AUG. 7, 2006

Islam was put under a microscope by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Before that, although there were more than 1,200 mosques and more than 1 million Muslims regularly worshipping in the United States, Islam seemed a distant, foreign faith to many Americans.

Since then, the demand for accurate, nuanced and balanced information about Islam and Muslim people has grown, as has the number of scholars in the field. There is no official count, but scholars say demand and opportunity for academics who study Islam has risen significantly since 2001. Some say that jobs now outnumber qualified applicants, but note that a whole new generation of scholars is in graduate school. Job postings for scholars of Islam in American colleges and universities numbered 50 in 2002, 50 in 2003, 71 in 2004 and 67 in 2005, according to the American Academy of Religion, which runs an online employment service.

Classes – particularly those on politics, gender and contemporary Islam – are full, giving more students at more universities background in Islam. Knowledge matters, whether these students move on to careers in business, medicine, education or other fields. According to a 2005 Pew Research Survey, people who are most knowledgeable about Islam express more favorable opinions of Muslim-Americans and Islam than people who are less familiar with it.

This ReligionLink guide includes more than 100 experts who specialize in such areas as civil rights, politics, foreign affairs, art, culture, history, law, family issues and more. It also includes Muslim advocacy organizations, research centers and think tanks.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
This guide is organized into several major areas. It focuses on academics who have expertise in Islam and in most cases does not include religious leaders. Click on the topic to jump to:

10 Top U.S. experts in Islam
National Muslim organizations
Think tanks and university centers
Demographic information
Major issues In Islam in the U.S.
Academic directories / associations

Academics: Experts can be searched in three ways: by name, by area of expertise and by region.

Academics by area of expertise
(Some are listed under more than one category)
• Law, Quran And history
• Branches of Islam
• Islamic arts and culture
    Architecture
    Art and literature
    Culture
    Philosophy
• Islam In America
    Women And Family
    African-American Muslims
    Health care And social services
    Demographics And Muslim Life
• Politics
    Democracy and civil rights
    Image and stereotyping
    U.S. foreign policy
    Islamic extremism
    Iraq
    Iran
    Palestinian issues
    South Asia
    Southeast Asia
    Europe

If you would like to be added to this source listing or request a change in the information, please email islam@religionlink.org. If you are requesting a change in the wording of your listing, please state the reason for the change. ReligionLink reserves the right to decide which listings to include.

• For organizations, include the name, mission, web site and a contact name with phone number and email. Also include any specific areas of interest and expertise.

• For individuals, include name, title, organization, city and state, web site, areas of expertise, phone number and email.

10 Top U.S. experts in Islam

• John L. Esposito is founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he teaches religion, Islamic studies and international affairs. He is an expert in the areas on Islam and its history, modernizing trends and forces, radicalism, terrorism, democracy, foreign policy and politics. Contact 202-687-8375, jle2@georgetown.edu.
• Omid Safi is associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is co-chairman of the Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion. His areas of expertise include Muslims in America and progressive Muslim movements. Contact omid@email.unc.edu.
• Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is professor of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Her scholarly interests include Muslims in the West, Islamic revolutionary movements, 20th-century Islam and the intellectual, social and political history of the Arab world. She co-authored Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006), which portrays Muslim women in the U.S. as active in shaping Islam, opinionated and diverse. She can discuss marriage, childrearing, conversion and participation of Muslims in American society. Contact 202-687-2575, haddady@georgetown.edu.
• Akbar S. Ahmed is a professor of comparative and regional studies and the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of international relations at American University in Washington, D.C. He has advised world leaders, including President Bush, on Islam and was formerly High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain. He has written widely, including introductions to Islam and discussions of Islam on the world stage and interfaith dialogue. He has been engaged with Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, in public dialogues in the U.S. and abroad, and he is a frequent television commentator on Islam. Contact 202-885-1961 (office), 202-855-1600 (department), akbar@american.edu. Media are encouraged to reach him quickly through Clark Gregor, 202-885-5935, gregor@american.edu.
• Kecia Ali is an assistant professor of religion at Boston University. She wrote Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence (Oneworld Publications, 2006). Her areas of expertise include progressive Islam and women, gender and Islamic law and Muslim societies. The best way to reach her is through email. Contact 617-353-4465, ka@bu.edu.
• Sherman A. Jackson (aka Abd al-Hakim) is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school and has a pending appointment at the university's Center for Afro-American and African Studies. He is a member of the editorial board of DePaul University's Journal of Islamic Law and Culture. His expertise is in Islamic law, theology and black American Islam. The American Learning Institute for Muslims says Jackson's expertise involves concepts of constitution, tyranny, and power within Islamic law - particularly relevant as Muslims strive to come to terms with the classical Islamic legal traditions. Contact 734-763-4671 (office), 734-764-0314 (department), sajackso@umich.edu.
• Richard C. Martin is a professor in the religion department at Emory University in Atlanta. His scholarly interests include Islamic studies, comparative religions and religion and conflict. He has written several books about the history and study of Islam. He has lived and done research in Egypt and elsewhere in the Muslim world, and he is engaged in cooperative projects with Muslim scholars. Contact 404-727-7544 (office), 404-727-6333 (department), rcmartin@emory.edu.
• John O. Voll is professor of Islamic history and associate director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. He is an expert in Middle Eastern, Islamic and world history, and he has written on Islam in the modern world and Islam and democracy. Contact 202-687-0288, vollj@georgetown.edu.
• Carl W. Ernst is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a specialist in Islamic studies, focusing on West and South Asia, and is an expert on Sufism. Contact 919-962-3924, cernst@email.unc.edu.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl is an internationally recognized professor of law and the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches Islamic law, Middle Eastern investment law, immigration law and courses related to human rights and terrorism. He works with human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), and serves as an expert witness in international litigation involving Middle Eastern law, and in cases involving immigration law and political asylum claims. Contact 310-206-5401 (office), 310-825-4841 (department), fakoor@law.ucla.edu. Or contact his press agent, Grace Song, 310-710-7345, anmargrace@yahoo.com.

