This interview was conducted in Iowa City on April 7, 2005. Reza Aslan is the author of “No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.” (Random House 2005)
Bio on Reza Aslan from his webpage: Reza Aslan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from the University of Iowa, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in History of Religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Until recently, he was both Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has served as a legislative assistant for the Friends’ Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., and was elected president of Harvard’s Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a United Nations Organization committed to solving religious conflicts throughout the world. His work has appeared in popular magazines and academic journals. Born in Iran, he now lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. No god but God is his first book.
What prompted you to write “No god but God?”
RA: Part of it came from courses I was teaching here at the University of Iowa on religion and Islam, faith and practice, modernism, religion and politics. I was genuinely surprised at how popular these courses were and the hunger that people had to learn about the things I was talking about. I never knew that the subjects I was studying would hold so much interest for the people outside of my experience but they did.
The other thing was my agent thought of condensing the material covered in these courses into a book for the general readership. Now it was a different experience for me since I consider myself a novelist but I don’t get worked up by silly genres. In my mind there are two types of writing: good writing and bad writing.
So I changed gears and wrote this book the way I would write any fiction project. I just told a story, a narrative about the evolution of faith and process in Islam. I think the reason that the book has been well received is it’s not written like an academic text - I wouldn’t know how to do that anyway.
There’s a continuing sense that Americans misunderstand Islam, I take it this was part of your motivation. Some of the reviewers credit you for writing to the novice.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaman
Great interview - well-framed and good answers. Thank you
2 - Temple Stark
Damn straight . Thanks. Means I don't have to. I was lined up to do so and may still e-mail some questions.
I have the book in hand for review and, er god help me if I don't remember to link back to this post when I get it up there.
3 - Eric Olsen
super job Keith, very much appreciated!
4 - Sfc Ski
Very informative. Thanks.
5 - sonja valentine
i heard him interviewed on morning sedition last week. interesting and thought provoking.
nice job.
6 - ben afsouss
i really thank you for every single word !!!!!!!!!
7 - ben afsouss
its a great job!!!!!!!!!!
8 - Keith Gottschalk
Thanks for the comments. Aslan is a very interesting and engaging interview and has done yeoman's work condensing the history of Islam for the layman reader. He is getting some flack from more conservatve Muslims and from others who say he is pulling the wool over the eyes of Westerners (see Amazon's comments section). From my experience with him, he seems very sincere about his beliefs and I think for more politically conservative types its interesting that he gives the Bush administration a backhanded pass on Iraq - the ends, in his opinion, may justify to some degree, the means - but only if the end product is engineered by the Iraqi people.
As an aside if you wish to see him on television, he told me he's scheduled to be on with Dennis Miller soon and on radio with Charlie Rose. And his agent is working on getting him on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. So if you're interested, check the schedules.
9 - Aamir Ali
So far Mr Aslan seems to be well anchored both in his American and Muslim identities and is doing a good job. I just hope the success doesnt go to his head. Anyways best of luck Mr Aslan.
10 - SFC SKI
It may well be that moderate Muslims in the U.S. and to a lesser extent in Europe, are finally realizing that they need to use the freedoms and protections to speak out against extremist Islam or risk losing their religion to the fringe. I sure hope that they can somehow bring about the necessary changes by providing this voice.
11 - Cyrus Mossaddegh
www.iranian.com/Opinion/2005/February/Cyrus/
12 - Aaman
so this is a candidate for the Iranian presidency - interesting - tell us more about the political situation in Iran, Cyrus - is this a real or a dummy role in the Iranian government? What are your thoughts on the global situation, and the Petro-dollar?
13 - Eric Berlin
This book review has been selected for Advance.net. You’ll be able to find this and other Blog Critics reviews at such places at Cleveland.com’s Book Reviews column.
