The Muslim Council of Elders is set to take part in the inaugural edition of the America International Arabic Book Fair in Dearborn, Michigan, from May 1 to May 4, 2025, at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. The Council’s participation aims to strengthen engagement with Arab and Muslim communities, as well as with the broader American public, by promoting the values of moderation, tolerance, and coexistence, and fostering constructive dialogue around key issues facing local communities.
Throughout the fair, the Muslim Council of Elders’ pavilion will showcase over 250 diverse intellectual and cultural publications, including several of the latest releases from Al-Hokama Publishing for 2025. The pavilion will also feature more than 20 works by His Eminence Prof. Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders. These works aim to highlight the tolerance of Islam and the richness of its intellectual and philosophical heritage. Titles include “Al-Qawl al-Tayyib,” “From My Old Notebooks,” “A Perspective on East-West Dialogue,” “Tradition and Renewal,” “For the Sake of Peace,” “Insights into the Thought of Imam Al-Ash‘ari,” “Etiquette and Values,” and “Toward a Contemporary Jurisprudential Renewal,” among others.
In the same context, the Council’s pavilion offers several important publications, including “Love in the Holy Quran” by HRH Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad, a member of the Muslim Council of Elders; “The Pope and the Grand Imam: A Thorny Path – A Testimony to the Birth of the Document on Human Fraternity” by Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders; “Rules of Understanding and Mutual Understanding in Thought and Language” by Dr. Mustafa Benhamza, a member of the Muslim Council of Elders; “Muslims at a Crossroads” by the late Dr. Mahmoud Hamdy Zaqzouq; “Confronting Islamophobia in Europe” by various researchers; and “Islam, the West, and Tolerance: Conceiving Coexistence” by Aaron Tyler, among others.
As part of its seminar program, the Council will host a seminar titled “Countering Islamophobia: Building Bridges Through Dialogue and Understanding,” on Friday, May 2, 2025. The seminar will feature Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delaware and author of “Islam and Good Governance: A Political Philosophy on Ihsan”; Dr. Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University; and Dr. Morgan Shipley, Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality at Michigan State University. The seminar will tackle the pressing issue of Islamophobia, a significant concern for Arab and Muslim-Americans, while also shedding light on the Council’s efforts in combatting this issue. Furthermore, it aims to explore how dialogue and cultural exchange can reshape perceptions, as well as the crucial role of the media and cinema in propagating and countering this phenomenon.
The second seminar will take place on Saturday, May 3, and will be titled “Intra-Islamic Dialogue: A Reading of the Ahlul Qiblah Call,” and will feature Imam Mohamad Mardini, esteemed leader of the American Muslim Center in Dearborn, as well as Imam Ahmad Sobhy Mustafa from Kansas City, a member of the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism. The seminar will discuss the “Ahlul Qiblah Call,” a charter for unity among Islamic traditions which was launched by the Council at the Intra-Islamic Dialogue Conference which took place in the Kingdom of Bahrain in February 2025.
The Muslim Council of Elders’ pavilion at the America International Arabic Book Fair can be found at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan, from May 1 until May 4, 2025.