National Muslim organizations

• The American Islamic Congress is a civil rights organization that promotes the rights of Muslims in America. They are largely composed of young people under 30 who consider themselves moderate Muslims. Among the goals is equality for women in the Islamic world. Contact via Jina Hassan, 617-266-0080, jina@aicongress.org.
• The Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World was a convention of delegates from the Muslim world who met in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004 to discuss democratic processes. They continue with follow-up material and smaller meetings. Contact the Congress Secretariat at info@cdiw.org.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls itself the largest advocacy group for Muslims in the U.S. It advocates for Muslims on issues related to civil liberties and justice. Contact communications director Ibrahim Hooper in Washington, D.C., at 202-488-8787, ihooper@cair.com.
• The Islamic Society of North America promotes unity and leadership among Muslims. The organization, based in Plainfield, Ind., has a large immigrant presence. Contact president Sheikh Muhammed Nur Abdullah, 317-839-8157, president@isna.net, or the secretary general, Sayyid M. Syeed, 317-839-8157 ext. 222.
• The Islamic Supreme Council of America seeks to provide rulings in Islamic law for Muslims in America. It is based in Fenton, Mich. Contact 810-593-1222.
• The Islamic Circle of North America is a grass-roots organization working to establish Muslim identity and cohesiveness and to further good works. It, too, has traditionally been an immigrant-led organization. It provides religious instruction and public education, youth programs, social services, disaster relief and services to the homeless. It has a presence in every major city in the country, with the largest chapters in Houston, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Maryland-Virginia, Florida, Detroit, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Contact Azim Khan, 718-658-1199, Azeem@ICNAIT.com.
• The Muslim Public Affairs Council works for Muslim participation, integration and recognition in American pluralism and for Muslims' civil rights. It tells the American-Muslim story to the media and gives Muslims a voice in the media and public affairs. It works to cultivate leadership in young Muslims and encourage a sense of ownership over their religious and national identity as Americans. The group's $1.1 million budget includes no overseas funding. It has offices in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The council is considered moderate and politically savvy and is led by first- and second-generation Americans. Contact Salam Al-Marayati, executive director, salam@mpac.org; Ahmed Younis, national director, nationaldirector@mpac.org; or Edina Lekovic, communications director, communications@mpac.org.
• The national Muslim Student Association represents Muslim students in American colleges and universities. The web site lists chapters around the country. Contact national president Mohamed Sheibani, president@msa-national.org.
• The Zaytuna Institute in Santa Clara, Calif., is the first Muslim seminary in the United States. It is run by two influential American clerics who received classical training abroad and who have large followings here, particularly among young American Muslims. A recent New York Times article credited the scholars, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir, for countering the influence of conservative Wahhabism that has been spread in the United States by clerics trained in Saudi Arabia. Contact Yusuf or Shakir, 510-582-1979.

Think tanks and university centers

• The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., is a 13-year-old institution that aims to foster understanding between Islamic and Western societies and to support learning about Islam in the West. Fields of particular interest include the compatibility of Islam and modern life and pluralism, women in Islam, the Islamic community in the United States and issues of Islam, violence and terrorism. Contact director John L. Esposito, 202-687-8375, jle2@georgetown.edu, or assistant director Huma Malik, 202-687-8375, hm228@georgetown.edu.
• The Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, part of Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, is the country’s oldest center for such study. Begun in 1893, the center focuses on research, teaching, publication and public discourse and includes a Muslim Chaplaincy program. Its faculty includes director Ibrahim Abu-Rabi', co-director Jane Smith, Ingrid Mattson and the Rev. Steven Blackburn. It publishes the biannual journal The Muslim World. The Center posts basic facts about Islam, which journalists may find helpful. Contact 860-509-9534.
• The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, D.C., is a 7-year-old think tank with the aim of furthering Islamic discourse on a modern Islamic democracy. Contact its president, Radwan Masmoudi, 202-942-2183, masmoudi@islam-democracy.org.
• The Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies hosts lectures, seminars, research projects, publications and scholarly exchanges. Some 20 faculty members from various departments participate. Roger Owen, A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle Eastern History, is acting director. Contact 617-495-4055, eowen@fas.harvard.edu.
• The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding is an independent nonprofit think tank committed to research and analysis of U.S. domestic and foreign policies, with an emphasis on issues related to the Muslim community in the United States. The institute provides public policy research and analysis on a broad range of domestic issues, including education, immigration, the environment, mental health and civic participation, as well as U.S. foreign policy toward the Muslim world. Its site includes a list of participating scholars and articles. To find scholarly experts on specific topics, contact ISPU's director of research, Farid Senzai, fsenzai@ispu.org.
• The private, nonprofit International Institute of Islamic Thought promotes and funds research that helps revive Muslim ethical and moral knowledge in the context of contemporary independent scholarship. The institute, based in Herndon, Va., puts particular emphasis on Islamic scholarship in the social sciences. Contact Iqbal Unus, 703-478-9222, iqbalunus@iiit.org.
• The Minaret of Freedom Institute, based in Bethesda, Md., conducts independent scholarly research into issues involving Islam in the U.S. and policy issues affecting Muslim countries. The institute's emphasis is on the Islam, freedom and free markets, and the political and economic implications of Islamic law. Contact Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, 301-907-0947, mfi@minaret.org.
• One Nation is a philanthropic collaborative led by Muslims and non-Muslims from leading nonprofit public education and advocacy organizations, think tanks, corporations and academic institutions. It sponsors initiatives that challenge stereotypes and misperceptions of Muslims and Islam by emphasizing shared values, beliefs and responsibilities. One Nation helps connect journalists with American Muslim experts for interviews (see listings) and publishes profiles and news about American Muslims who are making a difference in their communities. Other initiatives include sponsoring the development of films that highlight the diversity and life experiences of the American Muslim community. Contact Sharene Azimi at Fenton Communications, 212-584-5000, sazimi@fenton.com.
• The Center for Islamic Studies at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, is a joint project of the university and the local Muslim community. It is led by Mustansir Mir, a professor of Islamic studies. Contact 330-941-1625, mmir@ysu.edu.
• The Carolina-Duke-Emory Institute for the Study of Islam is a joint project of three southeastern universities. Its principal focus is on Islam overseas. Contact cdeisi@unc.edu.

