Anouar Majid publishes columns on the violence in the wake of the YouTube video on the Prophet Mohammed

Anouar Majid, Ph.D., UNE associate provost for global initiatives and director of the Center for Global Humanities, contributed a column on Sept. 19, 2012 to the online publication Tabsir: Insight on Islam and the Middle East on the violence that has taken place in wake of the YouTube video on the Prophet Mohammed.

On Sept. 20th, the online Informed Comment also published a second column by Majid titled "Fury Unbound: the Muslim Dilemma."

For Tabsir, Majid writes: "The violence that erupted ... is a wake-up call to all who care about the future of human civilization and, particularly, that of Arabs and Muslims living in Muslim-majority nations.

"Muslims won’t improve their lot unless they know how to handle criticism, irony, and doubt. Religion, like any addiction, may be hard to stamp out from our lives, but we should at least try to contain its effects. That should be the goal of those who care about peace. The reader may disagree with me, but I really don’t see another way for people in Muslim-majority nations to build a decent a society for themselves and their children." Read the Tabsir and the Informed Comment columns. The University of Minnesota Press also published a version of the Tabsir column.

Majid is the author of five critically acclaimed books on Islam and the West, including Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice, and a novel, Si Yussef, which has been the focus of much scholarly and critical interest.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.