Fighting for Religious Understanding
In the wake of 9/11, Professor Ebrahim Moosa was overcome with frustration at the acts of violence being committed in the name of Islam. A devout Muslim himself, he had also been the target of a terrorist attack for speaking out against extremists.One issue, he realized, was that the curriculum being taught in madrasas, traditional schools of Islam, hadn’t been updated for centuries. It failed to engage with modern science, history, politics, and new research in religion. He thought he could teach some of these subjects to madrasa graduates to illustrate how Islam and modern life could peacefully coexist based on his own experiences. Those lessons, he believed, would be useful for the graduates in their engagement and education of their own communities.Thus, the Madrasas Discourses project was born at Notre Dame with an inaugural group of 55 Indian and Pakistani madrasa leaders. These students take weekly online courses with Professor Moosa and his colleagues and also meet twice annually. Two years later, Moosa claims the project is the most rewarding accomplishment of his life. The participants, too, are highly enthusiastic. Plans to expand the program and welcome students from sub-Saharan Africa are underway.As the Keough School of Global Affairs welcomes people from all nationalities, religions, and traditions to help solve the world’s challenges, Professor Moosa serves as a powerful example of how working collaboratively can make dramatic change.
More from What Would You Fight For?
- 2:01Fighting for Better Cancer DetectionIn the United States alone, there are nearly 240,000 breast cancer diagnoses each year, and one in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in her lifetime. To date, mammograms are the best diagnostic technology for breast cancer. A mammogram’s ability to detect tumors at early stages has made breast cancer one of the most treatable forms of cancer, but there are still almost 50,000 missed diagnoses every year.For many women, that missed diagnosis comes from having dense breast tissue which prohibits clear results from a basic mammogram. Notre Dame professor Ryan Roeder is working to reduce the number of missed diagnoses in dense breast tissue by using gold nanoparticles. The nanoparticles can be injected into the breast and attach to indicators of cancer, like microcalcifications. Because gold is a heavy metal, in an X-ray or mammogram it will be seen clearly, even in dense tissue.Roeder’s project is far from the finish line, but optimism in this fight against breast cancer is high. With luck, partnerships and persistence, the best way to think pink may involve thinking gold.
- 2:07Fighting to Protect the InnocentThrough collaboration with the National Immigrant Justice Center, Notre Dame law students are able to participate in an NIJC externship program allowing them to work on asylum cases of immigrants entering the United States.Law School alumnae Stephanie Torres and Christina Shakour took on the case of Maria and Ariel, immigrants from El Salvador seeking a safer life after receiving threats of violence from gangs. The team worked up to 30 hours a week on top of their course work to help the family in need. In total, they filed more than 300 pages of documentation to prove that the family qualified for asylum. After hours of preparation, Shakour and Torres presented the case before Immigration Court and obtained asylum for Maria and Ariel in the United States.*Because the well-being of Maria's daughters is still in jeopardy in El Salvador, and because gang retaliation could still occur in the U.S., actors were used in this What Would You Fight For video.*