Demographic information

Note: The number of Muslims in the U.S. is a politically charged issue. Mosques do not require membership, so there is no accurate count. Surveys have yielded very different numbers, depending on the way information was collected and how questions were phrased. Current estimates range from 1.1 million to 7 million.
• The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a survey in May 2007 billed as the first nationwide, random sample of Muslim Americans. The survey of more than 1,000 Muslims records attitudes about U.S. society, assimilation, Islamic extremism, the war on terror and more. It estimates the U.S. Muslim population at 2.35 million.
• The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York reported religious affiliation of adults in the United States: 52 percent are Protestant, 24.5 percent are Catholic, 14.1 percent "no religion," 1.3 percent Jewish and 0.5 percent Muslim or Islamic. Muslim adults number 1.1 million, about twice the Muslim adult population in 1990. Racially, 23 percent said they were black, and the rest identified as white or Asian.
• A second American Religious Identification Survey, also in 2001, focused exclusively on Muslims. Interviewers surveyed 50,281 American households in the continental U.S. by phone. ARIS counted 183,000 converts to Islam and 98,000 who had left Islam.
• Faith Communities Today (FACT), a project of the Hartford Seminary, in 2001 counted 1,209 mosques with some 2 million people affiliated, including about 411,000 worshippers attending weekly Friday Jum'ah prayers. Contact principal investigator David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 860-509-9546, roozen@hartsem.edu.
• "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait," a study of American Muslims commissioned in 2001 by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, found that mosque attendees are mostly young (50 percent were under age 35), unmarried men (78 percent male). Researcher Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky, found that 30 percent of mosque attendees were African-American, that converts numbered about 19,000 a year, that most were men and that about 14,000 were African-Americans. Contact Bagby, 859-257-9638 (office), 859-257-3761 (department), iabagb2@uky.edu.

Major issues In Islam in the U.S.

CIVIL RIGHTS
A June 12, 2006, New York Times article (posted at the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee site) says that Arab-Americans, since 9/11, worry more about overzealous immigration enforcement and racial profiling by government authorities than they do about hate crimes. Federal agents have visited Arab-American communities around the country, interviewing a broad spectrum of people, many of whom find this intimidating. Of particular note are concerns about the USA Patriot Act and immigration authorities' "special registration" program of questioning and photographing tens of thousands of immigrant men.
• The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee was founded in 1980 by former U.S. Sen. James G. Abourezk. It has legal and governmental affairs departments, it monitors media reports on Arabs and Muslims to combat stereotyping, and it represents Arabs and Muslims in a variety of settings. Contact communications director Laila Al-Qatami, 202- 244-2990, adc@adc.org.

TRAVEL
Many Muslims report anxiety about crossing borders, particularly returning to the U.S. after overseas travel, said Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky. Those who can be identified as Muslim by name or attire may be singled out for extra scrutiny and interviews - even fingerprinting.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council have investigated individual instances and work to educate government, schools and industry about the distinctions between political and religious affiliation and about constitutional protections.

RACISM
• American Islam includes indigenous African-American Muslims, new Latino converts and immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South Asia. Islam makes no distinction based on race or social class and sees Muslims as one people. Still, local communities grapple with racial differences. The racial mix is often easier for young people than for their parents, and racial hostility among fellow Muslims is found more often in urban centers than in small towns.
• Consider examining the variety of Muslims, their practices, food traditions, dress and culture, as a way to examine these tensions in a context.
• Prison, where Islam is growing rapidly, is one place to find racial diversity, tension and cooperation among Muslims, as Muslim conversions are numerous in prison and everyone must share limited religious resources.

WOMEN
Women's participation and leadership in mosque worship and activities is a frequent topic. Women are becoming more vocal about wanting to take part in prayer life without being separated from men and in mosque leadership.

HEAD COVERING
The practice of Muslim women covering their heads can provoke discrimination in hiring, at work, on the street and in schools, where female students report others pulling their headscarves. Some Muslim women wear hijabs and others do not, which can cause tension among women and among mosques that follow different traditions.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Another conservative-moderate issue is whether and how to get involved in the larger community. Islam encourages Muslims to better the lives of everyone, regardless of religion. Bagby's studies of Muslims in the U.S. find most believe they should be involved in American life and politics. He also finds that the longer Muslims are in the U.S., the more they are likely to become involved. But Muslims register to vote at only half the rate of Americans in general.
• Consider interviewing socially or politically active Muslims about the rewards and tensions of community involvement and how their faith and cultural ties influence community service. Include interviews with other Muslims who are reticent or disapprove.
• Terminology matters. The word assimilation may provoke offense among mosque-going Muslims, whereas accommodation and integration can be more acceptable. Religious Muslims may want to integrate but adamantly oppose losing culture and religion.
• Ask historians about the reticence and gradual involvement of earlier immigrant groups - Irish Catholics, for example - who also faced religious and ethnic discrimination.

