“Civil Society and Free Market Economy in Mainly Muslim Countries”
25-26 May 2015, Marrakech, Morocco
in cooperation with Arab Center for Scientific Research and Humane Studies
www.istanbulnetwork.org
The mission of the Istanbul Network for Liberty is
"to explore ideas of a free society in the Muslim World"
The Istanbul Network for Liberty is initiated by a group of intellectuals who consider the values and principles of a free society to be the common heritage of humanity.
Prophet Muhammad was a merchant and he promoted free trade. The commercial activities of Mohammad and his followers contributed to the expansion of Islam over a huge area. Mohammad said that nine tenth of sustenance comes from commerce and earlier Muslims continued with commercial traditions for centuries regardless of national borders. The followers of Mohammad also developed various kinds of civil and social functions through waqfs / private foundations. This historical culture of Muslims made a major contribution to civil society and free trade and has been the inspiration of the Istanbul Network.
Today, Muslim societies fail to make a strong claim on concepts like civil society, freedom of association and freedom of entrepreneurship that was once so prominent in their communities. This tradition of freedom and liberty has increasingly been replaced by authoritarian and centralised control. Such trends have crowded out the once dominant liberating tradition of previous Muslim societies. We see today how totalitarian regimes promote a narrow interpretation of Islam to legitimize their powers, as well as the spread of movements that take a cloistered view against free trade and civil society which were championed by Mohammad. Muslim societies are alienated from the crucial values and principles of free societies and free markets. The Istanbul Network believes that Islam in itself promotes the advancement of open and free societies, which is the opposite of what is now being promoted by some factions.
Given the present situation, the Istanbul Network strives for the revival and advancement of the values and principles of a free society that are firmly rooted in Islamic historical traditions. The Istanbul Network invites public intellectuals who share our ambition to join us in exploring ideas that can help advance the ideals of liberty in today’s Muslim societies. The Istanbul Network takes different schools and methodological approaches that have emerged from within Islam as reference points. We welcome comparative studies of these approaches and an examination of the products of the various historical and geographical experiences. We also welcome investigations of the philosophical traditions and institutions that were common within the Muslim heritage.
The Istanbul Network now invites submission of papers to be presented at our Fourth Annual Conference to be held under the theme “Civil Society and Free Market Economy in the Mainly Muslim World” on 25-26 May 2015, in Marrakech, Morocco in cooperation with the Arab Center for Scientific Research and Humane Studies.
We invite authors to submit papers covering topics listed below:
· Civil society in the Muslim world
· Freedom of expression
· Individual liberties and civil society
· Property rights, civil society and free market economy
· Commerce and peace
· Religious freedom
· Civil movements and violence
· The perception of freedom in the Muslim world
· The religious culture of religious communities
· Political attitudes of Muslim societies: Islamism, fundamentalist movements, reformists, conservative Islamic movements
· Secular politics and freedom
v Please see the format guideline for all paper submissions (Link)
v Paper submission deadline: 27 March 2015
v Details on the venue and registration will be announced soon.
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