Community Profile

Customize

rezaaslan

Join
Watch
Add Note
Post
Track
Send V-Gift

Reza Aslan's Intellectual Groupies

because progressive muslim scholars are sexy

Created on 2006-08-03 20:50:35 (#10830141), last updated 2009-12-16

174 comments received

Basic Account [Gift]

252 Journal Entries, 0 Tags, 0 Memories, 0 Virtual Gifts, 4 Userpics

Basic Info

Name:	Reza Aslan's Intellectual Groupies
Location:	Santa Monica, California, United States
Website:	Reza Aslan's Website
Membership:	Open
Posting Access:	All Members

About

Reza Aslan (Persian: رضا اصلان , born 1972 in Tehran, Iran), is an Iranian-American writer. He is a Shi'a Muslim.

Aslan is also a regular commentator for American Public Media's Marketplace and the Middle East Analyst for CBS News. He writes columns for The Daily Beast and many other publications.

His books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (published 2005) and How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror (published 2009). Aslan is currently Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside.

Aslan has been both Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Aslan 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 The Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Anderson Cooper 360°, Hardball, Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher and Fareed Zakaria GPS.

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.

Aslan also taught courses during the early 1990's at De La Salle high school in Concord California, better known for its National High School football record 151 game winning streak.

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

His aunt is Iranian singer Leila Forouhar.

Aslan is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. In addition, he is a Research Associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy in Santa Monica.

He has, with Amanda Fortini, founded Detox Films, a production company founded with a number of television and film projects in pre-production.

He is writing a historical novel set a thousand years ago, about a caravan traveling from the Arabian peninsula to India, but the date of publication is unknown at this time.

His first book, No god but God, (Random House, 2005), has been translated into thirteen languages, was short-listed for the Guardian (UK) First Book Award, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction.

His next book, How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, was released by Random House on April 21, 2009. During an interview by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show on April 20, 2009 to promote the book, he discussed as its themes the intrinsic irrationality of fundamentalist Islamic objectives, the dangers posed by the lack of understanding of Jihadists by the American military and Christian evangelical movement, and the utility of free elections and participatory democracy in containing the spread of Jihadist movements (a goal for which he complimented George W. Bush).

As well as writing books, Aslan has written numerous articles, commentaries (for radio and newspapers), book reviews internationally.

He has also appeared on the radio and television and has appeared numerous times in documentaries on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

He tours the world giving talks, and has written many press articles.

Rules: Let's be respectful, and if we are debating a topic, keep it civil. This community is to discuss Reza Aslan, his views, articles, etc. No personal attacks. If you have more than two pictures, put them behind a cut. No community promotion unless it relates to Reza Aslan or Islam. Any other questions can be directed at the mod.

The Mod: What up, I'm Brittany and I'm the mod. I created this community because, duh, I love Reza Aslan. I wrote to him in April 2006 and actually got a response because he is that awesome. I'm twenty four years old, and am a revert Muslimah. I live in Greensboro, North Carolina with my son, Preston, and my fiancee, Gabriel.

Connect

Interests (27):