THE YOUNGER GENERATION
• Younger American Muslims are finding their own voices. The Muslim Student Association, for example, was dominated from the 1960s through the 1980s by foreign students, but today the MSA is run largely by second-generation American Muslims - many of them women. Articles have been written about American Muslim youngsters who are more religiously conservative than their parents and about the growth of Islamic matchmaking agencies and arranged marriages among Muslim youth.
• Consider exploring a less obvious story, about how some young Muslims defy labels, focusing on, say, activist young women who cover their heads yet defy tradition by taking leadership in religious practice, confusing their immigrant mothers who go uncovered but stick to home in the traditional manner.

THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY
Young American Muslims are engaged in a quest for authentic Islam, says Professor Omid Safi, co-chairman of the American Academy of Religion's Study of Islam section. They are so-called "born-again" Muslims and are discussing - online, among themselves, with teachers and with their families - what is authentic scholarly tradition and what are cultural traditions handed down, perhaps, from the Iranian or Turkish or Egyptian tradition of their parents or their local mosque. They want to educate themselves firsthand, and they want their faith to be grounded in authentic scholarship.

Academic directories / associations

• Carl Ernst, director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations and professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, has a web site that links to each Islamic studies graduate program (in a religious studies department) at an American university, describes the program and lists key faculty members.
• The Middle East Studies Association has a directory of programs at American universities and colleges. It has an online directory of members nationwide that is searchable by location, discipline and job title. Its list of MESA institutional members includes contact information for prominent Middle Eastern studies programs around the country.
• The Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion represents almost all the scholars of Islam in the country. Contact co-chairs Omid Safi, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, omid@email.unc.edu, or Nelly Van Doorn-Harder, associate professor of Islamic studies at Valparaiso University in Indiana, 219-464-5307, Pieternella.HarderVandoorn@valpo.edu.

Academics by area of expertise (Some are listed under more than one category)

Islamic law, Quran and history

ISLAMIC LAW
• Jonathan E. Brockopp is an associate professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. He specializes in Islamic history and religion and Islamic law in the formative period (seventh-10th centuries) and is particularly interested in the literary remains of early Islam, including the Quran, Hadith, legal and theological texts. Other research interests include comparative religious ethics. He edited Islamic Ethics of Life: Abortion, War and Euthanasia (University of South Carolina Press, 2003) and in March 2006 organized an international conference, "Islam and Bioethics: Concerns, Challenges and Responses." Contact 814-863-1338 (office), 814-865-1367 (department), brockopp@psu.edu.
• Michael Cook is Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His expertise is in the formation of Islamic civilization and the role played by religious values. Contact 609-258-4280, mcook@princeton.edu.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl is an internationally recognized professor of law and the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches Islamic law, Middle Eastern investment law, immigration law and courses related to human rights and terrorism. He works with human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), and serves as an expert witness in international litigation involving Middle Eastern law, and in cases involving immigration law and political asylum claims. Contact 310-206-5401 (office), 310-825-4841 (department), fakoor@law.ucla.edu. Or contact his press agent, Grace Song, 310-710-7345, anmargrace@yahoo.com.
• Sherman A. Jackson (aka Abd al-Hakim) is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school and has a pending appointment at the university's Center for Afro-American and African Studies. He is a member of the editorial board of DePaul University's Journal of Islamic Law and Culture. His expertise is in Islamic law, theology and black American Islam. The American Learning Institute for Muslims says Jackson's expertise involves concepts of constitution, tyranny, and power within Islamic law - particularly relevant as Muslims strive to come to terms with the classical Islamic legal traditions. Contact 734-763-4671 (office), 734-764-0314 (department), sajackso@umich.edu.
• John Kelsay is Distinguished Research Professor and Richard L. Rubenstein Professor of Religion at Florida State University in Tallahassee. His focus is on religious ethics, particularly in relation to the Islamic tradition and law. Contact 850-644-0209, jkelsay@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.
• Ingrid Mattson is a professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations and is director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn. She is widely respected among American Muslims for her scholarship. Her research is on the Quran, Islamic law and society. She has written on slavery, poverty, Islamic legal theory and Quran and culture. Contact 860-509-9531 (office), 860-509-9534 (department), imattson@hartsem.edu.
• Kevin A. Reinhart is an associate professor of Islamic religious studies in Dartmouth College's department of religion. His expertise is on Islamic legal thought, primarily in the pre-modern period. Contact 603-646-3204 (office), 603-646-3738 (department), a.kevin.reinhart@dartmouth.edu.

QURAN
• Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub is a professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. His areas of expertise include the Quran. He wrote Islam: Faith and History (Oneworld Publications, 2005). Contact 215-204-5603 (office), 215-300-2393 (mobile), 215-204-7973 (department), mayoub@temple.edu.
• Imam Zaid Shakir converted to Islam during his service in the U.S. Air Force. He has a master's degree in political science and received classical scholarly training in the Muslim world. He is a writer, speaker, teacher and activist, having founded several Muslim organizations in the eastern U.S. before becoming a resident scholar at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, Calif., which calls him a leader in an emerging indigenous American Muslim tradition. His areas of expertise include the Quran, the life of the prophet and African-American Islam. Contact 510-582-1979.
• Brannon Wheeler is a visiting Distinguished Professor of History and Politics and director of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Wheeler is a scholar of the religion and its history. He has been a legal consultant in cases involving Islam and religious discrimination, child custody, asylum, First Amendment, marriage and inheritance. Contact 410-293-6300 (department), bwheeler@usna.edu.
• Sheikh Hamza Yusuf is a cleric and scholar of Quran who received classical training in the Muslim world and is founding the first Muslim seminary in the United States, Zaytuna Institute, in Hayward, Calif. He was born and educated in the United States and converted to Islam as a youth. He is notable for his scholarly authority and for his ability to frame Muslim issues in the context of American life. Contact 510-582-1979.

