Hussein Rashid

Hussein Rashid's Blog

I am an American, a Muslim, an academic, a believer. I believe the only way to learn is to teach. As a speaker and writer I hope to work with you and your community.

Translations of the Qur'an

Abdel Haleem

Ahmed Ali

Bakhtiar

Behbudi and Turner

Khalidi

Mir Ali

Quli Qarai

Yusuf Ali

Introductory Books on Islam - Reading List

General:

• Abou El Fadl, Khaled. Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2001.
• Algar, Hamid. Wahhabism: A Critical Essay. Oneonta, NY: Islamic Publications International, 2001.
• Bulliet, Richard W. The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
• Ernst, Carl W. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
• Firestone, Reuven. Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Lawrence, Bruce B. New Faiths, Old Fears: Muslims and Other Asian Immigrants in American Religious Life. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
• Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. Travels With a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah. New York: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2002.
• Nanji, Azim and Razia Nanji. The Penguin Dictionary of Islam. New York: Penguin, 2008.
• Rogerson, Barnaby and Rose Baring. Meetings With Remarkable Muslims. London: Eland, 2005.
• Safi, Omid. Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism. Oxford: Oneworld, 2003.
• Sells, Michael Anthony. Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 1999.
• Wallace-Murphy, Tim. What Islam Did for Us: Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilization. Watkins, 2006.

North America:

• Abdo, Geneive. Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11. Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.
• Abdul-Ghafur, Saleemah. Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005.
• Afzal-Khan, Fawzia. Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2005.
• Ahmed, Leila. A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--a Woman's Journey. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1999.
• Bullock, Katherine. Muslim Women Activists in North America : Speaking for Ourselves. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.
• Cone, James H. Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream Or a Nightmare. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991.
• Leonard, Karen Isaksen. Muslims in the United States: The State of Research. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2003.
• Webb, Gisela. Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists in North America. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
• X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999.

Europe:

• Cesari, Jocelyne. When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, (ed.) Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
• Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck and Jane I. Smith, (eds.) Muslim Minorities in the West: Visible and Invisible. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002.

Political Science:

• Abou El Fadl, Khaled, Joshua Cohen, and Deborah Chasman. Islam and the Challenge of Democracy: A Boston Review Book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004.
• Abou El Fadl, Khaled, Joshua Cohen, and Ian Lague. The Place of Tolerance in Islam. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.
• Devji, Faisal. Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity. Crises in World Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005.
• Dreyfuss, Robert. Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2005.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures Or Clash of Interests. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
• Kepel, Gilles. The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2004.
• Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Mamdani, Mahmood. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004.
• Roy, Olivier. Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
• Roy, Olivier. Secularism Confronts Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

Interfaith:

• 'Ashur, Radwá, and William Granara. Granada: A Novel. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2003.
• Bill, James A., and John Alden Williams. Roman Catholics and Shii Muslims: Prayer, Passion, and Politics. Chapel Hill [N.C.]; London: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Kaltner, John. Inquiring of Joseph: Getting to Know a Biblical Character Through the Quran. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2003.
• Khalidi, Tarif. The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature. Convergences. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
• Mahfuz, Najib, and Peter Theroux. Children of the Alley. New York: Anchor Books, 1996.
• Menocal, Maria Rosa. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. Boston: Little, Brown, 2002.

Not on CNN Islam:

• Daftary, Farhad. A Short History of the Ismailis: Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.
• Ernst, Carl W. The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston, Mass.: Shambhala, 1997
• Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2003
• Hyder, Syed Akbar. Reliving Karbala: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
• Jalal al-Din, Rumi, and Coleman Barks. The Essential Rumi. San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1995
• Khan, Aga. Where Hope Takes Root: Democracy and Pluralism in an Independent World. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008
• Patel, Eboo. Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007
• Roberts, Allen F., Mary Nooter Roberts, Gassia Armenian, and Ousmane Guáeye. A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal. Los Angeles, Calif.: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2003
• Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2007
• Shah-Kazemi, Reza. Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2006
• Subhani, Ja'far, Reza Shah-Kazemi. Doctrines of Shi'i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices. London; New York London: I.B. Tauris Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2001.

