Muslims in North America: Both Hated and Feared

Amir Hussain

doi:10.26443/jcreor.v6i1.152

Authors

Amir Hussain Loyola Marymount University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26443/jcreor.v6i1.152

Keywords:

Islamophobia, misoislamia, African American Islam, anti-Muslin racism, American politics

Abstract

This contribution to the special JCREOR issue on “Analyzing the Discourse of Religious Phobia” reflects on the political, professional, and personal dimensions of the theoretical discussions involved, by foregrounding my lived experience as a scholar who has been engaged with these questions for many years in North America. Distrust and discrimination based on religion have a complex history in North America, intertwined with the politics of race, culture and class. This paper builds on my own academic and personal experiences in interfaith cooperation, reconciliation, and healing in both Canada and the United States. I address two central themes: First, is there an opportunity to make peace and resolve the conflict? And second, can we use shared trauma as a bridge in ways that are mutually beneficial across communities?

Author Biography

Amir Hussain, Loyola Marymount University

Dr. Amir Hussain is Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, the Jesuit university in Los Angeles. His own particular specialty is the study of contemporary Muslim societies in North America. His academic degrees (BSc, MA, PhD) are all from the University of Toronto where he received a number of awards, including the university’s highest award for alumni service. He served as President of the American Academy of Religion in 2023, the world’s largest scholarly organization for the study of religion.

He was an advisor for the television series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, and appears regularly on Ancient Aliens, History’s Greatest Mysteries with Laurence Fishburne, Holy Marvels with Dennis Quaid, and The UnXplained with William Shatner. In 2008, he was appointed a fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. The author or editor of seven books and over 60 scholarly articles about religion, his latest book, One God and Two Religions, came out in February 2025 from Fortress Press. He is the editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam in North America, which will be published in 2026 by OUP.

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Muslims in North America

Both Hated and Feared

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Amir Hussain, Loyola Marymount University

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