48th Annual ISNA Convention: Loving God, Loving Neighbor, Living in Harmony

Friday July 01, 2011

Islam, Pluralism and Social Harmony

Description: America finds itself at a crossroads with a financial crisis at home and war abroad. At every critical juncture in history, social movements—from civil rights to anti-war—have brought people of all races and creeds together around common values and aspirations. This session will offer reflections on the collective movement that is needed for our times, and the sacred place of love and non-violence in realizing the call for social harmony in a pluralistic society.

Speakers: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Ingrid Mattson
John Esposito
Zaid Shakir




Saturday July 02, 2011

Role of Islamic Tradition in Addressing Contemporary Challenges-Conversation Between Tariq Ramadan and John Esposito

Speakers: Tariq Ramadan
John Esposito

Sunday July 03, 2011

Inclusive Mosques in the 21st Century
Description: When we create sacred spaces that affirm human dignity, we acknowledge the spiritual potential of all who enter. The inclusive mosque synthesizes our architectural legacy, recognizes the contributions of women and welcomes those seeking answers. This session presents steps to ensure mosques are places that give life to strong, loving communities that stand against injustice.

Speakers: Akel Kahera
Maryam Eskandari
Aisha Al-Adawiya

Sacred Space for Muslim Americans

Front Cover of New York's Elan magazine

Mosques have been a reason for intense debates both within the Muslim community and outside of it. Maryam Eskandari, an architect at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, currently has a traveling exhibit on American Mosques. She brings a new angle to the debate discussing the role of architecture as an identity issue. Her exhibit, Sacred Space: (Re)Constructing the Place of Gender in the Space of Religion is touring the nation. We sat down with the architect and artist for an interview.

How did you choose this topic for your exhibit?

This “mosque” project actually started 5 years ago when I was working on another project in Seattle Washington. It was during the holy month of Ramadan. I got an opportunity to engage with the Muslims in Seattle, in which they commissioned my firm to design their mosque. During the design process, we constantly were confronted with, allocating an accurate space for the performance of prayers. It is amazing to see how emotional people get when the issue of space is discussed. What was fascinating to see is how this particular community was able to come together during their mosque project. From my first mosque, it led me to numerous projects for the various Muslim communities throughout the States. However, one project was confronted with a huge obstacle. While we were designing, and going through case studies of various mosques in the states, we started to realize that as Muslims, we do not necessarily have an identity, an American Muslim identity, when it comes to mosques, while other countries---particularly in the Middle East do. So the questioning of identity and gender kept coming up in the design projects. That was when finally last summer; the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture funded my research to visit 32 American Mosques that reside in a highly dense Muslim population across the US. However, while engaged in the project, it lead to over 100 mosques and it still continues. We were able to capture the history, space, and architecture of each mosque, along with the stories that either the community would share with us, or our own adventures that we had.

Read More

2010: The Year of Contentious Architecture

December 28, 2010 | Maryam Eskandari

Featured in New York's Elan Magazine

In 2010, this year’s headlines showcased architectural projects pushing the envelope. Plagued with debate, below are the top five most controversial buildings this year.

On top of the list was none other than the Burj Dubai, renamed Burj Khalifa honoring the ruler of Abu Dhabi who spared $11 billion dollars to rescue Dubai from its financial crises. The 2,717 feet tower designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) LLP, were determined to build the world’s tallest, sustainable, mixed use, and free standing structure that ever existed. On the 158th level is the world’s highest mosque, while the world’s highest swimming pool resides on the 76th floor. With barely 900 apartments now owned and only three-quarters of the 37 floors of commercial and office spaces occupied, Dubai still struggles with the rest of the $29 billion tab for the Burj. Nevertheless, what is unfortunate to see was the one-week opening of the observation deck that was forced closed because of liability and safety issues. The Burj Khalifa is still struggling to make a name for itself, while the main architects: Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill who where the designers of the Burj, upon completion, where immediately hired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to design a tower, taller than the Burj Khalifa.

Read More