The Department of Religious Studies and the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies honor Abdulaziz Sachedina (1942-2025) with a two-day symposium examining his life and scholarly legacy. Dr. Sachedina was a towering intellectual figure in the fields of Shi'i Thought and Islamic Ethics. He served higher education in Virginia for nearly five decades, the last twelve years of which he held the IIIT Chair in Islamic Studies at George Mason. Dr. Sachedina forged an intellectually capacious legacy by authoring books such as Islamic Ethics; The Just Ruler in Shi'ite Islam; and The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. A distinguished lineup of speakers at this symposium will discuss not only Dr. Sachedina's scholarship, but also his contributions in the classroom and in the broader community.
Event Schedule & Details
Day 1: Opening Dinner
Keynote Address by Ebrahim Moosa (University of Notre Dame)
Date: Friday, December 4, 2026
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: Merten Hall, Room 1201
Admission: Free (RSVP Required)
Day 2: Symposium
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2026
Time: 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Lunch provided)
Location: Fenwick Library Reading Room
Admission: Free (RSVP Required)
Speakers at the symposium include Asma Afsaruddin (Indiana University, Bloomington); Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto); Martin Nguyen (Fairfield University); Irene Oh (George Washington University); Vernon Schubel (Kenyon College); Lance Laird (Boston University); Robert Tappan (Towson University); Sayyid Rizwan Zamir (Davison College).