Reza Aslan is a 44 year old, Muslim who was born in Tehran, Iran and later moved to America. Reza studies religion, is a writer, a writing professor, and a television producer. Reza graduated from multiple schools like Santa Clara University, Harvard Divinity School, University of California, University of Iowa, and Harvard University. Reza Aslan’s career consists of working as a professor for writing at the University of California, part taking in The Yale Humanist Community, and being a trustee on the board for Chicago Theological Seminary. Along with his career he is a member of many organizations like the American Academy of Religions where many religious scholars inform others about many different religious topics and issues. Reza is also an executive producer of the ABC, drama, Kings and Prophets. …show more content…
Aslan explains his wife as a ‘deeply spiritual compassionate human being’ who soothes his pessimistic soul. Although Aslan is a devoted Muslim his wife practices and follows Christianity. As parents, they plan to raise their children by teaching them morals and tell them all the stories and beliefs, giving them the ability to have an open mind. As Aslan grew up with his mother being ‘culturally Muslim’ as Reza put it and his father being an Atheist. He explained the environment of his home as an ‘anti-religion’ household rather than being religious. After leaving home for one weekend when he was fifteen years old Aslan converted to Christianity later converting his own mother. Although Aslan converted back to Islam, his mother continues to be a devoted Christian till this
People who practice the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam collectively comprise over one half of the world’s population, and while disparities between these three religions are widely spread and politicized, the similarities between their religious texts outweigh their differences. A crucial similarity between these three religions is their view on Abraham as their spiritual patriarch (lecture). The Koran makes use of both the Tanakh and the New Testament, and while minor differences exist between these texts, the perspectives they share are far more significant. The Koran retains many of the core ideas found in the Tanakh and the New Testament, specifically in regards to the perception of Abraham, the status of God, and the role of women. Any religious text can be interpreted in any number of ways, and while it is easy to pull apart texts of different faiths and dissect the differences, finding common ground and similarities is arguably more important.
Sberna, Robert. House of Horrors: The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Strangler. Kent, Ohio: Black Squirrel Books, 2012. Print.
The two most polarizing and influential religious figures of time, Jesus Christ and Muhammad, have been considered to be two people who, at two different times, attempted to bring messages that would change the landscape of the spirituality of the world and gain followings from the masses. Timothy George shows the two for being responsible for creating two of the three historical religions in the world, with both descended from the third, Judaism, in his article in Christianity Today. While both may have lived a parallel path for some parts and shared a similar message amongst a few issues, they severely disagreed in their teachings on others, and encountered different events in their life span, especially towards the end. From their lives’, to their actions, and to their teachings, this paper will examine the similarities and differences in the two great “teachers” of the religious movements of the Anno Domini age, and how vastly contrasting the two truly were at the core of their leadership and values. The heart of Islam and Christianity, examined to the core of their founders.
My name Ameenah Yamini, I am now 18 years old. I’m a senior at Frederick Douglass High School. I am the 12th child out of all my brother and sisters. It’s 7 girls and 5 boys, I know I have a big family. I used to live with both of my parents until my daddy died back in 2012, so now it’s just my mom and me. I used to have a job at Papa Johns in Dunwoody but I had to let it go because I have to focus on my school work. All i worry about is school, nothing else.
Reza Shah Pahlavi’s rise to power ended the 131-year reign of the Kajar dynasty and established the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. Much to the chagrin of not only Muslim clerics, but also the general population, Reza Shah Pahlavi leaned heavily towards secular ...
Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.
The Islamic tradition, as reflected in Naguib Mahfouz’s Zaabalawi, has over the course of history had an incredible impact on Arab culture. In Mahfouz’s time, Islamic practices combined with their political relevance proved a source of both great power and woe in Middle Eastern countries. As alluded to in Zaabalawi, Mahfouz asserts the fact that not all Muslims attain religious fulfillment through this common tradition, and other methods outside the scope of Islam may be necessary in true spiritual understanding.
