February 10, 2007

REZA ASLAN
The Future of Islam:
Can Faith and Freedom Co-Exist?

Saturday, February 10, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Congregation Herzl Ner Tamid
3700 E. Mercer Way - Mercer Island, WA
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

In 1979, at age seven, Reza Aslan fled Iran with his family amidst the chaos of a revolution. Today, he is one of the nation’s most respected experts on Islam and the Middle East, a scholar and media consultant on issues of religion and politics and author of the internationally acclaimed No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Praised by the New York Times as a “grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined...literate, accessible introduction to Islam,” No god but God has established Aslan as the most dynamic voice of liberal Islam in the United States. Aslan is a Middle East commentator for Marketplace and Muslim Affairs Analyst for CBS News, as well as a contributing writer for the LA Times. In his lectures and writings, Aslan masterfully explores the intricate interplay between faith and politics in the Muslim world, presenting Islam as an ever-evolving faith and culture that is currently in the midst of a cataclysmic internal battle for reform and modernization.

Drawing from No god but God, Aslan examines how, in the shadow of European colonialism, Muslims developed conflicting strategies to reconcile traditional Islamic values with the social and political realities of the modern world. He explains with great lucidity the different sects and schism within Islam and demonstrates the variety of ways in which the religion has been understood and interpreted by Muslims and Westerners throughout history. Aslan argues that the current conflicts in the Middle East are not the result of a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West, but rather the consequence of an “Islamic Reformation” occurring within the Muslim world, an internal struggle to define the future of this magnificent yet misunderstood faith and to harmonize its traditions and values with contemporary ideals of democracy and human rights. The first young Muslim intellectual to come on the scene in years, Aslan brings a new, passionate, and much-needed perspective to the national discussion regarding Islam.

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