Professor Educates About Islam in America
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Hussein Rashid is an adjunct professor teaching a theology course called “Muslims in America” this semester. (Courtesy of Hussein Rashid; Photo by Ali Ansary)
October 4, 2012
Adjunct Professor Hussein Rashid is known for his lectures about Islam and the life of a Muslim in America. Rashid received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University. This fall, Rashid returns to his roots as a new addition to the faculty at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) educating the studentabout Islam and the roles of Muslim–Americans in the United States. The Observer had the opportunity to talk to Rashid about some of his accomplishments as well as some of the goals he is looking forward to achieving during his time at FCLC.
The Observer: What did you think of Fordham before you began teaching here?
Hussein Rashid: I grew up in New York City so I knew of Fordham. Fordham has a great reputation and I knew it was a Jesuit school so I wasn’t quite sure how teaching Islam at a Jesuit school would work. Fortunately I have had the privilege of working with a few of the faculty members before coming to Fordham such as Katherine Kueny, associate professor of theology at FCLC and Father Patrick Ryan who works at the Rose Hill Campus. I had interactions with the Fordham community before so I was excited to come to Fordham.
The Observer: Did your idea of Fordham change as you started teaching here?
H.R.: I think that my experience at Fordham so far has reinforced what I thought prior to coming to the school. Fordham is a great welcoming community in terms of the students and the faculty and it has a highly motivated and highly driven student body. They have confirmed what I had thought about the school prior to joining the Fordham community.
The Observer: What is one thing you want to gain from teaching at Fordham?
H.R.: One of the things coming to Fordham has afforded me is a chance to experiment because students do know so much already that I can experiment with different material and different approaches to the material. I am gratified to know that so many of my students are willing to play along and experiment with me to make the course better. The experience I gain from the experimentation is something that I am hoping to take away at the end of the semester.
The Observer: What is one message that you want to leave your students with at Fordham?
H.R.: I think that there are two things that I want to leave with the students. One is a skill that I think is a valuable part of the cultural experience and I do not think that they will get it from my class alone and I hope that they will get it over the next four years. That skill is the ability to be critical thinkers, to look at the world around them, to be inquisitive and to question the world around them. However, in terms of my class specifically, I hope they realize that religion appears in our culture in many unexpected and unusual places and that they should always be on the outlook for it. Just because we say we are in a secular society doesn’t mean that we are in an irreligious society.
The Observer: What message do you want to leave your students at FCLC with about Islam?
H.R.: I think that the one thing that I want to have them walking away from this course with is that there is a dichotomy between being a Muslim-American. Muslims are part of the American experience since the country’s inception and Muslims are an important part of that American history.
The Observer: What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment?
H.R.: I hope I have not hit it yet but there have been some highlights throughout my life thus far. I have had the privilege of meeting President Obama on a few occasions. I have had so many opportunities to travel the world for my research and to write for major news organizations. I feel blessed that my credentials have opened up so many different opportunities for me.
The Observer: How do you like to spend your leisure time?
H.R.: I consider my teaching leisure. I do not consider it work. I love teaching and I love being with the students. I consider it part of my leisure time because it is fun for me. I like prepping lessons but I do not like grading lessons. I will be honest.
The Observer: I hear you like to listen to rap music. What other genres of music do you enjoy listening to?
H.R.: I do enjoy listening to rap as well as other types of music. I also like to listen to hip-hop. I have never really enjoyed listening to Reggaeton though. That is the one genre of music that I do not really like.
Arafat • Oct 9, 2012 at 7:33 pm
“Muslims are part of the American experience since the country’s inception and Muslims are an important part of that American history.”
To wit:
In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring “concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury”, the ambassador replied:
It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. [19]
Jefferson reported the conversation to Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay, who submitted the Ambassador’s comments and offer to Congress. Jefferson argued that paying tribute would encourage more attacks. Although John Adams agreed with Jefferson, he believed that circumstances forced the U.S. to pay tribute until an adequate navy could be built. The U.S. had just fought an exhausting war, which put the nation deep in debt. Federalist and Anti-Federalist forces argued over the needs of the country and the burden of taxation. Jefferson’s own Democratic-Republicans and anti-navalists believed that the future of the country lay in westward expansion, with Atlantic trade threatening to siphon money and energy away from the new nation on useless wars in the Old World.[20] The U.S. paid Algiers the ransom, and continued to pay up to $1 million per year over the next 15 years for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages.[citation needed] A $1 million payment in ransom and tribute to the privateering states would have amounted to approximately ten percent of the U.S. government’s annual revenues in 1800.[21]
Jefferson continued to argue for cessation of the tribute, with rising support from George Washington and others. With the recommissioning of the American navy in 1794 and the resulting increased firepower on the seas, it became increasingly possible for America to refuse paying tribute, although by now the long-standing habit was hard to overturn.