ONLINE | Le réformisme et la place de la femme dans l'islam contemporain Reform and the Role of Women in Contemporary Islam

The George & Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights, and Conflict Prevention is honored to host Kahina Bahloul, the first female imam in France, who will present her experience of the religious vocation as it crystallized in the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. She will discuss her creation (in 2015) of Parle-moi d’Islam, a progressive Islamic media outlet, and her work with different constituencies in France—including state actors, fellow Muslims, and people of other religions. Kahina Bahloul’s presentation will be followed by a brief Q&A.

This event will be in French with a simultaneous English translation.

Kahina Bahloul is a lawyer, theologian, and the author of two recent books Mon islam, ma liberté (Ed Albin Michel, 2021) and Des femmes et des Dieux (Les Arènes, 2021). She graduated from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes with a degree in Islamic studies and is currently preparing a doctoral thesis on the legal doctrine and cosmology of Ibn ‘Arabî. She is interested in the universality of the message of Islam and religious diversity. As co-founder of La Mosquée Fatima, a liberal mosque, she is particularly concerned with women's religious ministry and the role of women in places of worship in Islam.

This event is co-organized with Mitchell Rutledge (Schaeffer Fellow, AUP), Susan Perry (Professor, Program Director MAs in International Affairs, History and Politics, AUP), and Miranda Spieler (Associate Professor, History and Politics, AUP).

Registered guests will receive a Zoom access link prior to the event via email.