October 2023

Event: Leading Toward Justice: Intersections of Religion and Public Life

The Leading Toward Justice series features panel discussions spotlighting alumni impact in the world and the critical importance of religious literacy and ethical practices in secular or public professions.
 
Moderated by Hussein Rashid, MTS ’98, PhD ’10, assistant dean of religion and public life at Harvard Divinity School.
 
Featuring:

  • Pierre Berastain, AB 10, MDiv ’14 | Chief Strategy & Operations Officer, Caminar Latino – Latinos United for Peace and Equity
  • Lane Dilg, MTS ’01 | Global Government Partnerships Lead, OpenAI
  • Jack Jenkins, MDiv ’12 | National Reporter, Religion News Service
  • Yasmeen Shaheen-McConnell, MTS ’13 | Director of Strategic Partnerships, AmeriCorps 

This event is free and open to the public.

More information here

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Event: From Ms. Marvel to the Smithsonian: A Conversation on Teaching Religious Literacy through Arts and Popular Culture

In this conversation, Dr. Rashid will discuss his work and its uses in the classroom, with a particular focus on the Children’s Museum of Manhattan exhibit “America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far?”

Dr. Hussein Rashid is the new Assistant Dean for Religion and Public Life and comes to RPL with a wealth of experience as an educator in public and classroom settings. He has particular expertise in integrating the arts into the study of religion.

From work with museums to film, documentary, and comics, Rashid has long engaged the power of images and art to highlight complexity and captivate learners when teaching religious literacy. Among other projects Dr. Rashid executive produced the Times Op-Doc “The Secret History of Muslims in the US” and co-edited a volume on Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim to have her own comic series with Marvel Comics.

Memoji of Hussein Rashid on the left thinking "What if I taught religious literacy through arts and popular culture?" with a the cover of the book Ms Marvel's America: No Normal on the right

More information here.

Muslim Footprints Podcast: 500-year History of Islam in America

Our latest episode tells the story of how Islam arrived in America, possibly as early as the 1400s on ships from Europe and West Africa. 

We have two guests on this episode. One is Sylviane Diouf, a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. She has written of the role that Islam played in the lives of African Muslims enslaved in the Americas. Our other guest is Dr Hussein Rashid, assistant dean for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, whose research focuses on Muslims and US popular culture.

Event: Sacred Door Project – Truth, Justice, and the Spiritual Way

Date: Thursday, October 12th
Time: 6:30 pm (doors open at 6 pm)
Location: Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, Rooms 405/406, NYC 10012

Please join the Islamic Center at NYU on Thursday, October 12th for the kickoff of this year’s Sacred Door Lecture Series: “Truth, Justice, and the Spiritual Way: Exploring Muslim Super-heroism through Imam Ali (as)” with our guest speaker Dr. Hussein Rashid.

In the age of fictional superheroes, this talk will look to an original Muslim superhero, Imam Ali (as). Through an exploration of his actions and discussion of his teachings, we will learn how belief and actions are complementary and necessary aspects of what it means to be Muslim. By realizing this connection to its fullest, Imam Ali defines a Muslim superhero.

Quoted in RNS Story on Daredevil

Marvel’s latest adversary for ‘Daredevil’ exposes its blindness to antisemitic art

Not everyone sees the “Daredevil” images as only antisemitic. “The image also seems to pull on anti-Arab imagery,” said Hussein Rashid, an independent scholar whose focus is religion and comics.

“The use of symbols against an adversary or The Adversary is quite common in comics,” said Rashid, adding that “comics, not just Marvel, are replete with images and storylines that continue to reinforce narratives of marginalization.”

Though he admits that the comics companies are improving on this score, “these tropes need to be pointed out.”