Media wonder boy Reza Aslan is behind the curve on this one: this particular talking point has already been debunked (not that he would care, or stop repeating it, if he knew). Back in June 2015, the New America Foundation published a study that garnered enthusiastic international publicity, as it purported to demonstrate that “right-wing extremists” and “white supremacists” were a larger threat to the U.S. than Islamic jihadis. The study was obviously skewed, as it was based on the number of those killed by jihadis and by right-wing extremists since September 12, 2001, leaving out 9/11. The study also ignored the many, many foiled jihad plots, and the fact that jihadis are part of an international movement that has killed many thousands of people, while right-wingers and white supremacists are not. It stated that right-wing extremists had killed 48 people from September 12, 2001 to June 2015, while Islamic jihadists had killed only 26 people in the U.S. in that span. If 9/11 had been added, the tally would have been 3,032 killed by Islamic jihadists and 48 by purported right-wing extremists. And even by the New America Foundation’s rules, the Orlando jihad massacre makes the death toll stand at 76 killed by Islamic jihadis, and 48 by purported right-wing extremists (I repeat “purported” because to get to its count of 48, the NAF counted as “right-wing” attacks killings that were perpetrated by people who were obviously deranged psychopaths devoid of any ideology). Will Reza Aslan retract and apologize? What do you think?
The semi-literate and fact-free Aslan is the living embodiment of how repeating politically correct shibboleths can enable you to go far in this world. Aslan has made the ridiculous claim that the idea of resurrection “simply doesn’t exist in Judaism,” despite numerous passages to the contrary in the Hebrew Scriptures. He has also referred to “the reincarnation, which Christianity talks about” — although he later claimed that one was a “typo.” In yet another howler he later insisted was a “typo,” he claimed that the Biblical story of Noah was barely four verses long — which he then corrected to forty, but that was wrong again, as it is 89 verses long. Aslan claimed that the “founding philosophy of the Jesuits” was “the preferential option for the poor,” when in reality, that phrase wasn’t even coined until 1968. He called Turkey the second most populous Muslim country, when it is actually the eighth most populous Muslim country. He thinks Pope Pius XI, who issued the anti-fascist encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, was a fascist. He thinks Marx and Freud “gave birth to the Enlightenment,” when it ended in the late 18th century, before either of them were born. He claims that “the very first thing that Muhammad did was outlaw slavery,” when in fact Muhammad bought slaves, took female captives as sex slaves, and owned slaves until his death. He thinks Ethiopia and Eritrea are in Central Africa. A “renowned religious scholar” such as Reza Aslan should not make such elementary mistakes. But this is, of course, the man who writes “than” for “then”; apparently thinks the Latin word “et” is an abbreviation; and writes “clown’s” for “clowns.”
There is a sinister side to this sideshow: Aslan is a Board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). NIAC has been established in court as a lobbying group for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Said Michael Rubin: “Jamal Abdi, NIAC’s policy director, now appears to push aside any pretense that NIAC is something other than Iran’s lobby. Speaking at the forthcoming ‘Expose AIPAC’ conference, Abdi is featured on the ‘Training: Constituent Lobbying for Iran’ panel. Oops.” Iranian freedom activist Hassan Daioleslam “documented over a two-year period that NIAC is a front group lobbying on behalf of the Iranian regime.” NIAC had to pay him nearly $200,000 in legal fees after they sued him for defamation over his accusation that they were a front group for the mullahs, and lost. Yet Aslan remains on their Board.
“Maverick Speaker Series features theologian Reza Aslan,” by Matt Fulkerson, The Shorthorn, September 13, 2016:
The Maverick Speaker Series kicked off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as author and theologian Reza Aslan took the stage at Texas Hall.
Touching on issues of religion, terrorism and identity, Aslan suggested data and facts are not the weapons against bigotry. Instead, a focus on building personal relationships is the most powerful tool to foster understanding.
As a political and religious author and commentator, Aslan attempts to bring understanding about topics surrounding the Middle East, Islam and faith in the 21st century. In his most recent novel, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Aslan explores the historical accounts of Jesus, differing perspectives regarding his origins and the beginnings of Christianity.
