Yale University’s Critical Islamic Reflections group consists of a cross-section of graduate and undergraduate students organized to pursue critical academic scholarship on topics regarding Islam and Muslim society...[more about CIR]

The theme of this year's conference is Islamic hermeneutics. One of the most pressing questions facing Muslims today is the interpretive direction that Muslim communities and societies choose to adopt in the 21st century. The future is often presented as a struggle between competing hermeneutical approaches to foundational texts and praxis labeled ‘traditional,’ ‘Salafi,’ ‘progressive,’ ‘Sufi,’ ‘indigenous,’ and so on. Debate over the merits of each approach takes place in public forums, from the popular press and academic publications to blogs and list-serves and carries on in cafés, mosques, classrooms, and living-rooms. This year's CIR conference aims a careful consideration of the terminology, assumptions and methodologies that underlie the prevailing approaches to Islam in America.

For questions or concerns about the conference, please contact us through email at yaleCIR@gmail.com