First Summer School in Sarajevo

The first summer school of the International Institute of Islamic Theory (IIIT) is being held at the International University of Sarajevo (IUS) nowadays.

The school aims to offer participants new insights into everything that young intellectuals need nowadays in order to be able to operate in European intellectual and cultural environment, told the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo, Ahmed Alibasic to the Anadolu Agency (AA).

The summer school was organized for 25 Master and PhD students who study Islamic and social studies. They came from Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, England, Italy and other countries from all over Europe, explained Alibasic.

"We are dealing with different issues of Islamic tradition, through Islamic finance and economics, to the challenges of co-existence in Europe", said Alibasic.

Today in Europe, he said, when it comes to Islam and Muslims, there are two challenges to be integrated in modern European societies, and a challenge for every Muslim to remain faithful to his/her tradition and values.

Alibasic stressed that this is the first summer school of this kind and expressed the hope that it will continue to be held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey and Central Asia.

As part of the summer school program prominent academic and writer Tariq Ramadan today held a lecture in which he discussed with the participants the concepts of Islam and Islam practice in daily life. "The time when Muslims should apologize because they are Muslims has gone. We in Europe work not to promote Islam but to promote coexistence and richness of diversities," said Ramadan.

The first summer school of IIIT is being held from 24 August to 7 September at the IUS where students have the opportunity to listen to the world-famous and prominent professors and philosophers such as Tariq Ramadan, Jorgen S. Nielson, Israr Ahmad Khan, Mustafa Ozel, Jonathan AC Brown, Fathi Malkawi, Fathi Malkawi, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Anas Al-Shaikh-Ali, Hisham Al-Talib, Mehmet Asutay, Muhammad A. Aziz, Jamal Barzinji, Beddy Ebnou, Kathleen Roche-Nagi as well as other local doctors and professors.