For Immediate Release

October 24 , 2007

middle east expert, author of "no god but god" to discuss why we are losing the war on terror

LINCOLN, Neb. —One of the nation’s most respected experts on Islam and the Middle East will speak at Nebraska Wesleyan University on November 8.

Reza Aslan is a research associate at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy, Middle East commentator for NPR’s Marketplace, and Muslim affairs analyst for CBS News. His upcoming lecture is titled, “How to Win a Cosmic War: Why We Are Losing the War on Terror.” The free presentation begins at 1 p.m. in O’Donnell Auditorium, located at 50th Street and Huntington Ave. in Lincoln.

Aslan is the author of the internationally-acclaimed No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, a book praised by the New York Times as establishing Aslan as the most dynamic voice of liberal Islam in the United States.

Aslan 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. Aslan examines how, in the shadow of European colonialism, Muslim developed conflicting strategies to reconcile traditional Islamic values with the social and political realities of the modern world.

In August 2000, Aslan was named Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Iowa, becoming the first full-time professor of Islam in the history of the state. When the Pentagon and World Trade Center were attacked in 2001, Aslan put his expertise of the Middle East to work for both the university and the greater Iowa community by traveling throughout the state speaking to public and private organizations. His efforts in Iowa received national attention in USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

A book signing will follow the presentation. The presentation is sponsored by the University Forum Committee and the Mattingly Series. It is free and open to the public.