Today I realized that semantics and attention to detail are perhaps not my strong suit. Or at the very least, maybe I should not read emails in bed while my eyes are half closed. Despite the fact that I am sitting in the classroom alone right now, I was looking to attend the BCR tonight that pertain to this class titled, “Ubaydullah Evans: Life in Amazing Times – Islam and Our Current Cultural Movement.” The speaker, Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans, is a core scholar at the American Learning Institute for Muslims and now is the executive director of the program. After Evans converted to Islam in high school, he continued on to study Islam at Columbia as well as at other institutions all over the world. He seems like an esteemed academic and renowned speaker from everything I have read online, and I am excited to have the opportunity to learn about Islam from his perspective. His unique upbringing has shaped his view of Islam in the world today, as previewed but this video (do not feel obligated to watch, but it may provide you a taste of tonight’s talk if you are interested or cannot attend). If you read this in time, the event is this evening, Tuesday at 6pm in Jordan Hall room 141, and it is a BCR that will count towards your graduation requirements. Reading a little about Evans and his background sparked my curiosity about the diversity of Muslims in the United States and around the World. There 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, with Indonesia having the largest Muslim population housing over 13% of the world’s Muslims. In America, there is not majority race of Muslims, but the breakdown is as follows: 25% black, 24% white, 19% Arab, 18% Asian, 9% mixed race, 5% Hispanic. While the breakdown and numbers do not really matter, they are a factor that affects the practice of Islam in the U.S. and the prejudice against it. Again, it will be interesting to hear Evans’ perspective in regards to the political and social culture surrounding Islam today given his own background and upbringing.
Information sourced from:
http://tyglobalist.org/uncategorized/eid-banquet-an-interview-with-ubaydullah-evans/
https://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-executive-summary/