HISTORY
• Talal Asad is a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate Center. His expertise includes religion and secularism as part of modern Muslim societies, especially in the religious revival in the Middle East, and secular and modern influences on Shariah law. Contact 212-817-8005 (department), tasad@gc.cuny.edu.
• David Bryan Cook is assistant professor of religious studies at Rice University in Houston, specializing in the origins and historical development of Islam. He can discuss early Islam, Muslim apocalyptic literature and movements for radical social change, Judeo-Arabic literature and West African Islam. Contact 713-348-2440, dbcook@rice.edu.
• Thomas W. Simons Jr. directs the Program on Eurasia in Transition at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and is a fellow at the center. His expertise is in modern and contemporary Islam, South and Southwest Asia, and East-West relations. Contact 617-495-9302, tsimons@fas.harvard.edu.
• Jane I. Smith is professor of Islamic studies and co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She specializes in Muslim communities in America, Christian theology in relation to Islam, historical relations between Christians and Muslims, Islamic conceptions of death and afterlife, and the role and status of women in Islam. A prolific author and lecturer, her recent work includes, as co-author, Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006) and, as co-editor, Islam and the West Post 9/11 (Ashgate, 2005). She is co-editor of the journal The Muslim World. Contact 860-509-9532, jismith@hartsem.edu.

Branches of Islam

The Islamic schools of thought are differentiated not by rituals, which are virtually the same in all Islam, but by historical and legal doctrines. Worldwide, Sunnis make up about 85 percent of Muslims, while Shiites constitute roughly 15 percent. Orders of the mystic Sufi tradition may be either Sunni or Shiite. In the United States, roughly 90 percent of Muslims are Sunni.

SUNNI
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr is professor of Islamic studies in the religion department at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the pre-eminent expert in Islamic philosophy, with expertise in the history of science and philosophy in the Islamic world and comparative philosophy and religion. He is an internationally known scholar of Islam. Contact 202-994-5704 (office), 202-994-6325 (department), zsirat@gwu.edu.

SHIITE
• Hamid Algar is a professor in the Near Eastern studies department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches courses on Persian literature, the history of Islam, Shiism and Sufism. He has deep expertise on the Islamic revolution in Iran. He can discuss many aspects of Islam, including the diversity of Islamic culture and various expressions of the religion. He has written about Wahhabism. Contact 510-642-6179 (office), 510-642-3757 (department), algar@calmail.berkeley.edu.
• Juan R.I. Cole is professor of modern Middle East and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. He is an expert on Iraq and writes a widely read blog. He reads Arab media deeply, is expert on modern Shiism and on modern Islamic movements in the Middle East and South Asia. Contact 734-764-6305, jrcole@umich.edu.

WAHHABI
• Hamid Algar is a professor in the Near Eastern studies department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches courses on Persian literature, the history of Islam, Shiism and Sufism. He has deep expertise on the Islamic revolution in Iran. He can discuss many aspects of Islam, including the diversity of Islamic culture and various expressions of the religion. He has written about Wahhabism. Contact 510-642-6179 (office), 510-642-3757 (department), algar@calmail.berkeley.edu.
• Natana J. DeLong-Bas is a lecturer in the Near Eastern and Judaic studies department at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She sees Wahhabi Islam as greatly misunderstood. She wrote Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (Oxford University Press, 2004). Contact 781-736-2978 (office), 781-736-2950 (department), delongba@brandeis.edu.
• Bernard Haykel is associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University. His principal interest is in how and why the Salafi movement (also called Wahhabism) under Saudi Arabia's patronage has become one of the most influential intellectual and political groups in the last half century. He also is expert on Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Shiism. Contact 212-998-8919, bernard.haykel@nyu.edu.

SUFI
• Carl W. Ernst is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a specialist in Islamic studies, focusing on West and South Asia, and is an expert on Sufism. Contact 919-962-3924, cernst@email.unc.edu.
• Marcia K. Hermansen, professor of Islamic and religious studies in the theology department at Loyola University in Chicago, has written about Islam and gender, Sufism in the West, Islamic mysticism, contemporary and classical Islamic thought, Islam in South Asia, conversion to Islam and Muslims in America. Contact 773-508-2345 (office), 773-508-2351 (department), mherman@luc.edu.

Islamic arts and culture

ARCHITECTURE
• Omar Khalidi is a senior research scholar at the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Contact 617-258-5597, okhalidi@MIT.EDU.
• Nasser Rabbat is Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture in the history, theory and criticism section of the architecture department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is avidly interested in culture and its historical manifestations in architecture. His field is Islamic architectural history, and he is immersed in the history, languages and culture of the Islamic world. He is also a good source for discussion of modern culture and architecture in the Islamic world. Contact 617-253-1417, Rabbat@mit.edu.

ART AND LITERATURE
• Sheila Blair is co-holder of the Norma Jean Calderwood Chair of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College's fine arts department and the Hamad bin Khalifa Chair in Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her expertise includes Islamic art, especially of Iran and Central Asia, art and architecture produced under the Mongols, and calligraphy and books. She and her husband and co-chair, Jonathan Bloom, are at work on the exhibition "Cosmophilia: Islamic Art From the David Collection, Copenhagen," which is in Boston and Chicago during 2006-07. Contact 617-552-8595, sheila.blair@bc.edu.
• Jonathan Bloom is co-holder of the Norma Jean Calderwood Chair of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College and of the Hamad bin Khalifa Chair in Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. The author of many books on the history of Islamic art and architecture and the history of paper, he teaches courses on Islamic art, Islamic civilization, the arts of medieval Spain and the history of Jerusalem. He was a principal consultant to the PBS documentary Islam: Empire of Faith and is curating an exhibition on ornament in Islamic art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, that will be exhibited in Boston and Chicago during 2006-07. Contact 617-552-8595, jonathan.bloom@bc.edu or jmbloom@vcu.edu.