The driving force behind the religious violence and cultural distrust in the United States and around the world, Aslan said, is fear, which he first began to understand the impacts of as a young Iranian-American.
“I’ve admitted on numerous occasions that I spent a good portion of the 1980s pretending to be Mexican,” he said.
Poor victim! Would he have us believe that Muslims were persecuted and harassed through the 1980s?
People fear what they don’t understand, he said. When that fear is directed toward specific groups of people, the result is bigotry. The United States has a history of bigotry toward specific religious and cultural groups he said. Catholics and Jewish immigrants have all been subjected to this bigotry during the 20th century, he said, and the 21st century is no different.
To dismiss concern about Muslims in the U.S. as mere “bigotry” is to ignore the fact that Catholic and Jewish immigrants were not committing terrorist acts or threatening the imminent conquest of the U.S. When this claim was articulated as “Muslims are the new Jews,” Bill Maher noted: “Jews weren’t oppressing anybody. There weren’t 5,000 militant Jewish groups. They didn’t do a study of treatment of women around the world and find that Jews were at the bottom of it. There weren’t 10 Jewish countries in the world that were putting gay people to death just for being gay.” Indeed, and no one is calling for or justifying genocide of Muslims now; there is no individual or group remotely comparable to the National Socialists in any genuine sense.
The late Christopher Hitchens also refuted this idea when writing a few years ago about the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero: “‘Some of what people are saying in this mosque controversy is very similar to what German media was saying about Jews in the 1920s and 1930s,’ Imam Abdullah Antepli, Muslim chaplain at Duke University, told the New York Times. Yes, we all recall the Jewish suicide bombers of that period, as we recall the Jewish yells for holy war, the Jewish demands for the veiling of women and the stoning of homosexuals, and the Jewish burning of newspapers that published cartoons they did not like.”
“Fear has a target, and it is Islam,” Aslan said.
Aslan spoke at length about issues of terrorism and said the double standard that exists around the word makes it meaningless.
“Terrorism is a bullshit word,” he said. “It says more about the person using it than about the person being described.”
Since 2002, right-wing, anti-government terrorists have killed far more Americans than Islamic terrorists, he said, but the term ‘terrorist’ is more often applied to people who practice Islam.
In order to combat these prejudices, he said, terminology designed to separate us must be dropped from the lexicon. In its place, people must begin to build relationships with those of different faiths and different backgrounds.
“When you have a lack of physical contact with people of other races, other colors, other nationalities, other religions, that leads precisely to a fear of ‘the other,’” he said. “This is just an academic way of saying it’s not about data, it’s about relationships.”…
One wonders when Islamic hardliners will start to take that advice and forget about the Qur’an’s admonition that they should be “harsh” toward unbelievers (48:29).

Georg says
“since September 12, 2001”
How *$(#@*& offensive.
Mark A says
I’m amazed that Reza Aslan is taken seriously.
jihad3tracker says
HELLO MARK —- Reza Poofy-poof Aslan is a Leftist sissy who secretly dances 1975 disco in the privacy of whatever space he can find with a big enough mirror. FIND PROOF OF THAT IN ONE OF THE POSTS — USE THE SEARCHBOX — or Google images of him..
Robert has shredded this self-hating closeted gay for many years. He is only taken seriously because mainstream media, columnists, and “academics” are soaked in Western privilege guilt AND, ALTHOUGH THEY WILL NEVER ADMIT IT, THE IMMENSE RACISM OF LEFISTS AGAINST MUSLIMS.
If we want proof of how utterly Reza’s ego is haunted, find the classic video when he insisted “I AM A SCHOLAR OF RELIGIONS ! ! !” repeatedly, shouting, and a deer-in-the-headlights panic attack imminent.
NOW HE GETS HIMSELF DESCRIBED AS A “THEOLOGIAN” —– HA HA HA. You can rest assured that Reza is reading this item by Robert and all the comments, because he has a lot of free time after grading assignments from his “creative writing” students, and he obsessively tracks all of Robert’s web content..
