Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature Hamid Dabashi calls upon the world to recognize US Muslims as an integral part of American culture.
In this article, he critiques the polarizing debate between the essentialist discourses that pin Islam as inherently violent religion, and the reactive apologist rhetoric which defends Islam as a faith that preaches peace.
He says violent strains of Hinduism and Christianity plagued humanity at various points throughout history as well, and all faiths contend with radicalism and violence. He urges the world not to forget Malcolm X’s role in American history as a champion of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, arguing that without his presence as a Muslim revolutionary, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “pacifism” could not have been effective.