CULTURE
• Jon Wilson Anderson, chairman of the anthropology department at Catholic University of America, is a sociocultural anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of religion (ritual and symbol systems) and politics, new media and the social life of information technologies, and the Middle East. He co-edited New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere (Indiana University Press, 2002) and Reformatting Politics: Networked Communications and Global Civil Society (Routledge, 2006). He is researching the communications and information revolution in the Arab world, transnational cultures and the social organization of international cyberspaces. Contact 202-319-5080, anderson@cua.edu.
• Sayed M. Omran is an associate professor of Arabic language and culture at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa. He is an expert on Islam and Arabic culture. His publications include, as translator, Islam and Human Ideology (Kegan Paul, 1997). Contact 610-519-6996, sayed.omran@villanova.edu.
• Lawrence Rosen is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University Law School. He was, in 1981, among the first winners of the MacArthur Foundation "genius grants." His interest is in contemporary Muslim culture and law. Contact 609-258-2671 (office), 609-258-5535 (department), lrosen@princeton.edu.

PHILOSOPHY
• Shams C. Inati, professor of Islamic theology and religious studies at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa., is a specialist in Islamic philosophy - particularly the problem of evil. She is an expert on Arab societies, religions and civilizations. She is a poet, songwriter and advocate of human rights and world peace based on justice. She has a long list of publications, including Iraq: Its History, People, and Politics (Humanity Books, 2003). Contact 610-519-7301, shams.inati@villanova.edu.
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr is a professor of Islamic studies in the religion department at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His expertise is in the history of science and philosophy in the Islamic world and comparative philosophy and religion. He is an internationally known scholar of Islam. Contact 202-994-5704 (office), 202-994-6325 (department), zsirat@gwu.edu.

Islam in America

WOMEN AND FAMILY
• Mahnaz Afkhami, a former minister of state for women's affairs in Iran, is founder and president of Women's Learning Partnership in Bethesda, Md. The partnership trains and links women's organizations in the Southern Hemisphere that focus on building leadership and political participation, civil society building, human rights activism and education, and sustainable and equitable development, particularly among Muslim women. Projects include women's rights and training in developing a "culture of peace." Contact 301-654-2774, wlp@learningpartnership.org.
• Leila Ahmed is Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity at Harvard University Divinity School. She is on academic leave until fall 2006. She has a background in women's studies and is a pre-eminent scholar of Islam as it pertains to women. Contact her through faculty assistant Katherine Lou, 617-495-4265, klou@hds.harvard.edu.
• Kecia Ali is a Mellon Fellow in Islamic Studies and Women's Studies at Brandeis University at Waltham, Mass. She wrote Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence (Oneworld Publications, 2006). Her areas of expertise include progressive Islam and women, gender and Islamic law and Muslim societies. The best way to reach her is through email. Contact 781-736-2953 (office), 781-736-2950 (department), alikecia@brandeis.edu.
• Dr. Laila Al-Marayati is a physician and past president of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Muslim Women's League, which represents Muslim women and supports the status of women as equal members of society. The league has a speakers bureau and position papers on topic issues such as divorce, honor killing, female genital mutilation, gender equality, inheritance and women's dress. Members often speak at interfaith public events and at their children's schools to increase awareness, particularly during Ramadan. Contact 626-358-0335, lalmara@aol.com.
• Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is professor of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Her scholarly interests include Muslims in the West, Islamic revolutionary movements, 20th-century Islam and the intellectual, social and political history of the Arab world. She co-authored Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006), which portrays Muslim women in the U.S. as active in shaping Islam, opinionated and diverse. She can discuss marriage, childrearing, conversion and participation of Muslims in American society. Contact 202-687-2575, haddady@georgetown.edu.
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a well-known Dutch politician, researcher, activist on behalf of Muslim women's rights and critic of conservative Islam. Ali, a native of Somalia, served in Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006. In 2004, she collaborated with the late director Theo van Gogh to make a film called Submission, about the oppression of women in conservative Muslim society. Van Gogh was killed by an Islamic extremist after the film aired on Dutch television. At AEI, Ali's area of study include: Islam in Europe, Islam and the West; the role of religion in violence against women and the rights of females in Islam. Contact: 202-862-5800 or reach Ali through Veronique Rodman at AEI media relations, 202-862-4871, VRodman@aei.org.
• Zayn R. Kassam is associate professor of religious studies at Pomona College, Claremont, Calif. Her area of concentration is Islam and women. Contact 909-607-4095 (office), 909-607-3075 (department), zayn_kassam@pomona.edu.
• Saba Mahmood is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her interests include Islam and religious reform movements, secular modernity in postcolonial societies, ethics and gender. She wrote Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (Princeton University Press, 2005), based on a grassroots women's piety movement in Egypt. Her current project is a study of secularism in Egypt and Lebanon. Contact 510-642-3565 (office), 510-642-3391 (department), smahmood@berkeley.edu.
• Kathleen M. Moore is an associate professor in the Law and Society Program at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Her areas of expertise include immigration law, the socio-legal aspects of contemporary Muslim life and law in the diaspora and Muslims in the West. She conducted two national public opinion polls after 9/11, investigating the effect of the terrorist strikes on attitudes about civil liberties and immigration among Muslims and non-Muslims. She co-authored Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006), which portrays Muslim women in the U.S. as active in shaping Islam, opinionated and diverse. Contact 805-893-7537, kmoore@lawso.ucsb.edu.
• Jane I. Smith is professor of Islamic studies and co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She specializes in Muslim communities in America, Christian theology in relation to Islam, historical relations between Christians and Muslims, Islamic conceptions of death and afterlife, and the role and status of women in Islam. A prolific author and lecturer, her recent work includes, as co-author, Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006) and, as co-editor, Islam and the West Post 9/11 (Ashgate, 2005). She is co-editor of the journal The Muslim World. Contact 860-509-9532, jismith@hartsem.edu.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSLIMS
• Ihsan Bagby is associate professor of Islamic studies in the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He studies Muslims in the United States, including the growth of Islam here, African-Americans and Islam, demographics of American Muslims and the growth of Islam in prisons. He is an expert on pluralism, mosque organization and imams. He helped facilitate the first endorsement of a Muslim chaplain in the U.S. armed forces. In 2001 he published the results of the first comprehensive study of mosques in America, "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait," for the Council on American-Muslim Relations, on whose board he serves. He serves on the advisory board of Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Contact 859-257-9638 (office), 859-257-3761 (department), iabagb2@uky.edu.
• Edward E. Curtis IV is Millennium Scholar of the Liberal Arts and an associate professor of religious studies and Amderican studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. He is editor of the Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States (Columbia, 2008) and wrote Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975 (UNC Press, 2006) and Islam in Black America: Identity, Liberation, and Difference in African-American Islamic Thought (State University of New York Press, 2002). Contact 317-278-1683 or 317-274-1465 (department), ecurtis4@iupui.edu.
• Jamillah Karim is assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Spelman College in Atlanta. She was reared in an African-American Muslim community. Her expertise is on race, gender and Islam; younger Muslims in the U.S.; and connections and tensions among African-American Muslims and immigrant Muslims in the U.S. Contact 404-270-5524, JKarim@spelman.edu.
• Lawrence H. Mamiya is a religion professor at Vassar College outside of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and a widely recognized expert on African-American religion and the Nation of Islam. Contact 845-437-5522, mamiya@vassar.edu.
• Aminah B. McCloud is an Islamic studies professor in the department of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago. She is an expert in American and African-American Islam, including Nation of Islam, Islam in prison and Louis Farrakhan. Contact 773-325-1290 (office), 773-325-4905 (department), amccloud@depaul.edu.
• Imam Zaid Shakir is an African-American who converted to Islam during his service in the Air Force. He has a master's degree in political science and received classical scholarly training in the Muslim world. He is a writer, speaker, teacher and activist, having founded several Muslim organizations in the eastern U.S. before becoming a resident scholar at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, Calif., which calls him a leader in an emerging indigenous American Muslim tradition. His areas of expertise include the Quran, the life of the prophet and African-American Islam. Contact 510-582-1979.

HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL SERVICES
• Abdul Basit, a clinical psychologist, is assistant professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University in Chicago. A former Fulbright Scholar, he is editor in chief of the Journal of Muslim Mental Health and a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council, and he formerly directed the Islamic Society of North America's Center for Health and Human Services. Contact 708-720-2239 or 708-767-3452, Abasit97@aol.com.
• Dr. Hamada Hamid is a clinical fellow at New York University's Center for Global Health and a resident in the combined neurology and psychiatry program at New York University. He launched the Journal of Muslim Mental Health to encourage scholarship and discussion of stress and mental health issues particular to Muslims in the U.S. as well as in the global community. The editorial board lists experts around the country. Hamid also started a culturally sensitive mental health service in New York City, and medical ethics is a particular interest. He is involved in a research project examining Muslim physician attitudes toward medical ethics. Contact hamadahamid@gmail.com.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND MUSLIM LIFE
• Ihsan Bagby is an associate professor of Islamic studies in the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He studies Muslims in the United States, including the growth of Islam here, African-Americans and Islam, demographics of American Muslims and the growth of Islam in prisons. He is an expert on pluralism, mosque organization and imams. He helped facilitate the first endorsement of a Muslim chaplain in the U.S. armed forces. In 2001 he published the results of the first comprehensive study of mosques in America, "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait," for the Council on American-Muslim Relations, on whose board he serves. He serves on the advisory board of Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Contact 859-257-9638 (office), 859-257-3761 (department), iabagb2@uky.edu.
• Zahid H. Bukhari directs American Muslim Studies Program at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Previously, he directed the Muslims in the American Public Square Project, which looked at the contribution and role of Muslims in American public life. He also directs the Center for Islam and Public Policy. An economist, Bukhari has deep experience in survey research and previously directed the Pakistan Institute of Public Opinion in Islamabad. His areas of interest include religion and politics in the United States and South Asia. Contact 202-687-2947 (office), 202-687-8375 (department), zhb@georgetown.edu.
• Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is a professor of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Her scholarly interests include Muslims in the West, Islamic revolutionary movements, 20th-century Islam and intellectual, social and political history of the Arab world. She co-authored Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (Oxford University Press, 2006), which portrays Muslim women in the U.S. as active in shaping Islam, opinionated and diverse. She can discuss marriage, childrearing, conversion and participation of Muslims in American society. Contact 202-687-2575, haddady@georgetown.edu.
• Jamillah Karim is an assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Spelman College in Atlanta. Her expertise is on race, gender and Islam; younger Muslims in the U.S.; and connections and tensions among African-American Muslims and immigrant Muslims in the U.S. Contact 404-270-5524, JKarim@spelman.edu.
• Karen Leonard is professor of anthropology and co-director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She wrote Muslims in the United States: the State of Research (Russell Sage Foundation, 2003). She also wrote an ethnography of the diaspora from Hyderabad, India, to Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the U.S, and the Gulf states of the Middle East, which will be published by Stanford University Press. She has spoken widely on American Muslim politics. Leonard says that American Muslims are diverging and decentralizing, politically as well as socially, since 9/11, and not drawing together or inward. She finds that many are reaching out and becoming directly engaged in politics. Contact: 310-839-3457, kbleonar@uci.edu.
• Omer M. Mozaffar is completing his doctorate in Islamics at the University of Chicago. He is an adjunct professor of Islamic studies and religion at St. Xavier University and North Central College, teaching introductory and advanced courses on Islam and world religions. He is knowledgeable about inner dynamics of Muslim organizations, particularly immigrant organizations. Mozaffar is a lifelong active participant in the Muslim community of Chicago and has given more than 200 lectures on Islam across the country since 9/11. Contact 630-881-5211, ghaalib@alumni.uchicago.edu.
• Omid Safi is an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is co-chairman of the Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion. His areas of expertise include Muslims in America and progressive Muslim movements. Contact omid@email.unc.edu.