SO, HELLO REZA ! A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO ONE OF THE MOST PATHETIC ISLAM-LOVERS ON THIS PLANET. I hope that your rear end stays far away from fully devout Allah worshippers, because even a truckload of Preparation-H won’t repair the damage.
jihad3tracker says
++++++++ IF YOU HAVE A LITTLE TIME FREE THIS WEEKEND +++++++++
Have some fun with posting ACTUAL TRUTH about Reza and Islam in the comment section of that “Shorthorn” item. But be gentle, of course, and so polite. I suggest keeping whatever you write VERY BRIEF because it might be deleted and why waste extra minutes.
Also, find a contact path to the author and send an email to him — but make the subject line deceptively neutral so what you say will actually be opened. ONCE INSIDE THE CONTENT BOX, BLAST AWAY (AGAIN, CIVILLY) WITH BOTH BARRELS.
A heavy dose of reality on Muhammad, Islam’s mandates for Infidels, and something along the line of what Robert has written often: if Muslims want to be looked at with less suspicion, perhaps they should get their own faith members to stop the slaughter of humans in America and the world..
abad says
And when he does dance and sing he pretends he is Freddie Mercury.
====O O====
jihad3tracker says
HERE IS A SHORT GIF-LOOP OF REZA IN A SMOOTH “VILLAGE PEOPLE” IMPRESSION. If Robert’s IT guy Marc has not disabled GIF movement for security reasons, it should work: https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2013-09/enhanced/webdr06/20/17/anigif_enhanced-buzz-15957-1379710981-28.gif
By the way, he looks like road kill in that Shorthorn video Q&A — if you go to the link. Apparently keeping up a façade of lies for his actual scholarly credentials — PLUS A VERY HIGH MAINTENANCE WIFE (look her up in his Wikipedia profile) bitching about how lousy his career has gone — has devastated all former cuteness in Aslan’s face.
THE BIBLICAL SAYING — “YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW” — LANDED WITH A THUD IN POOFY-POOF REZA’S LAP.
Georg says
Man, is he strange.
Shane says
Both leftists and Islamists use that false stat that right wing terrorists have killed more Americans than muslim terrorists have since the 9/11 attack. First, it is dishonest to not include the 9/11 attack, and second, there are a hell of a lot conservatives in America than there are muslims, which proves that muslims are much more likely to commit terrorist acts than right wing non-muslims are. Leftists seem to have a similar concept to Islamic tagiyya, in that they are allowed to lie and to deceive to defeat their enemies.
Kay says
In these days of knowledge by Google, people can say most anything and get away with it. Then if it’s what you wanted to hear anyway, there it is.
Disagreement has now been termed phobia or bigotry, so it’s nearly impossible to have a discussion that leads to truth.
Speaking of truth, throw just a little in with whatever lie is proffered and it’s all the harder to distinguish (for every one but particularly the overworked or inexperienced).
Kay says
everyone
Shane says
It is left wing hater, like Shillary and Obama, who term anyone who disagrees with them as evil or phobic. I say, let’s adopt their tactics and start calling liberals anti-White bigots and Christianophobes!
Blangwort says
I’m fascinated, not by this mans ignorance, but by so many others who do not recognize it.
Stephanie says
0:35 ‘… from other cultures’ http://quran.com/5/33-40 quran.com/24/2 quran.com/4/56-57 …
Q&A With Aslan
biff says
Liar liar, pants on fire!
Champ says
Champ says
Reza Aslan is a lying Clown!
Rob says
He’s also on record saying that clitorectomies (female genital mutilation, or “circumcision”) are not an Islamic tradition.. According to him, it’s an African thing; and doesn’t appear in Islamic countries
Istanbul_Chick says
Thanks, Champ! I’m good, especially after getting a good belly laugh out the liar liar video.:D
I hope all is well with you and yours.
