Join us at the Downtown Club at the Houston Center on Thursday May 4, 2017 from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., as we welcome our guest speaker, Professor Ali S. Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. Heavy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be served. Professor Asani's topic will be Understanding Islam: Going Beyond the Headlines. For your convenience, scroll down the page to read more about Professor Asani.
When: Thursday May 4th, 2017, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Location: Downtown Club at the Houston Center
1100 Caroline Street
Houston, TX 77002
Heavy hors d’oœuvres and cocktails provided.
$35 for members
$45 Non-Members
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Professor Ali S. Asani — “Understanding Islam: Going Beyond the Headlines”
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali S. Asani is currently Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. After completing his high school education in Kenya, he attended Harvard College, with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion, graduating summa cum laude in 1977. He continued his graduate work at Harvard in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, receiving his Ph.D. in 1984. Professor Asani has taught at Harvard since 1983, offering instruction in a variety of languages such as Urdu/Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati, and Swahili as well as courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition.
Professor Asani has been particularly active post-Sept 11 in improving the understanding of Islam and its role in Muslim societies by conducting workshops for high school and college educators as well as making presentations at various public forums. He is particularly interested in the arts, broadly defined, as the primary means by which Muslims have experienced their faith and their potential as pedagogic bridges to foster a better understandings of the Islamic tradition. He has been involved in the Islamic Cultural Studies Initiative, an international professional development program for high school teachers in Kenya, Pakistan and Texas intended to promote a culturally and historically based approach to the study of Islam and Muslim societies. He has also served on the American Academy of Religion's Task Force on the teaching of religion in schools and as a consultant for the National Endowment for the Humanities Bridging Cultures Muslim Journeys Bookshelf Project. Professor Asani is recipient of the Harvard Foundation medal for his outstanding contributions to improving intercultural and race relations at Harvard and the nation. More recently he was awarded the Petra C. Shattuck prize for excellence in teaching by Harvard's Division of Continuing Education.
His books include The Bujh Niranjan: An Ismaili Mystical Poem; The Harvard Collection of Ismaili Literature in Indic Literatures: A Descriptive Catalog and Finding Aid; Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Muslim Devotional Poetry (co-author); Al-Ummah: A Handbook for an Identity Development Program for North American Muslim Youth; Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Literature of South Asia, and Let's Study Urdu: An Introduction to the Urdu Script and Let's Study Urdu: An Introductory Course (co-author).
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