Date: Thursday, 27th November 2025
Time: 3.00PM – 5.30PM
Venue: Main Auditorium, International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur
Welcoming speech:
Prof Dr Hafiz Zakariya
Dean, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge & Human Sciences, IIUM
Speaker:
Dr Azzam Tamimi
Author of “HAMAS: Unwritten Chapters”
Moderator:
Dato’ Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa
Islamic Renaissance Front
Register at: https://forms.gle/5JC8DMMY6fhq9iq18
Established during the First intifada—the Palestinian civil revolt against Israeli occupation, which began in December 1987—HAMAS, an acronym for Harakah al-Muqawwamah al-Islamiyah, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, traces its origins to al-Ikhwan al-Muslimūn, or the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928 by ash-Shahid Hassan al-Banna. HAMAS is a widely misunderstood movement whose involvement with a just resolution of the conflict needs to be dissected.
The movement has been vilified intensely across the Western mainstream media especially after the October 7, 2023 events in Southern Israel. Dr Azzam Tamimi, a Palestinian scholar who resides in the UK now, will lead the conversation to deepen our understanding about this much-maligned movement in the West. He will look into the shift from social and religious activism in HAMAS to the national political engagement, the delicate balance between the political and military wings, and the transformation into the most resilient resistance movement in the Middle-East.
Programs:
3.00-3.10: Opening speech by Chairperson, Saima Ali, Research Fellow, IRF
3.10-3.20: Welcoming speech by Prof Dr Hafiz Zakariya
Dean, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge & Human Sciences, IIUM
3.20-3.30: Introductory speech by moderator, Dato’ Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa
3.30-4.30: Speech by Dr Azzam Tamimi, British-Palestinian academic & social activist
4.30-5.20: Discussion
5.20-5.30: Closing remarks by Saima Ali, IRF
5.30 : Tea for VIPs
Jointly organized by:
Islamic Renaissance Front & AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge & Human Sciences, IIUM
Speaker’s Biography
Dr Azzam Tamimi s a British Palestinian academic and political activist. He is currently the Chairman of Al-Hiwar TV Channel and is its Editor in Chief. He is also the director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought (IIPT), London. He has been visiting professor at Kyoto University (2004) and Nagoya University (2006). He has published several books, the most recent of which was on Islam and democracy, Rachid Ghannouchi, Democrat within Islamism (Oxford University Press, New York, 2001). He also co-edited Islam and Secularism in the Middle East (Hurst, London and NY University Press, New York, 2000). Another book, Hamas, the Unwritten Chapters, was published in summer 2006. He writes and lectures on issues related to Islamic political thought and Middle Eastern politics. He is a regular commentator on the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera and makes frequent appearances on a number of other channels, both English and Arabic.