Champ says
Hi Chick! I know, the video is a scream, so glad you enjoyed it, too! 😀
Crusades Were Right! says
Cenk Uygur, the Young Turks’ Christophobic, white-hating defender of Islam, is a huge fan of Reza…
…for some reason.
underbed cat says
Mr. As-lala, maybe “intolerant martyr” is a better word for you (?)……….since you are so offended by the terrorist word… OR maybe jihad for the devout that seems to have numerous outbursts worldwide with numerous names you may recognize. Nice suit.
overman says
“Terrorism is a bullshit word,” he said. “It says more about the person using it than about the person being described.”
The same could be said of ‘lslamaphobia’.
Georg says
Would he prefer Islamically-inspired-mass-murderer? Didn’t think so. Be happy we say “terrorist”, you freak.
Emilie Green says
Reslan said, “This is just an academic way of saying it’s not about data, it’s about relationships.”
Jack Handey should check his inventory. Something’s been stolen.
Keys says
Arrogantly lie with impunity and a smirk
Sham Reza Aslan ‘nother jihadi jerk.
Everything you say is now suspect
The only bullshit is what you project.
Artie says
Reza Aslan is a moron and a media attention whore and should be ignored.
Georg says
Yep. Always fighting above his weight but uses rhetorical woowoo to muddle every argument into a seeming draw. *yawn*
I’m sure he agonizes over being him, so don’t let it get to you too much.
heidi says
at the rate we’re going, he’ll probably end up in a deadly attack from his own ilk soon. what goes around . . .
mohamonator says
Robert, great teardown of Reza Aslan, but I wonder how you got to the total of 76 for victims of islamic terrorism in the US? Doing a quick review of the Wikipedia page on “List of Islamist terrorist attacks” (grim reading, BTW) I come up with 86. Which of these are not “islamist”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Los_Angeles_International_Airport_shooting (2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Fort_Hood_shooting (13)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings (3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Chattanooga_shootings (5)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_San_Bernardino_attack (14)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Orlando_nightclub_shooting (49)
Note also that I am not including any perpetrators who died in any of these attacks.
gravenimage says
Remember that the Tsarnaev brothers also murdered a police officer after the bombing itself. The San Francisco SUV rampage killer murdered a man and injured a score of others. The Beltway Sniper attacks by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo killed ten. The Oklahoma beheading killed one.The Seattle Jewish Federation Shooting killed one. Two were killed in the 2002 Los Angeles Airport Shooting. One of the victims at Ft. Hood was pregnant.
There are probably others. My toll is since 9/11 is 94, but that may still be low.
Lawrence says
Also we should include the 2 NYC cops killed in their squad car a year and a half ago by an Allah-Akhbar screaming robed Muslim.
Istanbul_Chick says
Hi, Graven! You are spot on with your count according to this website:
http://securitydata.newamerica.net/extremists/deadly-attacks.html
The website seems to be straining to get the “right-wing” death count up. Yet despite that, the number of jihadist murders are nearly double that of the “right-wing.”
The most recent they count as “right-wing” happened here in my state. The shooter was anything but “right-wing” if we take into account that people like the repulsive Reza and the msm mean “white Christian” when they use the term “right-wing.” That shooter was a far left male identifying as female who had a whole slew of anger issues with everyone.
Also, of all the “right-wing” attacks they list, only the other 2 other attacks on abortion providers really have a “Christian” motive. The others are a hodge-podge of white supremacists and anti-IRS nuts.
When compared with the jihadist attacks that all share the same motive: for the ummah and allah, the list of “right-wing” attacks do not share the same motive and the comparison rings as wholly false.
Champ ♥ says
Hi Chick!! Great comment! And we’ve missed you!! Hope you’re well, dear friend!! XO
Angemon says
He says in that novel that, despite what islam says, Jesus was definitely crucified. It’s not “right wing terrorists” that would have his head for saying it.
Mubarak says
Read scathing review of Aslan’s book ZEALOT here:
http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/449/reza-aslan-what-jesus-wasnt/
Mark Swan says
Thanks Mubarak, that was a good read, a peak into the mind of a fraud, Mr. Nadler,
a qualified man, pulled Mr. Aslan’s religious credentials apart quickly, by, pointing out
Mr. Aslan’s Educational history as nothing more than Creative writing, something Aslan
is clearly into. I pity anyone who reads Mr. Aslan’s work, taking it as factual.
