Habib University Hosts Inaugural Lecture for Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair – First of Its Kind in the World

In a country like Pakistan where a systemic erasure of women is perpetuated in every sphere, there is a global need to raise awareness of women’s roles in society. Despite the volume of research published, the theme of women and divinity specifically – the feminine aspects of the divine, as well as women’s role in religion – is vastly underserved, to the detriment of religion and society as a whole.

Habib University, Pakistan’s first dedicated liberal arts and sciences institution, through its regnant mission and vision of initiating conversations on how to repair our dying planet, is taking the arduous step of bringing these neglected subjects to light. The university hosted, first of its kind in the world, inaugural lecture for lady Fatima endowed faculty chair on 5th September. Establishing the world’s first Chair in Women and Divinity is transformational to the field as it is a monumental step to fill the gaps needed to understand women’s roles in society across religious traditions. It also benefits the academic scholar that is bestowed with the title.

Named after the esteemed Sayeda Zahra (AS) who played an important part in the Prophet (PBUH)’s legacy, it seeks to honor the contributions of women such as Sayeda Zahra (AS) and Zainab (AS), revitalizing their significance in our collective consciousness that is constantly being overshadowed by the dominance of male narratives. It seeks to highlight the status of women in cultural, societal, and religious narratives and speak about gender in equal terms through an interfaith lens.

The Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair in Women and Divinity at Habib University is housed in the Comparative Humanities Program, one of the six undergraduate programs offered at the University. The Chair aims to incorporate the scholarly study of the role of women in the program’s Religious Studies concentration. A one-of-a-kind program in Pakistan, Comparative Humanities trains students to draw on resources in the arts and humanities and move flexibly across disciplinary boundaries.

The Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair is an opportunity for scholars to delve into the scholarly study of women and divinity, and to curate dialogue on women and religion. Multiple academic activities will be undertaken as part of the Chair to promote scholarly contribution to the field as well as advance the University curriculum in the areas of women and divinity.

Habib University hosted its inaugural lecture for the Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair in Women and Divinity series, featuring Dr Larisa Jasarevic, an independent scholar who hails from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The lecture was titled, Thinking on the Tattered Planet: Ecostress, Religion, and the Gender Quarrel. The talk sought to anticipate themes in the Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair in Women and Divinity Lecture series by generally asking, what thinking can we aspire to cultivate in our tattered planet? The discussion was informed by her observations on climate change, Prophetic lessons on sustainable living, and memories of Hazrat Bibi Fatima (AS).

With a wealth of research in climate futures, and the sciences and metaphysics, she brought an interesting perspective to climate ecology, attempting to bridge critical (eco) thinking with insights from Islamic metaphysics. An anthropologist and beekeeper, Dr Jasarevic dwells in a mountaintop village in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a country ravaged in the 1992-95 Bosnian war and the break-up of Yugoslavia. Her observations inform her arguments regarding climate change in her book, Beekeeping in the End Times.

In her thoughts on Habib University, Dr Jasarevic shared: “Commitment to critical postcolonial studies is, by now, a default stance in global academia, but Habib University puts that commitment boldly to work in ways that are seldom practiced. How could I not admire that? I congratulate you on the establishment of Lady Fatima Endowed Chair in Women and Divinity. I anticipate the creative and inspired thinking that can happen in the match of “feminine” and “divine” as cornerstones of a research agenda and a studies program. These sound to me like codewords for breaking out of the many enclosures in which studies of religion, and studies of Islam in particular, have been bogged down.”

Dr Nauman Naqvi, Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities and the host of the evening, said: “With the Lady Fatima Chair in place, how do we respond? What can religion, specifically Islam, offer at a time when the planet is rapidly being undone? Islam, with its rich teachings, has the capacity to redefine living, a religion with “constant renewal” as its baseline. Islam ought to help us critically reinterpret sustainable living inspirations.”

Dr Jasarevic, in her talk, reflected, “The stories of the Prophet (PBUH)’s willing poverty and the poverty of the Ahl al-Bayt are well-known. I’ve learned from personal experience that they are teaching a fresh and urgent lesson, a lesson that in today’s jargon, could be called sustainable living. And so, I’ve realized that I was relearning the prophetic lessons under tough new conditions for thinking and living on our tattered world.”

After the lecture, President Wasif Rizvi presented Mr. Abbas D. Habib with a memento in honor of his remarkable endowment. Dr Larisa Jasarevic was also presented with a token of gratitude by members of the Abbas D. family, prominent members of Habib University’s Mohsineen community.

The event was attended by students, faculty, members of the community as well as researchers and scholars from around the country and beyond. Prominent industry leaders such as Zeelaf Munir, CEO of English Biscuits Manufacturers and Zehra Hassan, Family Office Manager at House of Habib also graced the event along with donors of Habib University such as Shahbaz Yasin Malik, President and CEO Hilton Pharma (Pvt.) Ltd.

The Lady Fatima Endowed Faculty Chair in Women and Divinity serves as a platform to promote dialogue that honors the status of women in all aspects of life specifically within a religious, social, and cultural context. The Endowed Faculty Chair is reflective of Habib University’s pedagogical mission that realizes adopting a reparative approach to knowledge and its transmission for the betterment of society.