14 - Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi
Though I appreciate Mr. Aslan's achievements, as an Iranian writer and activist, I must say that I fully disagree with him and so do a huge section of the members of the Iranian Student Movement inside Iran. What Mr. Aslan is, is another enthusiast of Islam who has the luxury of living OUTSIDE Iran and enjoys all that secular life has to offer him. I speak to people in Iran EVERY single day and my own father is a celebrated journalist AND political prisoner there...believe me not ONE person thinks that bombs are going to fall and everyone realizes that U.S. military is stretched too think. Mr. Aslan may have spoken with some people who do not bother reading and react to sensationalistic garbage eminating from Mullah TV; I can assure you that a huge protion of Iran, from the student movement, to union leaders, to intellecutuals, academics etc. believe such nonsense. Mr. Aslan unfortunately has been turned into windon-dressing for nervous westerners who want to grasp at anything that slightly derides them while looking like they're one of them! I suggest you do not take one Iranian's word as gospel...there's much much more than meets the eye...
15 - Temple Stark
That's a fair statement too Mr. Zand-Bonazzi.
16 - Azim-Khamisi
The book is a call to reform, and a proposal to end the religious battle between East and West - its a great job .But i Think The Persian Like Puzzle-
'-Ç ÇÕáÇä ãÚÊÞÏ Ç"Ê ˜å Çí'Çä È'ÎáÇÝ Ïí' ˜"æ'åÇی ã"áãÇä ÌÇãÚåی ÈÇ' æ Â'ÇÏی ÏÇ'Ï¡ ãیÊæÇäÏ ÈÇ Û'È 'æÇÈØ ÕáÍÂãí'ی È'Þ'Ç' ˜äÏ æ Çã'í˜Ç ÈÇíÏ Ï"Ê Ç' ÊåÏíÏÇÊ ÎæÏ Úáíå Çí'Çä È'ÏÇ'Ï
17 - bilho
I heard Reza Islan at Emory U. a few weeks ago and thought his ideas about violence and the proponents of its use in international and social life were the most salient parts of his analysis of the world today. He seemed to sort of imply that the U.S. should stay in Iraq to keep the sectarian violence down by using U.S. armed forces. Being a thought-product of a wing (or feather) of the Protestant Reformation (the anabaptist nonviolent movements) I suddenly realized that what Iraq and the United States both need is for its citizens to embrace nonviolent social change because nothing else seems to work. Peace is the way.
18 - Eric Berlin
Saw Aslan on Bill Maher's show this weekend and was very impressed by his knowledge and ideas.
19 - Roonie
I want to marry him. He is brilliant.
20 - RN
i loveeee youu rezaaa aslaaaaaaaan
21 - MAJ G (Khalil Shaheed)
I am an African-American Muslim (by conversion) serving in Iraq. My current job is to figure out ways to achieve "success" primarily through non-lethal means. My primary tool is education. Mr. Aslan's views and opinions are very similar to what I try to impart to others in the course of my duties to military leaders. It is very tough at times because of "perceptions", but I plan on using 'No God, but God' as a resource to help other American soldiers understand Islam from another Western perspective. I also appreciate the fact that ALL opinions on this site are respected. Mr. Zand-Bonazzi's comments were very eye-opening and informative. Thanks...
22 - Alison
I was married to an Iranian-American who passed away in 2004. I was born and raised in NJ. My late husban opened my eyes, so to speak, to the rest of the world. From what I've seen and read, I am quite impressed with Reza. My father-in-law, who is Iranian, wrote a book, called the "Rise and Fall of the Reza Shah" several years ago, about the revolution and his experience(s). I hope that anyone who is interested, would read his book. The author of the book is Cyrus Ghani.
23 - gulnaz
he is brilliant! i want to get my hands on his book. its infuriating to see the bad name being given to islam nowadays by all the crazy stuff that is happening in the world. we need more people like mr reza aslan, so more power to him!
24 - Earlaiman Abd. G
Assalamualaikum, Reza
25 - Daniel Ybarra
I am a gay latino Catholic with my own issues. I have been on a spirittual search to help me understand why we humans war with one another. I have read several of Karen Armstrong's books, and wanted to find someone to teach me about Islam, and thus discovered Reza Aslan. Wow! What an incredible read. I have told all my friends about it. It has helped me begin to understand the complicated world of Islam. Reza's voice should be heard by anyone interested in Islam.
Thank you for a great book. I look forward to your next endeavor.