Lecture addresses Islamic studies in U.S.

Noted Islamic studies scholar Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr spoke to a room of more than 100 about religious and Islamic studies in America Thursday in Woodburn Hall. The lecture was the second Victor Danner memorial lecture in Islamic studies and was sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, the Middle Eastern and Islamic studies program and funded by the College of Arts and Sciences.\nDr. Nazif Shahrani, chair of the department of near eastern languages and cultures, introduced Nasr, referring to him as currently being "perhaps the most honored ambassador of Islam.\n"He has furthered the understanding of Islam," he said.\nNasr, quoting intellectuals from both the East and the West, spoke of the various problems he thought hindered the study of Islam in the U.S. \n"Of course, Islamic studies have expanded greatly in the past decade," he said, but he added that the mainstream study of Islam was based on a "truncated view of Islam."\n"The more society is secularized, the more (society) is interested in religion," he said.\nOriginally born in Tehran, Iran, in 1933, Nasr came to the U.S. to finish his secondary education and, later, studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He returned to Iran in 1958 where he served as professor of the history of science and philosophy at Tehran University and also as president of Aryamehr University. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1979 following the Iranian revolution.\nAn author of around 50 books and hundreds of articles, Nasr has lectured all over the United States, as well as in Western Europe, the Middle East, India, Australia and Japan. \nHe is currently the University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.\nTwo trends occurring in the past few decades are the emergence of a generation of scholars of U.S. origin that are writing on Islam and the immigration of foreign Islamic scholars to the U.S, Nasr said. \n"The problem that exists is that most of (U.S.) scholars don't know much about Islam," he said. He added that many contemporary Muslim scholars are not like the Muslim scholars of old, saying some were simply looking to sell their name. \nNasr also cited language differences as being an element in the inability of these scholars to adequately address the religion.\n-- Contact nation & world editor Obaid Khawaja at okhawaja@indiana.edu.