The Rumi Forum presented Sufism, Islam and Muslims in America with Sulayman S. Nyang, Ph.D., Howard University.
Sulayman Nyang teaches at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he serves as Professor of African Studies. From 1975 to 1978 he served as Deputy Ambassador and Head of Chancery of the Gambia Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Following his diplomatic stint, he immigrated to the United States and returned to academic life at Howard University, where he later assumed the position of department chair from 1986 to 1993. He also serves as co-director of Muslims in the American Public Square, a research project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Professor Nyang has served as consultant to several national and international agencies. He has served on the boards of the African Studies Association, the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He is listed on the editorial boards of several national and international scholarly journals. He has lectured on college campuses in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Professor Nyang has written extensively on Islamic, African and Middle Eastern affairs. His latest book, Islam in America, is scheduled to appear this fall. His best known works are Islam, Christianity and African Identity (1984), A Line in the Sand: Saudi Arabia’s Role in the Gulf War (1995), co-authored with Evan Heindricks, and Religious Plurality in Africa, co-edited with Jacob Olupona. Professor Nyang has also contributed over a dozen chapters in books edited by colleagues writing on Islamic, African and Middle Eastern subjects. His numerous scholarly pieces have appeared in African, American, European and Asian journals.
The host of the event, Hazami Barmada, is an independent consultant and contractor in Public and Cultural Diplomacy and Interreligious Relations. She maintains expertise on a broad range of issues revolving around U.S. relations with the Muslim/Arab worlds, international communications and community development. Barmada speaks frequently about the importance of international collaboration and public diplomacy initiatives to bridge cultural, political and economic divides. Additionally she has shared her perspectives on topics relating to women, civic engagement and leadership development at numerous conferences and workshops nationally. Barmada plays a visible and active role in grassroots and community organizing. Her work aims to bridge communities across religious, economic, cultural, social and nationalistic divides. She is active in planning and coordinating initiatives that promote collaboration within interfaith and intercultural communities. She is the Founding President and Director of the Progressive Muslim Network (PMN), an apolitical organization that hosts an array of social, educational and volunteer initiatives that aims to promote intra/interfaith understanding and dialogue in the DC vicinity. Barmada currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals as Executive Vice President, the 9/11 Unity Walk as 2008 Executive Director and Chairperson of Organizational Development Committee, and as an advisor to Muslim Women in the Arts and the Network of Arab American Professionals. She is an International Advisory Board member and Arab/Muslim world Liaison for the High Cloud Foundation. Barmada has a B.A. from Rhodes College, in Anthropology and Sociology with a concentration in intercultural relations and identity formation. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public and Social Policy from Georgetown University.