World

Reza Aslan misrepresents his status as scholar of ‘religions’; downplays his ties to extreme Islamists

Font Size:

Reza Aslan, celebrated author of the new Jesus book “Zealot,” falsely claimed to be “a scholar of religions” in the widely-circulated Fox News interview that boosted his book to bestseller status. Aslan holds a doctoral degree in sociology of religion and his prominence as a pundit on religious issues is mainly a function of his ability to provide moderate-seeming comments that favor Islamists.

Aslan also presents himself as a moderate despite his affiliation with the Iranian government. The long-time pundit is an advisory board member of the National Iranian American Council, a group that has been described by Iranian dissidents under oath as a “front group” for the Iranian government.

NIAC was funded by the Alavi Foundation and the PARSE Foundation, both of which have since been shut down, the former because of its status as a front group for the Iranian regime.

Aslan also has a long history of downplaying the dangers of jihadist groups, specifically denying the extremism of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the country where the Brotherhood got its start and which recently toppled its extremist Brotherhood-affiliated president.

The Hollywood-based scholar has gotten an enormous boost, for both his reputation and his book sales, from a Fox interview last week in which he compellingly argued that he was simply a humble scholar of religion being unfairly targeted because of his Islamic faith.

Speaking with feckless Fox host Lauren Green, Aslan claimed that he was “an expert with a Ph.D. in the history of religions,” that he was a “historian,” and that he was a “professor of religions” for “a living.” The interview has caught on widely, with pro-Aslan commenters calling it an “Islamophobic attack,” the “most forehead-slapping Fox interview of the year,” and a “debacle” that left viewers “outraged.”

aslancreativewriting1

In fact Aslan was misrepresenting his academic credentials. His Ph.D. is in sociology of religion from the University of California-Santa Barbara, and his dissertation was titled “Global Jihadism as a Transnational Social Movement: A Theoretical Framework.” Although he has a Master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, his academic concentration has been in sociology and creative writing.

Aslan has a posting at the University of California, Riverside, in the creative fiction department, having obtained his M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Iowa’s Creative Writing program in 2002.

aslancreativewriting2

One of the “four degrees” he cites is a work of fiction—his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Iowa, titled, “The Story of Zero” and published in 2002.

According to records from the University of California-Riverside, Aslan is currently a professor in the Department of Creative Writing. He does teach courses in the Middle East and Islamic Studies department. In 2010-2011, Aslan taught “Contemporary Literature from the Modern Middle East.”

He is not listed as teaching religious courses anywhere on the Middle East and Islamic Studies website.  His Ratemyprofessors.com page does mention many courses taught in creative writing, but none taught on Islam.

Nor is Aslan listed as teaching courses in religion on the school’s website.

Aslan is also a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, writing for the Washington Post in 2012, “The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is a good thing.” Aslan also praised the election of Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist leader of Egypt who was recently ousted by a military coup with wide popular support.

This easy tone goes back at least to a 2007 appearance in which Aslan categorically stated that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was not a jihadist organization.

In a February tweet, Aslan guessed that the relationship between Morsi and extremist Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would “help their countries” — an assertion that raises serious questions about his reputation as a moderate, in addition to having been proven spectacularly wrong in the ensuing five months.

Aslan’s claim would also come as a surprise to Morsi himself, who in a 2012 speech exhorted the chant “Jihad is our path, and death for Allah is our most lofty aspiration.”

Aslan also claimed that Osama bin Laden was not inspired by Islam to attack the United States. “His justifications are not religious,” Aslan stated in a 2007 debate with atheist writer Sam Harris. “He states very clearly it’s because of Palestine, it’s because of troops in Saudi Arabia, it’s because of now what’s going on in Iraq.” He repeatedly told Harris that there were no theological grievances.

That, too, is false. Bin Laden had repeatedly invoked the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad to justify his attacks. “I’m fighting so I can die a martyr and go to heaven to meet God. Our fight now is against the Americans,” he told al-Quds al-Arabi the day after the Islamist terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Reza Aslan with Mohammad Khatami. Facebook

Aslan does not limit his kind words to Sunni extremists, however. His comments on Iran rarely if ever depart from the official line of that country’s mullahs.

Aslan, whose last name is actually Aslanpour, did not return a phone call request for comment.

Since Aslan’s Fox News interview he has become a cause célèbre for BuzzFeed, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and many others. His book has also skyrocketed on Amazon’s bestseller lists.

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple has demanded that Fox apologize to Aslan.

Follow Charles on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel