qatar as part of the university’s popular Science Majlis series on March 22. This informal event will be hosted by Dr Abdelilah Arredouani from HBKU’s Qatar Biomedical Research Institute.
The aim of the Science Majlis is to engage the wider public in a jargon-free discussion and people of all ages and all backgrounds are actively encouraged to attend and join the conversation.
HBKU