Politics

DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL RIGHTS
• Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University in Atlanta. He teaches international law and comparative constitutional law, international institutions and Islamic law. His research includes human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, constitutionalism in Islamic and African countries, Islam and politics, Islamic family law and women and the law in African countries. Contact 404-727-1198 (office), 404-727-6816 (department), abduh46@law.emory.edu.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl is an internationally recognized professor of law and the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches Islamic law, Middle Eastern investment law, immigration law and courses related to human rights and terrorism. He works with human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), and serves as an expert witness in international litigation involving Middle Eastern law, and in cases involving immigration law and political asylum claims. Contact 310-206-5401 (office), 310-825-4841 (department), fakoor@law.ucla.edu. Or contact his press agent, Grace Song, 310-710-7345, anmargrace@yahoo.com.
• Sohail Hashmi is an associate professor of international relations at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. He is an expert on Islam, pluralism, Islamic political thought and jihad. He posits that Islam lacks a tradition of political thought. Contact 413-538-2666 (office), 413-538-2657 (department), shashmi@mtholyoke.edu.
• Omid Safi is an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is co-chairman of the Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion. His areas of expertise include Muslims in America and progressive Muslim movements. Contact omid@email.unc.edu.
• John O. Voll is a professor of Islamic history and associate director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. He is an expert in Middle Eastern, Islamic and world history and has written widely on Islam in the modern world and Islam and democracy. Contact 202-687-0288, vollj@georgetown.edu.

IMAGE AND STEREOTYPING
• Muqtedar Khan is a nonresident fellow of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and an assistant professor in the department of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. Khan speaks and writes often about moderate or progressive Islam. He wrote American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (Amana Publications, 2002). He is editor in chief of the Muslim Public Affairs Journal and is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Contact 302-831-1939, mkhan@udel.edu.
• Anouar Majid is an English professor at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. He is a critic of religious and economic orthodoxies, examining the place of Islam in the modern world, particularly its interaction with the process of globalization. He is also a novelist and co-founder of Tingis, the Moroccan-American magazine of ideas and culture. Contact 207-602-2614 (office), 207-283-0171 (department), amajid@une.edu.
• Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and professor of anthropology at Columbia University. He focused his interest in the intersection between politics and culture on Islam in his book, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror (Pantheon, 2005). He is on sabbatical until Sept. 8, 2006. Contact 212-854-8777, mm1124@columbia.edu.

FOREIGN POLICY
• Mohammed Abu-Nimer is associate professor at the American University's School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington, D.C., where he directs the Peacebuilding and Development Institute. He is an expert on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace. He has researched, intervened and conducted conflict resolution workshops around the world, including in the Palestinian territories, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, the Philippines (Mindanao) and Sri Lanka. He wrote Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam: Theory and Practice (University Press of Florida, 2003). Among his interests are work among Palestinians and Jews, application of conflict resolution models in Muslim communities, interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue. Nimer works closely with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, authoring a yearly report on the status of Muslims' civil rights in the U.S. He also authors materials about accommodating Muslim religious practices in the workplace and institutions for corporate and institutional audiences, and he wrote The North American Muslim Resource Guide (Routledge, 2002), which profiles Muslim issues and history in North America and includes a directory of contact information for Muslim community organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Contact 202-885-1656, abunimer@american.edu.
• Khaled Abou El Fadl is an internationally recognized professor of law and the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an expert on Islamic political thought. He teaches Islamic law, Middle Eastern investment law, immigration law and courses related to human rights and terrorism. He works with human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), and serves as an expert witness in international litigation involving Middle Eastern law, and in cases involving immigration law and political asylum claims. Contact 310-206-5401 (office), 310-825-4841 (department), fakoor@law.ucla.edu. Or contact his press agent, Grace Song, 310-710-7345, anmargrace@yahoo.com.
• Fawaz A. Gerges, professor of international affairs and Middle Eastern studies, holds the Christian A. Johnson Chair in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies in the history department at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. Gerges is a senior analyst and regular commentator for ABC Television News and a commentator for NPR's Morning Edition. He has appeared on television and radio networks throughout the world, including American networks and Aljazeera. Areas of expertise include Islam and the political process, Islamist and jihadist movements, Arab politics, American foreign policy in the Middle East, the modern history of the Middle East, history of conflict, diplomacy and foreign policy, historical sociology and international relations. He did several years of field research on relations between the Islamists, jihadists and the West, particularly the United States, in several Middle Eastern countries. Contact 914-395-2299 (office), 914-395-2219 (department), fgerges@slc.edu, or reach him through Judith Schwartzstein in the Sarah Lawrence media department, 914-395-2219, judiths@sarahlawrence.edu.
• Peter P. Mandaville is an associate professor of government and politics and directs the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. His expertise is in international politics and Islam. His current research is on the role of Muslim organizations and leadership in Europe and North America; madrassas and education in the Muslim world; and social/political development in the Muslim world. He is on leave until late August 2006. Contact 703-993-1054 (office), 703-993-1400 (department), pmandavi@gmu.edu.

ISLAMIC EXTREMISM
• Faisal Devji is an assistant professor of humanities at the Eugene Lang College of New School University in New York. He has written on jihad, militancy and modernism in Islam. Contact 212-229-5717 ext. 3048, devjif@newschool.edu.
• Mary Habeck is an associate professor of strategic studies in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. Her areas of expertise include American defense policy; Islamic religion, culture and law; military power and strategy; military history; strategic and security issues; and terrorism. Contact 202-663-5752 (office), 202-663-5600 (department), mhabeck1@jhu.edu.
• Ivan A. Strenski is a professor and Holstein Endowed Chairholder in religious studies at the University of