Reza Aslan

Reza Aslan (Persian: رضا اصلان‎, IPA: [ˈɾezɒː æsˈlɒːn]; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of religious studies, writer, and television host. He has written four books on religion: No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization,[1] Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth and God: A Human History.

Reza Aslan
Aslan at Texas Book Festival, 2013
Born (1972-05-03) May 3, 1972
Tehran, Iran
CitizenshipIranian-American
EducationSanta Clara University (BA)
Harvard University (MTS)
University of Iowa (MFA)
University of California, Santa Barbara (PhD)
OccupationScholar, writer, and TV host
OrganizationAslan Media Inc., BoomGen Studios
Notable work
No God but God
Zealot
Spouse(s)
(
m. 2011)
Children3
RelativesLeila Forouhar (aunt)
Websitewww.rezaaslan.com

Aslan is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the International Qur'anic Studies Association. He is a professor of creative writing at University of California, Riverside[2] and a board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).[3]

Background

Aslan's family came to the United States from Tehran in 1979, fleeing the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.[4] He attended Del Mar High School in San Jose, and graduated class of 1990. In the early 1990s, Aslan taught courses at De La Salle High School in Concord, California.

Aslan holds a B.A. in religious studies from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Harvard Divinity School, a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in fiction writing from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, and a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.[5][6][7][8] His 2009 dissertation, titled "Global Jihadism as a Transnational Social Movement: A Theoretical Framework",[9] discussed contemporary Muslim political activism.[10]

In August 2000, while serving as the Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Aslan was a visiting faculty member in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Iowa.[11]

Aslan was the 2012–13 Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Drew University Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict.[12][13]

An Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2012 to 2013, he is also a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities,[14] and the Pacific Council on International Policy.[15] He has served as Legislative Assistant for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C.,[16] and was elected President of Harvard's Chapter of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.[16] Aslan also serves on the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues, PEN Center USA, a writer's advocacy group, and he serves on the national advisory board of The Markaz (formerly the Levantine Cultural Center), a program to promote peace between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world.[15] He also serves on the board of trustees for the Chicago Theological Seminary[17] and is on the advisory board of the Yale Humanist Community.[18]

Religious views

Aslan was born into a Shia Muslim family. He converted to evangelical Christianity at the age of 15,[19] and converted back to Islam the summer before attending Harvard.[20] In 2005 The Guardian called him "a Shia by persuasion".[21] In a 2013 interview with WNYC host Brian Lehrer, Aslan said: "I'm definitely a Muslim and Sufism is the tradition within Islam that I most closely adhere to."[22] In a 2013 article in The Washington Post, Aslan states: "It's not [that] I think Islam is correct and Christianity is incorrect. It's that all religions are nothing more than a language made up of symbols and metaphors to help an individual explain faith."[23] In 2014, in an interview with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, Aslan described Islam as:

a man-made institution. It's a set of symbols and metaphors that provides a language for which to express what is inexpressible, and that is faith. It's symbols and metaphors that I prefer, but it's not more right or more wrong than any other symbols and metaphors. It's a language, that's all it is.[24]

Career
Aslan speaking at Roanoke College, 18 April 2012

Writing

Aslan has published three books, edited two anthologies and writes frequently for different media outlets.[25][26]

Books
No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
Main article: No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam is a non-fiction book published in 2005. The book describes the history of Islam and argues for a liberal interpretation of the Islamic religion. It blames Western imperialism and self-serving misinterpretations of Islamic law by past scholars for the current controversies within Islam,[27] challenging the "Clash of Civilizations" thesis.[28]

How to Win a Cosmic War (a.k.a. Beyond Fundamentalism)

In 2009, Aslan published his second book, How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of Terror. The following year, it was rereleased in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization.[1] The book is both a study of the ideology fueling Al Qaeda, the Taliban and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world, and an exploration of religious violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The author argues that the United States, by infusing the War on Terror with its own religiously polarizing rhetoric, is fighting a similar war—a war that he asserts cannot be won.[29]

