The topic of Professor Lang's talk was "Where Have all the Children Gone, On being an American Muslim". He urged the Muslim community to recognize the enormous importance of guiding the second generation in their pursuit of understanding Islam, stressing the importance of open dialogue between the older and younger generations and the necessity of continued Islamic scholarship and education for the future. He emphasized the need for people to learn both the most advanced research techniques developed in the current era and to develop a solid foundation in the traditional Islamic sciences and fields of study. He discussed how reason and intellect are allies of the Islamic faith, and how Muslim communities everywhere should objectively and sincerely analyze themselves and seek to understand where and why they may fall short of the true Islamic ideal.

Professor Jeffrey Lang is currently an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas. A scholar and prolific speaker, he converted to Islam in the early 1980s. He is the author of ‘Even Angels Ask’ and ‘Struggling to Surrender’.