DVD:

• Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
  
• Islam: Empire of Faith
  
• Inside Mecca
  
• Frontline: Muslim
  
• 13th Warrior
  
• Three Kings
  
• Malcolm X
  
• Kingdom of Heaven
  
• The Crusades - Crescent and the Cross
  
• The Crusades
  
• Persepolis
  
• Nazrah
  

Websites:

• http://www.altmuslim.com/
• http://www.altmuslimah.com/
• http://muslimahmediawatch.org/
• http://talkislam.info/
• http://www.religiondispatches.org/
• http://www.islamicate.com/
• http://www.akdn.org/
• http://sistani.org/
• http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/
• http://insideislam.wisc.edu/

Courses at Park Ave. Christian - Spring 2010

http://www.parkavenuechristian.com/quest1

INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM

Four Mondays at 6:30 pm, beginning February 1

Tickets: $100 through smarttix.com

Even the most sophisticated New Yorkers know little about Islam. What limited knowledge we do have comes through the media, where facts are often incomplete. This introductory course will cover the principal beliefs of Islam, the differences between Sunnis and Shiites, the Muslim “Bible” the Qur’an, as well as the idea of jihad. Class readings will be provided. Ample time will be provided for class discussion and questions.

QUR’AN: PROPHETIC STORIES

Four Wednesdays at 6:30 pm, beginning March 3

Tickets: $100 through smarttix.com

The Qur’an. Islam’s sacred scripture, is not like the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. It is not organized by books or authors or prophets. Traditional Muslims believe that the Qur’an was dictated by God (Allah) to the Prophet Mohammed. The Qur’an makes reference, however, to many personalities and episodes found in Jewish and Christian literature. Hussein Rashid has chosen some of these biblical tales, and will show how they appear in the Qur’an, often changed in interesting ways.

Mention: Change.org

Mentioned in an article on Change.org about a response to racial profiling.

Reprint: Orientalizing Ourselves

Patheos recently republished an article of mine from Religion Dispatches.

In the United States, a place I have argued is a new intellectual Mecca, rather than attacking a simplified version of Islam, an Islam-lite if you will, I find more and more American Muslims defining themselves by Orientalist constructions of what Islam means. I wish I could say that this is a type of double-consciousness, where we are aware of how others view us and we are struggling against it. It is, I fear, a radical internalization of an Islam-lite that debases our tradition and makes both Muslim and non-Muslims more ignorant and sheep-like.x

Speaking Event: International Conference on Islam and the Media

Will be in Boulder, CO, for the International Conference on Islam and the Media. I will be on a panel talking about The 99.

From the conference description:

If we believe the torrent of popular headlines on Islam today, it seems that only Muslim extremists are talking about their religion, pursuing a project that claims to defend it from “secularized” Western culture. From Bin Laden’s call to jihad to the angry reaction of Muslims to the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, Muslims are portrayed in the media as irrational followers of a religion adamantly out of step with modernity. In the face of this, and perhaps in order to balance their coverage of Islam, Western journalists, pundits, and others have been asking “where are the moderate Muslims?” But few true moderates have emerged. Instead, some Western media have turned to another extreme: Muslim secularists or “Muslim non-believers”--voices which deserve media attention, but which arguably stand at the opposite fringe, rather than nearer the center of how Islam is lived and understood today.

Interview: Good Day NY - Racial Profiling

I was recently interviewed by Good Day NY on Fox TV concerning a State Assemblyman's bill to profile Muslims. The short version of the interview is below, the full segments below the fold.

Speaking Event: Parliament of World Religions

I will be speaking at the Parliament of World Religions, in Melbourne, Australia. I have one primary panel, listed below, and several other panels.

Sun., Dec. 6, 16:30-18:00

An Islamic Conscience: The Aga Khan and the Ismailis (respondent)

Room 107

Film and Discussion

The Aga Khan has been the spiritual leader of 15 mil- lion Ismaili Muslims for the past five decades. Born into wealth and privilege, he has devoted his life to eliminating poverty and inequality. At a time when Islam is at odds within itself and with the West, this film presents the Aga Khan as a voice of moderation, speaking out for plural- ism, and promoting dialogue between civilisations. The film was directed by Jane Chablani, Bill Cran, and Shamir Allibhai.

