Religious Scholar Aslan to Speak at Mason

Internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan will come to George Mason University on Tuesday, Nov. 16 to discuss whether America is "Islamophobic." He will speak in the Johnson Center Cinema from 3-5 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Aslan has degrees in religion from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction.

In addition, he has published multiple books, including No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, the top-selling book in the Islam History category on Amazon.com. He published his most recent work, Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in a Globalized Age, in April. Aslan is also a contributing editor at the Daily Beast and president and CEO of Aslan Media Inc.

"Aslan is one of the most visible and thoughtful commentators on Islam working in the U.S. today," said Brian Platt, chair of the Department of History and Art History. "The public discussion of Islam in the U.S. is often either facile or hysterical, and Aslan has consistently sought to establish a more thoughtful, reasoned tone for discussion."

The event is sponsored by the Department of History and Art History, the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Office of the Provost.