Salome says
Is it on the back of that novel that he gets the reputation of being a theologian?
Georg says
I’m writing one on Muhammed:
Gangster: Stealing S^^^ and F^^^^^^ B^^^^^^ In the Desert
heidi says
you’ll have to include a chapter on Mo’s cross dressing! David Wood explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FELmAJN16X8
Georg says
That’s hilarous. Consider it done.
Mo says
“Reza Aslan claims that since 2002, right-wing terrorists have killed far more Americans than Islamic terrorists”
He said WHAT? That’s as far as I could read, because I want to slam my computer to the floor!
What a filthy liar he is!
Salome says
Humour him for a moment–even if his statement were true, why did he start at 2002?
Mo says
@ Salome
“Humour him for a moment–even if his statement were true, why did he start at 2002?”
Who knows what goes through the thought processes (such as they are) of a person like this? What a liar!
What enrages me is that he has a public career and is able to say such nonsense in public and gain a hearing!
Georg says
Yea, reminds me of his other favorite, “The Jews have had it easy since the Holocaust”.
RodSerling says
Apparently the San Bernardino and Orlando attacks were not enough to move Aslan to revise his claims. This is not the first time–and probably won’t be the last–that Aslan has persisted in repeating a false claim long after it has been corrected or debunked.
http://empethop.blogspot.ca/2015/02/a-fact-check-of-bill-maher-and-his.html
mohamonator says
“In yet another howler he later insisted was a “typo,” he claimed that the Biblical story of Noah was barely four verses long — which he then corrected to forty, but that was wrong again, as it is 89 verses long.”
Probably got it by reading the CliffsNotes to the Bible.
AformerMuslim says
I think Reza Aslan lives in Koko Land. His claims are abhorrent.
29000+ attacks since 9/11 in the name of ‘Allah’ are supposedly less.
A Former Muslim
http://www.aformermuslim.com
Mark Swan says
Those are attacks, events, the number of victims killed and wounded is tremendous.
Carmel says
I have read in the Qur’an that ” muslims should never take non-muslims as friends . They should just pretend to be their friends at most .” . So , I guess , if Reza Aslan ask muslins in Amerrica to get in relationship with non -muslims , he is going against the Qur’an . How can that be ?
Mark Swan says
Well, you know if Reza Aslan says it’s ok, it’s ok, right. I mean, with a big ol’ brain like He has, what’s
to be questioned.
Carmel says
Asla say the less peoples are exposed to other cultures, other faiths and other religious practices , the more they tend to be bigot . When he said that , did he had Saufi Arabia in mind?
Demsci says
In the debate between us “counterjihadists” and them Muslims and the Political Corrects, our first challenge is that it is mostly us who desire to have honest thorough discussions, and them that refuse such discussions, or prematurely, on some pretext, withdraw from them. In my experience. And by honest I mean discussions with roughly equal speaking time, and good listening by both parties, and into the finest nuances, with great patience, if need be.
But if, on occasion of some TV-programme or article, the Political-Corrects and Muslims finally engage in more or less honest discussion, and this happened to me last friday, then a second challenge comes up, for me or in my opinion at least.
And that is what Reza Aslan gives us here; the eternal “comparing” of what Muslims do and what other people, as in religions, ideologies, or nations, organisations do. We get much moral relativism.
For would-be honest debaters like me this is tough, because I myself can’t and won’t deny the “bad done by the non-Muslims”. As “the other side” so often simply denies or skips the “bad done by the Muslims”.
In such discussions I aim to be patient and express my arguments well, but always there is the “threat” that the political correct or muslim discussion partner decides to quit, or more accurate, runs”
and this makes it difficult to be so patient as to listen fully and well to the other side’s arguments and react in a way that shows understanding of arguments and validation of the good arguments the other side makes.
