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The Mahdi

Father Jake had a question regarding the Mahdi and the use of the name “Mahdi Army” by Muqtada as-Sadr. He’s gone out and done a fair amount of research, and I wanted to add my two cents. From a theological perspective, the idea of the Mahdi is incredibly ill-defined, because the idea of the end days are ill-defined in the Qur’an. While we have a sense that the mountains will crumble, stars will fall from the sky and the sky itself will tear, there is no equivalent to the Book of Revelations in the Qur’an. (For a wonderful discussion of…

Event: McGinley Lecture, April 14 and April 15

It is time for the McGinley Lecture at Fordham. This term, I will be giving a response to the theme of “Poverty: The Curse and The Blessing.” The event will be Tuesday, April 14 at 6PM at the Lincoln Center campus, and repeated on Wednesday, April 15, at 6PM at the Rose Hill campus. Details on this event can be found here. Previous topics I have been a respondent to include: Usury: A Moral Concern for Jews, Christians and Muslims (Video | text of my response) Life After Death: Hopes and Fears for Jews, Christians and Muslims (Video | text…

Panel: Advancing Religious Literacies: Exploring Islam through the Cultural Studies Method

The loud discourse on Islam in the United States today marks Muslims as a threat, embroiled in pre-modern sensibilities, and unable to participate in democratic societies. These articulations are often made by recycling colonial and oriental images of Muslim women as oppressed and Muslim men as violent, with objects such as the hijab and the figure of the terrorist at the center. This rise of Islamophobic commentary has resulted in myriad incidences of bullying, teasing, and direct violence against teachers and students who identify, or are read by others, as Muslims. All this points to the lack of understanding about Islam and…