Hussein Rashid

Academic. Speaker. Educator. Advocate.

Inter-faith

Inter-faith

Rikers: An American Jail – Interfaith Discussion Guide

Hussein

There is a new film on Rikers, called Rikers: An American Jail, and I'm quoted in the interfaith discussion guide.

As a Muslim, when I hear about prison, I think to the Story of Joseph, told in Chapter 12 of the Qur’an: are we punishing difference, rather than actions, and putting the innocent in jail? Do we seek to turn people to repentance, or are we fulfilling our needs for revenge? One of the clear commandments in the Qur’an is to maintain the balance of justice, and to not give into our own desires and call it justice (55:9, 4:135). We are warned that we can easily corrupt society in the name of public good (2:11). The Qur’an seems to be warning us against our prison industrial complex, exemplified by Rikers Island Jail.

Events Inter-faith Religion

Panel: Advancing Religious Literacies: Exploring Islam through the Cultural Studies Method

Hussein

The loud discourse on Islam in the United States today marks Muslims as a threat, embroiled in pre-modern sensibilities, and unable to participate in democratic societies. These articulations are often made by recycling colonial and oriental images of Muslim women as oppressed and Muslim men as violent, with objects such as the hijab and the figure of the terrorist at the center. This rise of Islamophobic commentary has resulted in myriad incidences of bullying, teasing, and direct violence against teachers and students who identify, or are read by others, as Muslims. All this points to the lack of understanding about Islam and Muslims in the United States. This panel will argue for the urgent need for religious literacy and introduce the Cultural Studies method to understand Islam and Muslims.

Panelists:

Dr. Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim Religion and Cultures; Director of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University

Dr. Diane Moore, Director, Religious Literacy Project; Senior Lecturer on Religious Studies and Education; Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University

Dr. Hussein Rashid, Founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency

Shenila Khoja-Moolji, Research Fellow, Teachers College; Education Affiliate, Religious Literacy Project, Harvard University 

 

Date: April 21, 2016

Time: 7 to 9pm

Everette Lounge

Teachers College, Columbia University

Religious Literacy Event Flyer

 

Sponsors:

Vice President's Office for Diversity & Community Affairs

Teachers College Student Senate

Events Inter-faith Religion

Leading Edge – Conference

Hussein
I’ll be speaking at the following conference on a Muslim theology of Black Lives Matter. I’ve spoke at the church before on a similar topic, but this will be different.
 

“Body Politics” :: Jan 17 @middlechurch from Middle Collegiate Church on Vimeo.

 
 
 
The Leading Edge 2016: 
REVOLUTIONARY LOVE—Tools, Tactics, and Truth-telling to Dismantle Racism 

Friday, April 15 – Sunday, April 17 in New York City 

Our nation is in a crisis. Though there is only one race — the human race — racism is a construct with lethal consequences. People die while in its custody. Racism has annihilated the souls of citizens and ripped out the heart of our nation. Recent surveys show that 60% of the people in our nation think race relations are in a significant decline, that our dream for justice and equality is dying on the vine.

At the 10th annual Leading Edge Conference and the 6th annual Transform Network Gathering, we will learn and teach each other the best practical wisdom for movement-making, mingled with theoretical underpinnings and theological reflection. Join thought leaders like Chris Crass, Melissa Harris-Perry, Jim Wallis, Jacqui Lewis, Huseein Rashid, and Miguel De La Torre; and activists like Linda Sarsour, Micky ScottBey Jones and Valarie Kaur. In plenaries, short talks, and small group conversations surrounded by music and art, we will create strategies for change.

Activists, analysts, preachers, poets, prophets, teachers, trainers, writers, queer, and straight folk of all faiths ready to make a change: Come and bring your hopes, disappointments, and dreams. We must disrupt the narrative of white supremacy if we are to be free. We need tools, tactics, and truth-telling to dismantle racism.

Ours is #PropheticGrief. Even in our anger and tears, we are ready to do something, to organize. This is a multi-faith, multi-racial movement. Those of us who are disgusted with the status quo are called to join the movement if we are to save our nation, save our world, and save our souls.

Powered by the Middle Project, Transform Network, The Unitarian Universalist Association, and Auburn Seminary 

To register, visit middleproject.org.

 

 

Books Events Film Inter-faith Media Appearances Music Religion Resources

Newsday on America to Zanzibar

Hussein

Here is a Newsday article on the exhibit America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far, at The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, for which I was the lead academic advisor. It’s a good chance to shout out my friends from high school.

“Our goal is to have children deal with differences in a healthy, positive way and encourage them to be inquisitive while exploring the world instead of running away from its differences,” Rashid said, an experience not so different from his years growing up in Elmont.

 

Events Inter-faith

My Secret Thoughts of America to Zanzibar at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan — Ummah Wide — Medium

Hussein

My Secret Thoughts of America to Zanzibar at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan — Ummah Wide — Medium.

For the last few years, I got paid to play with toys. I was able to put a philosophy of Star Trek’s Vulcans into practice, and live as a Jedi. Comics littered my work space, and Dr. Who’s TARDIS traveled with me through space and time. All I was missing was a Buffy or Firefly fix. All of this was possible because I was working on religious literacy and global citizenship.

« Previous Page — Next Page »