Aslan refers to Al Qaeda's jihad against the west as "a cosmic war", distinct from holy war, in which rival religious groups are engaged in an earthly battle for material goals. "A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens." American rhetoric of "war on terrorism", Aslan says, is in precise "cosmic dualism" to Al Qaeda's jihad. Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and Jihadism. Islamists have legitimate goals and can be negotiated with, unlike Jihadists, who dream of an idealized past of a pan-Islamic, borderless "religious communalism". Aslan's prescription for winning the cosmic war is not to fight, but rather to engage moderate Islamic political forces in the democratic process. "Throughout the Middle East, whenever moderate Islamist parties have been allowed to participate in the political process, popular support for more extremist groups has diminished."[29]

The New Yorker called Beyond Fundamentalism a "thoughtful analysis of America's War on Terror".[30] The Washington Post added that it "offers a very persuasive argument for the best way to counter jihadism."[29]

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Main article: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Aslan's book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2013) is an historical account of the life of Jesus, which analyzes the various religious perspectives on Jesus, as well as the creation of Christianity. In the work, Aslan argues that Jesus was a political, rebellious and eschatological Jew whose proclamation of the coming kingdom of God was a call for regime change that would end Roman hegemony over Judea and end a corrupt and oppressive aristocratic priesthood.[31]

Other writing

Aslan has written articles for The Daily Beast as a contributing editor.[32] He has also written for various newspapers and periodicals, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Slate, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Nation,[33] and The Christian Science Monitor.[34]

Work as editor

Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, an anthology edited and published by him, appeared in 2011. In collaboration with Words Without Borders, Aslan worked with a team of three regional editors and seventy-seven translators, amassing a collection of nearly 200 pieces originally written in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Turkish, many presented in English for the first time.[35]

Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities (2011) co-edited with Abraham's Vision founder Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, is a collection of essays exploring contemporary Jewish-Muslim relations in the United States and the distinct ways in which these two communities interact with one another in that context.[36]

Business ventures

Aslan Media

Aslan founded Aslan Media, a media platform offering alternative coverage of the Middle East and its global diaspora communities.[37]

BoomGen Studios

In 2006, Aslan partnered with Iranian American cinematographer and producer Mahyad Tousi to create BoomGen Studios, a studio and production company focused to bring stories from and about the Middle East to American audiences. Projects that they consulted on include National Geographic's Amreeka; Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the Broadway adaptation of Aladdin; the Weinstein Company's Miral; Relativity Media's Desert Dancer; Fork Films' The Trials of Spring; Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater; and 2014 Oscar-nominated documentary The Square.[38]

Of Kings and Prophets

In January 2015, BoomGen announced that ABC picked up its biblical epic, Of Kings and Prophets, a dramatic retelling of the central story in the Hebrew Bible: the story of King David from shepherd to king. The series followed an ensemble of characters including Saul and David, the successive Kings of Israel, their families, and their political rivals. Of Kings and Prophets was set in the Kingdom of Israel, but filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. Aslan, Tousi and Jason Reed served as executive producers on the show.[39]

TV projects
The Leftovers

In 2015, Aslan joined popular HBO series The Leftovers as a consulting producer for both its second and third seasons. In addition to helping to craft the foundation of the show, Aslan was integral in protagonist Kevin Garvey's season two character arc.[40]

Rough Draft

In March 2016, cable network Ovation premiered Rough Draft with Reza Aslan, a fast-paced and timely talk show featuring Aslan in conversation with critically acclaimed authors and writers in film, TV and journalism.[41]

Believer

In 2015, Aslan began productionon the "spiritual travel series" Believer, a documentary series that follows Aslan as he immerses himself and experiences various religious traditions internationally, focusing on sects considered fringe and disreputable by larger religions. The program, which Aslan compared to Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown[42] was part of CNN's original programming lineup and premiered in March 2017.[43][44]

The first episode focused on the Aghori sect of Hinduism. Aslan was accused of sensationalism and anti-Hinduism when Aslan ate part of a human brain while meeting Aghori sadhus.[45][46] The United States India Political Action Committee said in a statement that "[w]ith multiple reports of hate-fueled attacks against people of Indian origin from across the U.S., the show characterizes Hinduism as cannibalistic, which is a bizarre way of looking at the third largest religion in the world."[47][48] Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco, described the episode as "reckless, racist, and anti-immigrant",[49] while Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation accused Aslan of being "poorly informed", circulating "common stereotypical misconceptions" about Hinduism and indulging in "religion porn" "to grab ratings", with the "most clichéd, spurious conflations of the Hindu religion with the caste system".[50]

