Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), which aims to enhance understanding of relations between the Muslim world and the West, launched a new research initiative Jan. 15 that includes a $3,000 global affairs research grant for 10 Georgetown students.

The new John W. Kiser Research Initiative honors the legacy of Emir Abd El-Kader, a 19th-century Algerian leader who resisted colonization and inspired modern ideologies of humanitarian law and humane treatment of prisoners of war. The grant competition is funded by a donation from the William and Mary Greve Foundation, which supports initiatives in the arts, education and culture, to fund research that aligns with El-Kader’s notions of global peace and human rights.

Nader Hashemi, the ACMCU director, said the initiative’s goal is to raise awareness of El-Kader, who is not well known despite his contributions to international law.

“He’s a fascinating figure because he sort of prefigured a lot of the modern understanding that we have on international human rights law,” Hashemi told The Hoya. “Specifically, the question of the rights of political prisoners, rules of war and also questions of minority rights.”

“The whole idea of this project is to talk about not just who this person was historically, but the legacy and relevance of his ideas to the contemporary world,” Hashemi added. “Focusing on themes that most people can relate to: the question of anti-colonial struggle, the question of human rights, diplomacy, the rights of minorities.” 

Hashemi said the initiative and grant competition, which could feature a range of topics falling under global affairs and human rights, aligns closely with the ACMCU’s mission.

“In many ways it’s a dream come true for a center like ours, because we focus on Islam-West relations and there’s this figure who has a fascinating story that most people don’t know about,” Hashemi said. “We strongly believe that the values that he upheld still have contemporary relevance.”

At the initiative launch event, John W. Kiser, who wrote a biography on the life and legacy of El-Kader, said his work on El-Kader came near the end of his career, with few of his colleagues taking interest in the topic.

“The Abd El-Kader story, it actually was the last stage of — I wouldn’t call it a spiritual progress, it was an occupation that had to do with probing into things that people in my world didn’t get interested in,” Kiser said at the event.

The event featured a video in which the great-great-grandson of El-Kader, Sa’ad Khaldi, spoke to prospective grant recipients and those attending the initiative launch.

Sa’ad Khaldi said he was happy that Georgetown is honouring El-Kader through the initiative and research.

“I’m happy to learn that Georgetown University is pursuing a research initiative into the legacy of Emir Abd El-Kader,” Khaldi said in a video shown at the event.

The ACMCU hopes to continue the El-Kader grant next year, according to Hashemi.

Hashemi said the research initiative is especially important in the current political climate, when human rights issues and global peace have become pressing issues. 

“I would say that this gift agreement, announcement and research initiative is coming at a unique time in international relations where there’s intense polarization,” Hashemi said. “There’s rising authoritarianism, there’s a lot of deeply antagonistic and toxic views that have created deep polarization between many people in the West and the Islamic world. Over hotspot issues, the Gaza genocide being one of them, the Trump administration and the craziness that we see coming out of Washington, D.C., that is targeted against minorities, not just from Latin America, but critically Muslims.”

Hashemi added that he is proud of the support from the Georgetown community.

“We’re glad that we have a supportive university environment and support of colleagues and a center here that can promote what we think is a better worldview, that is more inclusive, is rooted in international law and is geared towards supporting students’ creative initiatives at a school like Georgetown,” Hashemi said.