This book, I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman’s Encounter with God, is, as the subtitle indicates, the story of how an aristocratic Pakistani woman, a lifelong Muslim, became a Christian in her fifties. Bilquis Sheikh was born in 1912 to conservative Muslim parents. As she grew up, she did not reject her Muslim faith, but acquired a disdain for anything spiritual or supernatural. If she could see it and explain it, she would believe it. Bilquis’ family was well known, hosting people from all over the world and often visiting London or Paris. Her husband was the Minister of the Interior, but they had divorced five years before, and feeling “the shame of rejection,” she secluded herself in her family’s ancestral home in the village of Wah. She lived with her servants and four-year-old grandson, and for the most part only visited with other family members.
Ayatollah Khomeini’s foundation to become the central figure and religious leader of the Iranian Revolution began in his childhood. He was born into a fairly wealthy Shi’ite Muslim family on September 24, 1902. His true name was Ruhollah Musavi, but he adopted the name of Khomeini after his place of birth. He never really knew his father because his father was murdered in 1903. When Khomeini was four years old, he began attending a local religious school and continued to attend it until he was sixteen years old. He then furthered his education at a theological college. He studied with Yazdi Ha’iri, a prominent Islamic scholar at the time. After he completed his college education, he became an Islamic teacher at Ha’iri’s school. After Ha’iri died, Ayatollah Boroujerdi took his place as the most important religious figure, and Khomeini became a follower. Khomeini preached against the continuing stray from traditional Islam in Iran and gained a group of followers. He gained the title of ayatollah, meaning a ‘sign of God,’ in the 1950s.
Iran’s society became more fundamentalist, which made Marji more disillusioned of her religion. At the beginning of the story, when the westernized dictator Shah governs Iran, Marji defines herself as a “very religious” (6) person, although she and her family think of themselves as being “very modern and Avant-Garde”(6). Religion, and its many stories and traditions perspectives allowed Marji to think of herself as “the last prophet”. Thinking of herself as a prophet somehow made her to escape to an imaginary religious glory where there were not violent atrocities. But, ironically, that religious imaginary boundary was only a façade that blocked her to see the violent reality. However, in the story “The Sheep” she began to see the cruel reality. In the story “The Sheep” Marji’s uncle Anoosh got executed by the so-called “Divine Justice”. Although the
Gulevich, Tanya, and Frederick S. Colby. Understanding Islam and Muslim Traditions. Detriot, Michigan: Omnigraphics, Inc., 2004. Print.
Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani writer and self-confessed “transcontinental mongrel”. Born in 1971 in Lahore, Hamid shifted to the United States at the age of eighteen. He attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked briefly as a management consultant in New York. After living in London for a few tears, he moved back to Pakistan and currently lives in Lahore with his wife and daughter.
Traditional Islamic clerics opposed Reza Khan's policies because they sought to decrease the Islamic clergy's power and prestige. He initiated educational a...
Based on the story of Islam Our Choice: Portraits of Modern American Muslim Women edited by Debra L. Dirks and Stephanie Parlove, I learned that not all people are born as lucky as we are. In this book, there are six short stories which are written by six different American Muslim women on how they encounter Islam. Each of them has their own stories about their background, carrier and their perspectives towards Islam before they become a Muslim. Truthfully, I enjoyed reading this book as it is written by those women who completely understand the limited freedom that they feel. Moreover, I also observed different culture in different society and how they see those differences as a unity instead of barrier to get close with each other.
¨Look at me... I will never pass for a perfect bride. Or a perfect daughter. Can it be, I'm not meant to play this part? Now I see, that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart. Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don't know? Somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried. When will my reflection show who I am inside?¨ In Disney's Movie Mulan, which is based on the medieval Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a young Chinese girl runs away from home upon failing her meeting with the ‘matchmaker’ and finding out the Huns have invaded. Mulan enlists herself in training to take her injured fathers spot in the upcoming war as he will surely die if he goes. At the time the movie is placed in