US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard compared the show to "touring a zoo".[51][52] The show has also been criticized for saying that Varanasi was called "the city of the dead",[53][54] calling the immersion of ashes "dumping", presenting the Aghors as an exception in their struggle against the caste system,[55][56] and claims he misunderstood the distinction between Varna and Jāti,[57] and the notion of God in Hinduism.[55] The organizations American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) have also both questioned why Aslan's show does not cover Islam, his own religion. Aslan said that he had planned to cover the Ashura festival in Pakistan, but abandoned the plan because of insurance costs. He pledged to cover Islam if Believer had a second series.[58] On June 9, 2017, CNN announced that it has "decided to not move forward with production" on Aslan's Believer series after his profane anti-Trump tweets were widely criticized earlier in the week.[59]

Aslan has defended the episode on Facebook.[60]

Allah in the Family

Aslan (along with Andrew Reich) wrote a sitcom pilot titled "Allah in the Family" based on his experiences as an Iranian immigrant growing up in Oklahoma.[61]

Remarks about President Trump

After the 2017 London Bridge attack Aslan took to Twitter to call President Donald Trump "a piece of shit" and a "man baby" for his response to the attack.[62] On June 9, 2017, in response to his remarks, CNN decided to cut ties with Aslan and announced they would not move forward with season two of the Believer series.[59] Aslan said of the cancellation, "I am not a journalist. I am a social commentator and scholar. And so I agree with CNN that it is best that we part ways."[59]

Other media appearances

Aslan has made numerous appearances on TV and radio, including National Public Radio (NPR), Spirited Debate on Fox News, PBS, 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, Fareed Zakaria GPS, and ABC Australia's Big Ideas.[63]

2013 Fox News interview

On 26 July 2013, Aslan was interviewed on Spirited Debate, a Fox News webcast by Chief Religion Correspondent Lauren Green about his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.[64][65] Green was "unsatisfied with Aslan's credentials," and she pressed Aslan, questioning why a Muslim would write about Jesus.[66] Aslan answered, "Because it's my job as an academic. I am a professor of religion, including the New Testament. That's what I do for a living, actually." The interview lasted about ten minutes and focused "on Aslan's background more than the actual contents of the book."[66] The video clip of the interview went viral within days[64] and the book, which was up to that point selling "steadily",[64] appeared at the 4th place on The New York Times print hardcover best-seller list.[64] By late July 2013, it was topping the U.S. best-seller list on Amazon.[67]

Following Aslan's interview with Fox News, Elizabeth Castelli, professor of religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, reported a sense of outrage in academia, writing "Those of us in the academic field of religious studies, especially biblical scholars and historians of early Christianity, found the whole business deeply cringe-worthy. The Fox News interview was not just embarrassing but downright offensive. The anti-Muslim bias of Fox is well-documented and is bad enough, whatever the specific context. For scholars of religion, Green's conflation of the academic study of religion with personal religious identification is a familiar misunderstanding."[10]

Despite Elizabeth Castelli's dismissal of Fox News for questioning Aslan as a religious scholar as she acknowledged Aslan could claim as a scholar of "history-of-religions", she dismissed his claims of being a historian. She wrote "History of religions is ... a particular disciplinary approach... often associated in the United States with the University of Chicago and the University of California at Santa Barbara, where Aslan earned his PhD in sociology. To the extent that he did coursework in the UCSB Religious Studies department, he can certainly lay claim ... But his claims are more grandiose than that and are based on his repeated public statements that he speaks with authority as a historian. He has therefore reasonably opened himself to criticism."[10] The Atlantic concurred with Prof. Castelli's acknowledgment on Aslan's religious credentials.[68]

