What’s Your Calling?: On Being Muslim in America
Hussein I think the editors of the clip did a great job with my interview. I love the question they generated: “When Should You Push People Beyond Their Comfort Zone?”
Media Appearances
The Ismaili: Voices of the media: Conversations with Ismaili media professionals
The Ismaili: Voices of the media: Conversations with Ismaili media professionals.
The notion of what it means to be a Muslim in the western world is explained quite well by Dr. Hussein Rashid, Professor of Religious Studies at Hofstra University in New York and Associate Editor of Religion Dispatches. As an academic, a speaker, and an educator, Professor Rashid’s topics are generally focused on Islam and its followers, interfaith issues, religion and politics, and religion and popular culture, including news media. He has appeared on CBS Evening News, CNN, Russia Today, Channel 4 (UK), and State of Belief—Air America Radio.
“The reality is that Muslims are people, so show them as people,” says Dr. Rashid, indicating that media’s role is not to colour a story by injecting a religious angle into it. “Religion is important, but it is not the whole story,” he adds.
The Takeaway: American Muslim Women Take on More Leadership Roles
Female Muslims in America have achieved levels of success and prestige unmatched elsewhere in the world, according to a story by our partner, The New York Times, on the growing presence of Muslim women in America. Muslim women’s roles have become more and more prominent since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Will America’s political environment allow for Muslim women to be leaders for their faith?
Interview in Hofstra Chronicle
I was recently interviewed by my campus paper, the Hofstra Chronicle, about Muslim life in America.
“For being one of the most religious nations in the world we don’t have a good vocabulary to talk about religion. There should be education on religion not about Islam per se, but about religion in general starting on a secondary level,” said Rashid, “It’s not just about getting people interested in learning about other cultures and religions, it’s about people getting curious again. People need to get excited about learning again.”
The Takeaway: President Obama’s Jakarta Speech
I was interviewed about reactions to President Obama’s speech in Indonesia. Original page is here.
Cameo: CBS News.com on the ADR Fellowship
The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship showed up on CBSnews.com, and I make a brief cameo.
See earlier post on the fellowship.
Mention: Jews on First
The good folks at Jews on First decided to include an essay I wrote on being Muslim in America as part of a resource kit they are putting together.
Broad attacks have been launched against the validity of Islam as a religion and the situation of Muslim-Americans has been made more precarious in ways that many Jews have found to be all too familiar. In the course of our research on the issue, we have found many articles and sermons to be very helpful in charting the course of the controversy and in articulating principles that can help guide our response, and we have compiled some of the most useful and uplifting examples for you here. In particular, we are awed and heartened by the number and quality of Yom Tov sermons that this discussion has inspired, and we are proud to share them with you.
Revealing Ramadan
In 2009, On Faith, now On Being, ran a wonderful series called Revealing Ramadan, for which I was asked to contribute. They re-ran the series this year, in 2010, and I just wanted to highlight it once more.
From my written piece:
Of course, if God is First and Last, how does one end the day, but in the same way? The rhythm of the day is punctuated by these two moments, but in the middle, God is never forgotten.
Interview on BBC’s Beyond Belief on The history and place of Islam in America
I was interviewed for BBC’s program Beyond Belief. The show aired on Oct. 4, 2010. The podcast is available here for the next four weeks.