{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc -->
| name        = Reza Aslan
| image       = Reza Aslan.jpg
| imagesize   = 200px
| caption     = Reza Aslan
| birthdate  = 1972
| birthplace = Tehran, Iran
| occupation  = Writer 
}}

Dr. '''Reza Aslan''' (, born 1972 <ref>[http://www.parstimes.com/books/reza_aslan.html Reza Aslan<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> in Tehran, Iran) <ref>[http://www.rezaaslan.com/bio.html Reza Aslan - Bio<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, is an Iranian-American Muslim writer <ref>No god but God</ref> and scholar <ref>[http://www.rezaaslan.com/bio.html Reza Aslan - Bio<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> of religions. 

Aslan is also a regular commentator for Marketplace, and the Middle East Analyst for CBS News.  

His most recent book is ''No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam'' (published 2005), and is currently Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain reports that Aslan is a Shi'a Muslim. <ref>[http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,1597905,00.html Waiting for an Islamic Enlightenment | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Background==
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|No God But God -->
He has been both Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Aslan has written for numerous newspapers and periodicals including Slate, Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and others. 

He has also appeared on several TV programs, including ''Meet the Press'', ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', ''The Colbert Report'', ''Anderson Cooper 360°'', ''Hardball'', ''Nightline'' and ''Real Time with Bill Maher''. 

He has served as a legislative assistant for the Friends' Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., and was elected president of Harvard's Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a United Nations Organization committed to solving religious conflicts throughout the world. He is a member of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and serves on advisory boards of both the Council of Foreign Relations and the Ploughshares Fund, which distributes grants to further peace and diplomacy throughout the world.

He moved to the United States in 1979, during the Iranian Revolution<ref>[http://www.parstimes.com/books/reza_aslan.html Reza Aslan<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and currently lives in Santa Monica, California.

His aunt is Iranian singer Leila Forouhar.<ref>[http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=318 Bloggingheads.tv - diavlogs<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===Currently===
He is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.

In Santa Monica he is currently a Research Associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy.

He has, with Amanda Fortini, founded Detox Films, a production company founded with a number of television and film projects in pre-production.

He is writing a historical novel set a thousand years ago, about a caravan traveling from the Arabian peninsula to India. <ref>[http://www.laweekly.com/la-people-2006/the-muslim-hipster/13219/ LA Weekly<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Written and Spoken works==
His first book, ''No god but God'', (Random House, 2005), has been translated into half a dozen languages, was short-listed for the Guardian (UK) First Book Award, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. <ref>[http://www.rezaaslan.com/bio.html Reza Aslan - Bio<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

His next book, ''How to Win a Cosmic War: Why We're Losing the War on Terror'', will be published by Random House in the Fall of 2008.

'''Reza Aslan''' (Teheran, 1972) is een Iraans-Amerikaanse godsdienstwetenschapper, gespecialiseerd in de islam. Hij is journalist en auteur. 

Aslan  betreurt het dat in het debat over de islam momenteel eigenlijk alleen maar fundamentalistische en geseculariseerde moslims aan het woord komen, maar dat naar wie daartussen zitten, volgens hem de meerderheid van de moslims, nauwelijks geluisterd wordt. "Daar gaat mijn boek over, over de middenmoot van de islam", schrijft hij.

Islam wordt in de regel afgeschilderd als star, ondemocratisch en gewelddadig, terwijl volgens Aslan "de eerste moslimgemeenschap in Medina voor die tijd egalitair en democratisch was. Vrouwen kregen radicaal meer rechten dan ooit tevoren en heel wat meer dan de vrouwen in het Westen van die tijd." Bovendien verbiedt de koran discriminatie op grond van ras, geslacht en religie.

Aslan zegt: "De islam kan niet star worden toegepast. Wat tien eeuwen geleden werkte, ... werkt nu niet meer. Wie dat beweert zegt dat de islam dood is en niet meer met ons mee kan groeien." Maar volgens Aslan is de islam niet dood en kan is het heel goed mogelijk om de koran te gebruiken bij het scheppen van nieuwe oplossingen die passen bij deze tijd en het leven van moslims in het Westen.