In The Washington Post, the journalist Manuel Roig-Franzia concurred with Prof. Castelli's critique of Aslan's historian credentials, noting that Aslan's university does not offer degrees in the history or the sociology of religion and writing that Aslan "boasts of academic laurels he does not have." However, he quoted Aslan's dissertation adviser, Mark Juergensmeyer, who acknowledged that their departments "don't have a degree in sociology of religions as such" but said that he "doesn't have a problem with Aslan's characterization of his doctorate, noting ... [Aslan] did most of his course work in religion" and his arrangement of getting Aslan out of the religious studies department into the sociology department "was undertaken to get Aslan out of time-consuming required language courses".[69] The Philadelphia Inquirer also noted UCSB "is famous for its interdisciplinary program—students tailor their studies around a topic, not a department. They choose a department only for the diploma."[70]

Professional membership

Aslan is a sitting member of the advisory board for the National Iranian American Council.[71] In 2015 as a member of the group, he joined with 73 other "prominent International Relations and Middle East scholars" in signing a statement of support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international agreement regarding the Iranian nuclear program.[72][73]

Political analysis

Analysis of War on Terrorism
Reza Aslan at the Miami Book Fair International 2013

Aslan refers to Al Qaeda's jihad against the west as "a cosmic war", distinct from holy war, in which rival religious groups are engaged in an earthly battle for material goals. "A cosmic war is like a ritual drama in which participants act out on earth a battle they believe is actually taking place in the heavens." American rhetoric of "war on terrorism", Aslan says, is in precise "cosmic dualism" to Al Qaeda's jihad. Aslan draws a distinction between Islamism and Jihadism. Islamists have legitimate goals and can be negotiated with, unlike Jihadists, who dream of an idealized past of a pan-Islamic, borderless "religious communalism". Aslan's prescription for winning the cosmic war is not to fight, but rather to engage moderate Islamic political forces in the democratic process. "Throughout the Middle East, whenever moderate Islamist parties have been allowed to participate in the political process, popular support for more extremist groups has diminished."[29]

Protection of religious freedom

Aslan has argued for religious freedom and protection for religious minorities throughout the Middle East.[74][75] He has called for Iran to protect and stop the "horrific human rights abuses" against its Baha'i community.[74] Aslan has also said that the persecution and displacement of Middle Eastern Christian communities "is nothing less than a regional religious cleansing that will soon prove to be a historic disaster for Christians and Muslims alike."[75]

Criticism of New Atheism

In a 2014 interview, Aslan criticized the "armchair atheism" of atheists like Sam Harris and Bill Maher for not having a formal background in the study of religion, and who in Aslan's opinion are therefore unable to effectively comment on how it shapes human behavior.[76] Aslan has also referred to Richard Dawkins as a "buffoon, embarrassing himself every day."[77] He contrasted New Atheists to the "philosophical atheism" of earlier thinkers who "were experts in religion, and so they were able to offer critiques of it that came from a place of knowledge, from a sophistication of education, of research."[76]

On 29 September 2014, Antonia Blumberg in The Huffington Post stated that Reza Aslan, on CNN, "criticized comedian Bill Maher for characterizing female genital mutilation as an 'Islamic problem,' in addition to making several other sweeping generalizations about the faith."[78] Aslan was reported as saying that "To say 'Muslim countries', as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same ... it's frankly, and I use this word seriously, stupid!" His criticism was not just of Maher, but of the overall way Muslims are portrayed in mainstream media.[79] Prachi Gupta, in Salon, wrote that Reza Aslan believed that the United States was partnering with Saudi Arabia while simultaneously condemning ISIS.[80]

On 8 October 2014, The New York Times published an article by Aslan entitled, "Bill Maher Isn't the Only One Who Misunderstands Religion" writing that, "Bill Maher is right to condemn religious practices that violate fundamental human rights. Religious communities must do more to counter extremist interpretations of their faith. But failing to recognize that religion is embedded in culture—and making a blanket judgment about the world's second largest religion—is simply bigotry."[81]

Writing in New Republic, Eric Sasson took issue with Aslan's claim in the CNN interview that men and women are treated equally in Indonesia and Turkey due to the countries having elected female leaders, pointing out that the Human Rights Watch reported a "significant rollback" of women's rights in both countries. Sasson also challenged Aslan's statement that female genital mutilation is only a problem in Central Africa, stating that it's also an issue in the predominantly Muslim country of Malaysia, which is in Asia.[82] The television and radio host David Pakman also cast doubt on some of Aslan's claims from the CNN interview.[83] Sam Harris criticized Aslan for blaming individuals rather than Islam as a whole for violence in the Muslim world, calling his approach "post-modernist nonsense."[84]

