Description
What holds communities together—shared values or shared enemies? From the Ottoman frontiers to postwar treaties to the rise of far-right populism, European unity has often been manufactured through elite narratives, symbolic crises, and oppositional identity. In contrast, the Islamic vision of economic unity draws from an internal ethic—tawḥīd, justice, and moral economy—rather than geopolitical fear or material incentive. Can a transnational identity grounded in divine purpose withstand the pressures of global capitalism and the fragmentation of the modern nation-state?
In this colloquium, we welcome Mehreen Khan, Economics Editor at The Times and former EU correspondent at the Financial Times, to reflect on how identity, symbolic capital, and economic imagination shape integration projects—both Western and Ummatic. As the liberal order fractures and multipolar alternatives emerge, this session asks: Can decentralized, bottom-up frameworks rooted in Islamic cultural capital gain legitimacy in a world that privileges elite power and technocratic control?
Mehreen Khan is the Economics Editor at The Times (UK) and formerly served as the Brussels Correspondent for the Financial Times, where she covered EU politics, economic governance, and regulatory policy. Her writing explores the intersection of global markets, identity, and political power, with a particular interest in alternative economic imaginaries beyond the Western liberal framework.
The discussion and subsequent Q&A session will be moderated by Dr. Usaama Al-Azami, Hamad bin Khalifa University.
Saturday July 12, 12 PM (noon) Eastern Time
Mark your calendars.
