The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990 277 

Conferences, Seminars, and Addresses 

Strategies for an Islamic Perspective of History 
and 

Historical Writing 
AMSS First History seminar 

Buffalo, New York 
Dhu al Qi‘dah 1-2, 14NIMay 26-2l, 1990 

The idea of holding the first History Seminar, which was introduced 
at the 18th Annual Conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists 
(AMSS), came to realization in Buffalo, New York on Dhu al Qi‘dah 1-2, 
14lOlMay 26-27, 1990. 

A total of fifteen papers were presented by Muslim historians coming 
from across the United States. Tiihl J. Al-‘Alwlm’s opening address was 
presented by Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, the General Secretary of the AMSS. 
Al-‘Alwlni, who is the President of the International Institute of Islamic 
Thought (IIIT), challenged Muslim historians to devise concepts and 
methodologies based on the wisdom of the Qur’an that will demystify human 
global history and make it possible to present solutions and alternatives to 
today’s problems. He asked historians to look for the unifying factors that 
can make sense out of human history and to think about mankind’s reactive 
or proactive role in the historical process which might lead to universal goals. 

The banquet speaker, Professor Pareshan G. Khattak, Vice Chancellor 
of the Azad Kashmir University at Muzaffarabad, a historian himself, dedicated 
his address to an account of the Kashmiri Muslim struggle for freedom and 
its place in current history. 

The first session included two papers designed to present an overview 
of issues to be considered at the conference. The seminar coordinator, Aftab 
Ahmad Khan of Buffalo State College, spoke on “Establishing Some Principles 
and Guidelines for Islamization of History,” in which he focused on the need 
for Muslim self-reliance in the writing and interpretation of their own history 
as well as that of the rest of the world with the aim of exposing the world- 
unifying concepts and reflections of tawhid. He called for the adoption of 
a five point program toward beginning the process of Islamization of history. 
This was followed by Professor Akbar Muhammad of SUNY at Binghamton, 
who presented a paper entitled “On Islamic History, Muslim History, and 
the Social Milieu.” 

Focusing on the legacy of certain individual historians or thinkers, three 
panelists presented the ideas of men spanning North Africa, the Middle East, 
and South Asia. Ausaf Ali of Los Angeles spoke on Ibn Khaldun, Ibrahim 



278 The American Journal of Islamic Social sciences Val. 7, No. 2, 1990 

Abu-Rabi‘ of the University of Texas at Austin spoke on Sayyid Qutb, asld 
Arih Farid of the University of Karachi, Pakistan, presented Iqbal’s approach 
to history. Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq of MIT looked at epigraphy as another 

Expanding the scope of intemt to entire geographic areas, 0 x 1 ~  Khalidi 
of MlT spoke on the historiography of Muslim India, analyzing three difkrent 
schools of thought, and Musa Hakim of SUNY at Buffalo presented a paper 
on West African Islamic history from the viewpoint of ideas that have been 
generated on the subject. 

Shifting the range of vision to historiography and interpretation, Ghulam 
Haider Aasi of the American Islamic College in Chicago spoke on the history 
of religions and Islamic historiography, Muhammad Mukhtar Curtis of the 
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor outlined some principles for 
understanding and interpreting classical Islamic kxts, and Khalid Y. 
Blankinship of Temple University in Philadelphia suggested an Islamic 
periodization of world history. Connecting approaches to history with other 
disciplines, Ahmad S. Massasati of the University of Utah at Salt Lake City 
presented an Islamic perspective of the relationship of history with geography. 

In order to zero-in on how the West views the East, Sheikh M. Saf~ullah, 
also of the University of Utah, gave an Islamic critical review of the book 
Tk Cambridge History o f l s h  while Mohammad M. El-Behairy of Buffalo, 
New York, spoke on countering the Wstern stemtypes of “Islamic 
fundamentalism.” 

At one of the concluding sessions, Aftab Ahmad Khan outlined a pmposal 
for establishing an American Islamic History Society, which was warmly 
received and is seriously under discussion. 

The Seminar was attended by over one hundred persons. For further 
informaton please contact: Aftab Ahmad Khan, 299 Allenhurst Road, BufXdo, 
NY 14226. Tel: 716 834-0716. 

source of Islamic historiography. 

IIIT 
Herndon, VA