Media Literacy and the Middle East – Primary Source Podcast

Islam scholar Bernard Lewis left unfair legacy of disdain for Muslims – Religion News ServiceReligion News Service. Lewis’ transformation from scholar to neo-imperialist was not sudden, but there is a hint to be found in “The Assassins.” Originally published in 1967, it is an erudite work that sought to correct the record on the Nizari Isma’ilis, a Shiite Muslim community that had long been maligned as consumers of hashish, known in Arabic as “hashashin,” which transformed into the word “assassin.” The book fascinated me because it was a scholarly book at a time when scholarship was rarely applied to such topics.…

Why Islam forbids images of Mohammed – CNN.com. In a bitter irony, the sometimes violent attacks against portrayals of the prophet are kind of reverse idol-worship, revering — and killing for — the absence of an image, said Hussein Rashid, a professor of Islamic studies at Hofstra University in New York.

Ben Carson’s Islamophobia Isn’t Just Hateful. It Doesn’t Make Any Sense. | ThinkProgress. Carson is seemingly unaware as to the actual purpose of taqiya. According to Hussein Rashid, a professor of religious studies at Hofstra University who sits on the editorial board of the Islamic Monthly, the practice does allow Muslims leeway to obscure their beliefs — but only when faced with the threat of persecution or death.