Ikhlas and Makkah chat about how Muslims talk about Muslims, how Hollywood talks about Muslims and have Besheer Mohamed, Senior Researcher at the Pew Research Center, to tell us what the data says about Muslims. What we’re looking to find out: what’s really good for the ummah?
Guest: Besheer Mohamed is a Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center. He is an expert on the views, demographic profile and size of U.S. Muslim communities. He also has extensive experience with computational science, as well as developing best practices for quantitative data collection on small populations. Mohamed has appeared in numerous media outlets and regularly briefs policymakers, academics and other important stakeholders. He has also published in traditional academic publications through Oxford University Press and NYU Press, along with the American Sociological Association’s magazine, Contexts. He received his doctorate in sociology and master’s degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cornell University. You can read more about his work at the Pew Research Survey of American Muslims or find him on Twitter @bmoham.
- Where do people go to learn about who Muslims are and what they’re like (Muslims included)? [8:56]
- How Muslim artists and activists are helping shape the understanding of the Muslim identity [12:59]
- How the type of representation of Muslims that Hollywood allows is limiting [15:42]
- Our interview with Besheer Mohamed exploring what the research says about the American Muslim community [28:57]
- What the data tell us about how comfortable American Muslims are practicing openly and how young Muslims are as likely to practice as older Muslims [34:00]
- The trend of secularization and using religious identity as a cultural marker rather than religion as theology [41:07]
