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HC

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About

Hussein Rashid, PhD, is founder of islamicate, L3C, a consultancy focusing on religious literacy and cultural competency.

He works with a variety of NGOs, foundations, non-profits, and governmental agencies for content expertise on religion broadly, with a specialization on Islam. His work includes exploring theology, the interaction between culture and religion, and the role of the arts in conflict mediation.

Hussein has a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University, a Masters in Theological Studies focusing on Islam, and an MA and PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, focusing on South and Central Asia from Harvard University.

He is a contingent faculty member and has taught at Hofstra University, Fordham University, Iona College, Virginia Theological Seminary, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, SUNY Old Westbury, Barnard College, Columbia University, and The New School.

His research focuses on Muslims and American popular culture. He writes and speaks about music, comics, movies, and the blogistan. He also has a background in South and Central Asian studies, with a deep interest in Shi’i justice theology.

He has published academic works on Muslims and American Popular Culture, Malcolm X, qawwali, intra-Muslim racism, teaching Shi’ism, Islam and comics, free speech, Sikhs and Islamophobia, Muslims in film, and American Muslim spaces of worship. His current project focuses on the role of technology in teaching religion.

He is a fellow with The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship, the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and the Truman National Security Project. He was a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and a term member on the Council of Foreign Relations.

He is on the advisory boards of The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (Building Bridges Program), Sacred Matters, Anikaya Dance Theater, the Tanenbaum Center, and Al-Rawiya. He served on the advisory board of Project Interfaith, Everplans, Intersections International, Deily, and the British Council’s Our Shared Future Program. He is currently working with the Children’s Museum of Manhattan as a content expert.

He was on the editorial boards of Religion Dispatches, The Islamic Monthly, and Cyber Orient, in addition to being an emeritus scholar at State of Formation. Hussein appears on mainstream media, including CNN, Channel 4 (UK),  Al-Jazeera America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and has published at On Faith (Washington Post), Belief Blog (CNN), On Being (NPR), The Revealer, and as a contributor to Religion News Service.

Education

PhD – NELC – Harvard University

MTS – Harvard Divinity School

BA – Columbia College of Columbia University

Blog Posts

    Publications

    Under Contract


    2020. Co-edited with Huma Mohibullah, Bloomsbury Religion in North America: Islam. Bloomsbury Academic.


    2021. With Precious Rasheed Muhammad. Islam in America: A Textbook. Taylor and Francis.


    Edited Volumes


    2019. Co-edited with Jessica Baldzani. No Normal: Ms. Marvel and the Making of America. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.


    Articles and Chapters


    Accepted. “The Incidental Muslim”  in Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology, edited by Kristian Petersen. Boston: ILEX Foundation & Harvard University Press.


    2018. “Plural Voices in the Teaching of Islam.” Thresholds in Education, 41, no. 2: 87-100.


    2018. “Opening the Door: Imam Ali and New Conversations in Interreligious Dialogue,” in Words to Live By: Sacred Sources for Interreligious Engagement, edited by Or Rose, Jennie Peace, Homayra Ziad, Soren Hessler. New York: Orbis Press, 159-169.


    2018. with Burt Visotzky and Chloe Breyer. “Love, Actually: Reflections from Three Traditions,” in The Crisis of Connection, edited by Niobe Way, Alisha Ali, Carole Gilligan, and Pedro Noguera. New York: NYU Press, 444-465.

    2017. “Hajj: The Pilgrimage,” in Islamic Religious Practice in the United States, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV. New York: New York University Press, 60-82.


    2017. “Qawwālī in America: Making Space.” Muslim World 107, no. 2: 271–86.


    2017. “Truth, Justice, and the Spiritual Way: Imam Ali as Superhero,” in Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation, edited by A. David Lewis and Martin Lund. Boston: Ilex Foundation & Harvard University Press, 208-234.


    2015. with Precious Rasheeda Muhammad. “American Muslim (Un)Exceptionalism: #BlackLivesMatter and #BringBackOurGirls.” Journal of Africana Religions 3, no. 4: 478–95.


    2015. “Free Speech is Free for Whom?” Science, Religion and Culture 2, no. 1: 5–8.


    2015. “Shaheed-E Harlem: The Meaning of Malcolm X in the Work of Fundamental.” Journal of Africana Religions 3, no. 1: 116–29.


    2015. “Cultural Contributions of American Muslims,” in Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression, edited by Gary Laderman. New York; ABC-CLIO.


    2013. “We Are All Vincent Navroze Balbir: The Indistinguishable Horde, Meaninglessness of (Others’) Life, and Crafting America.” Sikh Formations 9, no. 2: 243-248.


    2013. “Muslims in Film and Filmmaking,” in The Oxford Handbook of American Islam, edited by Jane Smith and Yvonne Haddad. New York; Oxford University Press, 259-273.


    2013. “Muslim Congregations in the United States,” in Oxford Islamic Studies Online.


    2009. “Qawwālī and Home:  ʿAlī in (Im)migrant Identity.” Shi’a Affairs Journal 2.


    Encyclopedia Entries


    2013. “Qur’an,” “Rabia,” “Junayd,” “Hallaj,” “Ghazali,” “Attar,” “Ibn Arabi,” “Rumi,” in Mysticism and the Spiritual Quest, edited by Phyllis Zagano. New York; Paulist Press.


    2010. “Middle East,” in Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present, edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross. Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe.


    2007. “Calendar,” “Calligraphy,” “Central Asians,” “Film,” “Five Percenters,” “Hip-Hop,” “Islam in America Journal,” “Qawwali,” “South Asians,” In Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, edited by Jocelyne Cesari. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.


    Reports


    2015. with Chris D. Cantwell. Religion, Media, and the Digital Turn. New York: Social Science Research Council.


    Essays


    2019. “Letter 4,” and “Authors’ Postscript,” in American Values Religious Voices, edited by Andrea L. Weiss and Lisa M. Weinberger. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati Press, 30; 152-157.


    2014. “Passing on Tradition in Islam,” In Sharing the Well: A Resource Guide for Jewish-Muslim Engagement, edited by Kim Zeitman and Mohamed Elsanousi, 64–69.


    2012. with Wajahat Ali, What is the Truth about American Muslims? Questions and Answers. Washington, DC: First Amendment Center.


    2012. “Nation and Narrative,” In Public Perception and the Media, edited by Our Shared Future, e-book.


    2012. “If All the Trees of the World were Pens….” In I Speak for Myself: American Men on Being Muslim, edited by Wajahat Ali and Zahra T. Suratwala, 46-51. Ashland, Ore.: White Cloud Press.


    2011. “The Name Game: Understanding Tensions in Identity and Muslim Homosexuality.” In Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project, edited by Intersections International, 20-27. New York: Intersections International.


    2011. Contributor to Wajahat Ali and Matt Duss. Understanding Sharia Law. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress.

    Projects

    Children’s Museum of Manhattan – America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far

    Memberships

    AAR

    AAAS

    AAS

    MESA

    Hussein Rashid

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    @hrashid

    Active 2 years ago