Mon., Dec. 7, 9:30-11:00

The Role of Media in Conflict Resolution (was added late and not listed on program)

Room 204

The international media, with its global reach and pow- erful influence, can fan flames of conflict and misun- derstanding, or it can help to quench them and bring illumination. This panel will discuss possible strategies for utilising broadcast, print and Internet media outlets to promote and facilitate interfaith and intergroup under- standing and dialogue; participants will include journal- ists, educators, producers and activists.

Mon., Dec. 7, 2009, 11:30-13:00

Blogistan: Muslims Dialogue through New Media (Primary Panel)

Room 208

In the last several years, Muslim Americans have become increasingly active online. More and more, they are har- nessing the full potential of New Media to combat stereo- types, racism and ignorance. They have built followings among Muslims and non-Muslims, and their efforts serve as resources for education about Islam and Muslims. This panel will discuss a variety of Muslim-American pres- ences on the Internet (individual blogs, group blogs, and online magazines) and the use of Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook and Twitter to impact conversations not only within the Muslim community but also about the Muslim community. These traditions allow Muslims to represent themselves but also to continue the age-old Muslim traditions of arguing and discussing the major issues of the day.

Tue. Dec. 8, 2009, 14:30-16:00

Changing the Conversation about Islam and Muslims through Film: Shia, Puerto Rican-American and Australian Voices

Room 106

In this session, participants will hear from speakers in- volved with the making of three internationally acclaimed films that promote dialogue between Muslims and non- Muslims. In ‘New Muslim Cool’, Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Perez takes viewers on a ride through the streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, to some surprising places where we can all see ourselves reflected in a world that never stops changing. ‘An Islamic Conscience’ features the life of the Aga Khan, who has been the spiritual leader of 15 million Ismaili Muslims for the past five decades. Born into wealth and privilege, he has devoted his life to eliminating poverty and inequality. At a time when Islam is at odds within itself and with the West, this film presents the Aga Khan as a voice of mod- eration and pluralism. Riots in Sydney in 2005 signalled a deepening divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in Australia. The film ‘Beyond Beliefs’ tells the story of how, in March 2007, some 400 Australians came together at Old Parliament House in Canberra for three days to con- sider how to build understanding across the divide. Please consult the schedule for viewing times of each film, which should be watched as a prerequisite.

Wed., Dec. 9, 2009, 9:30-11:00

Leadership among Muslim Males in the Post-9/11 Era

Room 217

This distinguished panel of diverse and engaging Muslim men will examine the need for Muslim males to reflect upon what being a Muslim means, taking into account multifaceted roles of being fathers, husbands and leaders in the post-9/11 era. Panellists will talk about bridging the cross-generational gap between today’s young Muslim males and older generations. They will reflect upon efforts to guide the next generation of Muslim men away from vio- lence, extremism and political turmoil, towards tolerance, mutual respect, understanding and knowledge-based learning.

Quoted: Jewish Week on the Weekend of Twinning

Article is here.

Responding to those questions in an interview, Hussein Rashid, one of the event's co-leaders and a visiting professor of religious studies at Hofstra University, called Geyer's question "refreshing" and said he wasn't alone in expressing those thoughts. Rashid said that Muslim scholars have begun to respond to violence against Muslim themselves - the overwhelming majority of terror victims - as well as to violence against non-Muslims.

Terrorism committed by Islamic extremists is "painful for me because my religion is being portrayed in this way," said Rashid, who grew up in Rego Park. It's also painful "because the ideal of America, as a community of different people, is being ruptured by people who don't know what that ideal means."

Mention: WaPo On Faith

Eboo Patel mentions my work:

I said two prayers when I saw the initial reports: the first for the dead and suffering, the second about the shooter, praying that he wasn't Muslim. A whole lot of Muslims know how I feel, just check out the blog posts by people like Hussein Rashid, Wajahat Ali, Daisy Khan and a host of others on this.