Personal life

Aslan and his ex-fiancée, journalist Amanda Fortini, ended their engagement in 2008.[85] He married entrepreneur and author, Jessica Jackley, a Christian, in 2011 together forming an interfaith family.[86] They have three sons.[87] His aunt is the Iranian-American pop singer, Leila Forouhar.[88]

Awards
  • 2014 Intersections Honoree, Intersections International[89]
  • 2013 Media Bridge-Builder Award, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding[90]
  • 2013 Peter J. Gomes Memorial Honor, Harvard Divinity School[91]
  • 2012 East-West Media Award, The Levantine Center[92][93]

Publications
  • "The Struggle for Islam's Soul", in Will Marshall (ed.), With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006.
  • "From Here to Mullahcracy", in Lila Azam Zanganeh (ed.), My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored Iranian Voices, Beacon Press, 2006.
  • "Losing the War", in Gilbert H. Muller (ed.), The New World Reader, CUNY Press, 2010.
  • How to Win a Cosmic War, published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age, Random House, 2010.
  • Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East (editor), W. W. Norton, 2011.
  • Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities (co-editor), Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
  • Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Random House, 2013.
  • No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2012.
  • God: A Human History, Random House, 2017.
gollark: Over here everyone is required to go to school. Apparently they can't do online school a few days a week because government says no.
gollark: UK.
gollark: Well, in my country not really.
gollark: Classrooms and such are often quite densely packed. Also corridors.
gollark: I mean, yes, you can wear a mask easily, but remaining distanced not so much.

