Reza Aslan

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Reza Aslan

Born:	1972 Tehran, Iran
Occupation:	Writer and Religion Scholar

Reza Aslan (Persian: رضا اصلان ‎ , born 1972 in Tehran) is an Iranian-American writer and scholar of religions, a regular commentator for American Public Media's Marketplace, and the Middle East Analyst for CBS News. His most recent book is No god but God (published 2005).

He has written for numerous newspapers and periodicals including Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Slate, Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and others. He has also appeared on several TV programs, including Meet the Press, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Anderson Cooper 360° and Real Time with Bill Maher. His next book, How to Win a Cosmic War: Why We're Losing the War on Terror, will be published by Random House in the Fall of 2008.

Reza Aslan has a BA in Religion from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from the University of Iowa. He is a doctoral candidate in History of Religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Research Associate at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.

He has served as a legislative assistant for the Friends' Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., and was elected president of Harvard's Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a United Nations Organization committed to solving religious conflicts throughout the world. He is a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and serves on advisory boards of both the Council of Foreign Relations and the Ploughshares Fund, which distributes grants to further peace and diplomacy throughout the world.

His first book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam has been translated into half a dozen languages, was short-listed for the Guardian (UK) First Book Award, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. [1]

He moved to the United States in 1979, during the Iranian Revolution[2] and currently lives in Santa Monica.

Contents 1 Views 2 Publications 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Views

• I believe we are living in the time of the Islamic reformation. In fact, I think we are living in the twilight of that reformation. For me, the word reform is defined by its inevitability. This process cannot be stopped; it can be slowed down for a time but reform is inevitable. It's an historic reformation taking place within Islam — it's adapting itself to the realities of the world around it. I think we'll see the same process we saw in the Christian reformation from doctrinal absolutism to doctrinal relativism; toward a truly indigenous Islamic enlightenment. And it's up to us as Muslims in the US to give voice to that for our brothers and sisters who don't have the voice or the same ability to speak out as we do. [3]
• Iraq should look to Israel for a model that combines democracy and religious belief. [4]
• It is pluralism—the peaceful coexistence and legal equality between different ethnic, religious or political ideologies—that defines democracy, not secularism. [5]
• The veil is seen as a symbol of Islam but like all symbols, it's meaningless unless interpreted. The veil is as much a symbol of oppression of women as it is an expression of Muslim femininity. The strangeness of this is that if you go to a country where the veil is either mandatory or there is a lot of pressure to wear it, you'll find the vast majority of women are against it. [6]

[edit] Publications

• No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Random House, 2005
• 'The Struggle for Islam's Soul', essay in With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty, Will Marshall, ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006
• 'From Here to Mullahcracy', essay in My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored Iranian Voices, Lila Azam Zanganeh, ed. Beacon Press, 2006

[edit] See also

• List of Islamic scholars

[edit] External links

• Reza Aslan's Website
• His biography
• Reza Aslan Bio at Greater Talent Network (Speakers Bureau)
• Reza Aslan Interview with Islamica Magazine
• Aslan's articles in the Public Diplomacy Blog
• Reza Aslan talks about The Future of U.S./Iran Relations (video)
• Reza Aslan in Conversation with Jack Miles (video)
• Debate between Sam Harris and Reza Aslan (90 Minutes)