But if things get going and Islam-defenders, Muslim-defenders get going on Trump, and Wilders, then I can get to what Joel Shapiro so well described in JW the other day, namely the double standards of Political Corrects and Muslims use in
on the one hand holding nothing back in criticizing, downgrading Trump, Wilders and their supporters, and on the other hand steadfast defending “Muhammad”, his sayings, deeds and his “supporters”, the Muslims.
For example, routinely Islam-defenders gloss over what “Muhammad” said in Quran-Hadiths-Sira (Islam, Sunnah) about Jews, Christians, the Kuffars while criticizing Trump’s and Wilders” every word, if they can.
So when my discussion partner friday rebuked Geert Wilders for in parliament proposing a “head-rag-tax” in a very offending way,
it was my turn to point out what Muhammad said about Jews and Christians in “Islam”, like the things about “apes and pigs” and about the “trees and stones pointing out Jews to Muslims and say come and kill them” etc. That left my opponent flabbergasted, soon after she cut the discussion off.
When we “indict” Islam and Muslims “they” almost always use comparing, tu quogue, to distraction,
but “we” can do the same now, by comparing, playing tu quoque with Trump, Wilders et al. Like Joel Shapiro pointed out; we can say things like;
“the adherents of Trump, Wilders are VERY DIVERS, and only a fringe has deplorable views” and “Ah, I see you know, as I do, everything about Trump, Wilders, but you refuse to take into account what Islam shows what Muhammad did and said; Like “I have been victorious with terror” (Imagine Trump, Wilders said that!!!). Why do you use such double standards”.
BC says
“Aslan explores the historical accounts of Jesus”. I assume he means the New Testament.
As far as history, real history, is concerned the only reference and that is brief is in Josephus, who not only wrote almost 100 years after the alleged Crucifiction, but also 25 years after the first recorded gospel.
Praeceptor Maximus says
Reza Aslan is by far the worst human being ever. He represents the worst of an Iranian. The guy has a PhD in creative writing and yet he considers himself a scholar in Islamic matters. Give me a break. Fuck him.
Jimbo says
“Right Wingers” are around 50% of the Population, Muslims around 1% so lets multiply that figure of 26 by 50 to get a comparable figure. So “Right Wingers” 46 killed, Muslims 1300 killed.
ali Kimiai says
He is a known apologist for the regime and active member of NIAC, the lobbyist group for the regime. He is also a board member of Plaushore foundation, or something like that , which had a major role in making the Nuclear deal happen.
Paul Ashley says
“Fear has a target, and it is Islam,” Aslan said.
Righteous anger has a target,, and it is Islam. Sounds sane to me.
BlueRaven says
I am completely surprised that Reza Klown is ever taken seriously and he gets paid to spread bull. He should be laughed at when he says something.
Bill Smith says
It is easy to make a claim that appeals to the left-wing ear. There is no need to provide credible evidence. Just make the claim and wait for the mainstream media to repeat it over and over. The fact that the claim is repeated with frequency then becomes the evidence used to defend the claim. Done.
Reza is not a theologian. He is trained as a writer of creative fiction. More recently he has become a public speaker of creative fiction.
Matthieu Baudin says
…”When you have a lack of physical contact with people of other races, other colors, other nationalities, other religions, that leads precisely to a fear of ‘the other,’” he said…
What Reza Aslan may have meant to articulate is that ‘physical contact’ between Infidel Women and Moslem Men is permissible and beneficial and may alleviate tensions, whereas ‘physical contact’ between an Infidel Man and a Moslem Woman is traditionally punishable by death.
BostonLiberty says
Reza Aslan is as much an enemy as the muslims are. Who’s been waging war against all WESTERN CIVILIZATION for over 1000 years? muslims. Why is there slavery and sex trafficking and genital mutilation in these modern times? muslims. Who regards a woman as mere property, to be beaten, raped and killed at the whim of the men? muslims.
The evil is clearly here. muslims are the enemy. islam is the enemy. For over 1000 years they have wanted everyone else in the world either dead or their slave.
Close the borders and kick them all out. plain and simple.