References
  1. "Review: Beyond Fundamentalism – Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization". foreignpolicyjournal.com. 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  2. "UCR: Department of Creative Writing". creativewriting.ucr.edu.
  3. "Staff and Board". NIAC. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  4. "Reza Aslan — Islam's Reformation" (Interview). Interviewed by Krista Tippett. 20 November 2014.
  5. "Is Muslim Academic Reza Aslan More Biased Than a Christian Scholar?". patheos.com. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  6. "Stop calling Reza Aslan a fraud and learn how academia works". patheos.com. 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  7. Gottschalk, Keith (April 8, 2005). "Interview: Reza Aslan, Author 'No god but God'". Blogcritics. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  8. "Dr. Reza Aslan". Drew University. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  9. Reza Aslan (2009). Global Jihadism as a Transnational Social Movement: A Theoretical Framework (Ph.D.). University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
  10. Castelli, Elizabeth (August 9, 2013). "Reza Aslan—Historian?". The Nation. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  11. "Middle East and Islamic expert Reza Aslan to speak at UI April 12". University of Iowa News Services. April 5, 2010. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  12. Hochman, Louis C. (September 25, 2013). "Author Reza Aslan, who sees Jesus as a rebel, to speak at Drew tonight". NJ.com. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  13. Price, Barbara. "(Middle) East Meets Forest". Drew University. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  14. "List of LAIH Fellows". usc.edu. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  15. "Dr. Reza Aslan profile". sunstonemagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  16. "About the Author". parstimes.com. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
  17. "Board of Trustees". ctschicago.edu. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  18. "Board of Trustees". yalehumanists.com. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  19. "The life of Jesus: No angel". The Economist. July 27, 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  20. "Exclusive Loonwatch Interview with Reza Aslan". Loonwatch.com. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  21. "Waiting for an Islamic Enlightenment". The Guardian. 22 October 2005. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  22. Murphy, Dan (July 28, 2013). "Can Muslims write about Christianity?". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  23. Roig, Manuel (2013-08-08). "Reza Aslan: A Jesus scholar who's hard to pin down". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  24. Aslan, Reza (October 13, 2014). "Reza Aslan - Bigotry, Fundamentalism and Neo-Atheism in the Media". The Young Turks (Interview). Interviewed by Cenk Uygur. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  25. "Books". rezaaslan.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  26. "Writing". rezaaslan.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  27. Keddie, Nikki R. (2005-04-07). "Taking History on Faith". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  28. "Author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam to speak on campus". stanford.edu. 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  29. "Book Review: 'How to Win a Cosmic War' by Reza Aslan". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  30. "Briefly Noted". newyorker.com. 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  31. "Still a Firebrand, 2,000 Years Later". nytimes.com. 2013-08-05. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  32. "Reza Aslan". thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  33. "Reza Aslan". clintonschoolspeakers.com. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  34. "Those defending US Constitution from sharia must have failed high school civics". clintonschoolspeakers.com. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  35. "Reza Aslan: "Tablet and Pen"". thedianerehmshow.org. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  36. "Muslims and Jews in America: A Valuable New Resource". rrc.edu. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  37. "Kiva Founder to Speak at Georgia Southern University". eagle-entrepreneur.com. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  38. "About". rezaaslan.com. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  39. "ABC Picks Up TV Series Developed by UCR Scholars". ucr.edu. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  40. "Is The Leftovers' Kevin Garvey a Shaman Ushering People Into the Next World?". pajiba.com. 2015-10-14. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  41. "'Leftovers' Producer Reza Aslan on His New Ovation Talk Show: 'It's A Little Bit Raunchy'". Variety.com. 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  42. Makarechi, Kia. "Reza Aslan on the Stakes of America's "Crisis of Identity"". Vanity Fair.
  43. "CNN Greenlights Three New Original Series For The 2017 Programming Slate". CNN.com. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  44. "In CNN's 'Believer,' Reza Aslan to aim for a window on world religions". chicagotribune.com. 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  45. Pattanaik, Devdutt. "CNN's Believer: Reza Aslan's show on Hindu mendicants is bigoted no matter how you look at it".
  46. Zutshi, Vikram. "Tempest in a teapot: A rebuttal to Reza Aslan's critics from someone who's lived with Aghoris".
  47. "Reza Aslan, host of CNN's 'Believer,' catches grief for showcasing religious cannibals in India". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  48. Ali, Lorraine (4 March 2017). "CNN's 'Believer With Reza Aslan' could use a little more enlightenment itself". Los Angeles Times.
  49. Juluri, Vamsee (5 March 2017). "CNN's 'Believer' Is Reckless, Racist And Dangerously Anti-Immigrant". Huffington Post.
  50. Shukla, Aseem. "Reza Aslan's 'Believer' sensationalizes and stereotypes Hindus". Religion News Service.
