Iranian Revolution? Aslan Says Don't Hold Your Breath

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/09/01/Islamic_Identity_in_the_US_Reza_Aslan

"If you are looking for a new revolution in Iran, you can stop holding your breath now because it's not going to happen," says religious scholar and author Reza Aslan. However, Aslan does predict dramatic political change on the horizon. His advice to the United States? Stop isolating Iran.

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What does being Muslim in the United States mean today? U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East greatly affects the everyday relations for Muslims living in the United States. How does our foreign policy shape the identity of Muslim Americans or put their identity in crisis?

Scholar and author Reza Aslan discusses Islamic identity in the United States, how the U.S. media portrays Islam, and to what extent the media factors into the formation of identity and stereotypes. - Commonwealth Club

Reza Aslan is a writer and scholar of religions. Born in Iran, Aslan is currently a research associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. He was a visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. A frequent commentator on television, radio, and in print, Aslan is a graduate of Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of Iowa. He is the author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam and How to Win a Cosmic War: Why We're Losing the War on Terror.

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[xburningheavensx]

Aslan is a notorious apologist for Shiism, and he would divide us with the aid of his Ivy League visage. Any alteration or augmentation to the current Iranian constitution would be solemnised in law and result in Iranians demanding further rights which are their due. If the current regime makes even one concession to the protestors then ultimately their strangle hold on power will end, the Islamic revolution cannot improve because to the clerics it is the immutable word of God.

[LostInWotsoever]

I'd like to see him live in Iran too. But the important thing that he misses is that even the protestors of the green movement are against relations between the US and the Islamic Republic. I was not surprised to hear the chants of 4. Nov. when the protestors shouted "Obama, either with US or with THEM". While the protestors do want support by Obama, for instance through words and moral support, they do not seem to want connections between IRI and US. Why does our faith always depend on the US?

[brandonlamchops]

Aslan is the King of Narnia! SHOW SOME RESPECT!

[cbluver22]

@eyesofjustice

What are you talking about? He is a Muslim.

[Meeeeeeb]

This is actually true to an extent. However Iran also has a very large resource in its nationalism. It was a resource tapped by both Mossadegh and the Islamic Republic. Look at Iranians in the USA- most of them pick and choose what part of American culture and thinking they mix in. Most of them remain highly conservative and think like they did in Iran, and take things like fashion and technology from the West. It is harder to influence a people who think their way is better than everyone's..

[xerojreffaj]

I think it's a fallacy to assume that the Iranians want to overthrow their government. Sure many of them are unhappy with the current system (especially those in big cities), but not all of them want wholesale change. The problem is that we in the West only have one side of the story; either Iranian expats who are completely against the Islamic Republic, or people who have an interest in seeing the IR fall. (I should clarify I don't agree with the current rule in Iran either)

[mjzzzd]

Great speech Dr. Aslan, keep it up. Iran and Iranians need your support.

paydar bashi,

[OhMaDayzz]

@koreindian1 Islam is inherently evil, violent and backwards. Hopefully it will be eradicated from Iran soon.

[TheSasss1]

Reza Aslan is a dolt and a shame to all Iranians. Reza Aslan is someone who thinks he is intellectually superior and that he knows so much when in reality he ignores the truth and evils of Islam and how it has destroyed Iran. He truly is a dolt and justifies too much of the Islamic Republic of terror rather than supporting the freedom loving Iranian people. It is equally disgusting the media refers to him as intelligent; and it is a shame he fails to discuss Iranians quest for freedom.

[koreindian1]

@HailRasec Unless if you're an American like me, who reads books. I recommend that you stop being such a blowhard.

[koreindian1]

@Khaayam Come now, the book does not encourage random violence. It addresses violence just as all books that try to address the human condition must address violence, because violence is consummately a part of our history and politics. Hell, Max Weber even states that violence is the essence that gives powers legitimacy. The Quran is a great book of war just as the Iliad. Now how can it be full of fascism? You are inserting a 20th century political ideology into a 7th century text? Sounds wrong.

[koreindian1]

@PersoAryanism So what, you are just using racism to dismiss his arguments?