  51. "Tulsi Gabbard joins American Hindus in slamming CNN". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  52. "US lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard criticises CNN over 'negative' portrayal of Hinduism". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  53. "News channel gets slammed for calling Varanasi 'City of the Dead' in video series teaser". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  54. "Varanasi as 'city of dead' in 'Believer With Reza Aslan' sparks row". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  55. "Misleading And Sensational, CNN's 'Believer' Pilot Amounts To 'Fake News'". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  56. "Reza Aslan outrages Hindus by eating human brains in CNN documentary". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  57. "Reza Aslan's 'Believer'—An Exhibit of Unconcealed Hinduphobia". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  58. "Hindu groups, Ro Khanna object to CNN docu's negative portrayal of religion". Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  59. Stelter, Brian. CNN cancels Reza Aslan's show "Believer" after profane anti-Trump tweets, CNN, June 9, 2017.
  60. Aslan, Reza. "Comment on Believer's episode about the Aghors in India". facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  61. "Episode 16 - Allah in the Family written by Reza Aslan & Andrew Reich | Maximum Fun". www.maximumfun.org. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  62. Caitlin Yilek (2017-06-04). "CNN host calls Trump 'a piece of s-t' after London attack". Washingtonexaminer.com. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
  63. "Reza Aslan: Terrorism and How to Win a Cosmic War - Politics - Browse - Big Ideas - ABC TV". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  64. "Odd Fox News Interview Lifts Reza Aslan's Biography on Jesus". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  65. Fox News: "'Zealot' author Reza Aslan responds to critics" Lauren Green interview of Reza Aslan on July 26, 2013
  66. "Fox News interview with religion scholar Reza Aslan goes viral", Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2013
  67. "Amazon Best Sellers: Best Books". amazon.com.
  68. Graham, David A. (July 29, 2013). "Is Muslim Academic Reza Aslan More Biased Than a Christian Scholar?". The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group. Retrieved 20 May 2015. Aslan may not have a graduate degree in history, but he does have a Ph.D. and an M.T.S. that bear on the topic at hand. He has also published extensively on religion. Arguing he's somehow not a scholar, as John S. Dickerson did, isn't really credible.
  69. "Reza Aslan: A Jesus scholar who's hard to pin down". Washington Post.
  70. Derakhshani, Tirdad (July 29, 2013). "Reza Aslan's 'Zealot': Muslim's book about Jesus stirs things up". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  71. "Staff & Board". National Iranian American Council. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  72. "Middle East Studies Professors Shill for Iran on Nuclear Deal, Morally Equate US and Islamic Republic". algemeiner.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  73. Saud, Laith (8 September 2015). "Iran Deal Supporters Don't Care about Iraqi and Syrian People". Chicago Monitor. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  74. Reza Aslan and Michael Brooks (September 25, 2013). "For Iran's Rouhani, the human rights of Baha'is are the ultimate test of reform". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  75. Aslan, Reza (September 11, 2013). "The Christian Exodus". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  76. Singal, Jesse (October 14, 2014). "Reza Aslan on What the New Atheists Get Wrong About Islam". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
  77. Heawood, Sophie (14 August 2013). "Reza Aslan on Zealot, Fox News and Richard Dawkins" – via The Guardian.
  78. Blumberg, Antonia (30 September 2014). "Reza Aslan Blasts Bill Maher, Media For 'Unsophisticated' Reporting On Islam". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 4 October 2014. Reza Aslan has a thing or two to say about media coverage of Islam. Speaking in that CNN interview, Aslan criticized comedian Bill Maher for characterizing female genital mutilation as an "Islamic problem," in addition to making several other sweeping generalizations about the faith. "When it comes to the topic of religion he's not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks," Aslan said.
  79. "Reza Aslan Slams 'Bigoted' Media For Generalisation That Muslims Are Misogynistic And Violent". The Huffington Post. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  80. Gupta, Prachi (30 September 2014). "Reza Aslan takes down Bill Maher's "facile arguments" on Islam in just 5 minutes". Salon. Retrieved 4 October 2014. He also pointed out the U.S.'s own hypocrisy in calling out ISIS for its brutality while partnering with Saudi Arabia: "Look, Saudi Arabia is one of the most, if not the most, extremist countries in the world. In the month that we've been talking about ISIS and their terrible actions in Iraq and Syria, Saudi Arabia, our closest ally, has beheaded 19 people."
  81. Aslan, Reza. "Bill Maher Isn't the Only One Who Misunderstands Religion". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  82. Sasson, Eric (October 9, 2014). "Yes, Bill Maher Is Boorish. But We Shouldn't Be Afraid to Criticize Islam". New Republic. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  83. "Reza Aslan cannot be trusted". David Pakman. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  84. Illing, Sean (November 25, 2015). "Sam Harris talks Islam, ISIS, atheism, GOP madness: "We are confronting people, in dozens of countries, who despise more or less everything that we value"". Salon. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  85. Nazaryan, Alexander (August 29, 2013). "Bad News: When Journalism and Business Collide". The Wire. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  86. Katz Miller, Susan (September 28, 2013). "Reza Aslan and Jessica Jackley: A Muslim and Christian Interfaith Family". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  88. Hamad Ali, Syed (July 15, 2011). "Islam's pulse in the US". Gulf News. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  89. "2014 Awards Celebration". Intersections International. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  90. "Annual Award Ceremony 2013". Tenanbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  91. "HDS Alumni/Alumnae Council Announces Inaugural Gomes Honors Recipients". Harvard Divinity School. March 6, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  92. "2012 East-West Awards Celebrate Visions of Cultural Diplomacy". Levantine Cultural Center. November 1, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  93. "The Nuclear Agreement with Iran: A Plus for Regional Stability" (PDF). Retrieved 22 February 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.