"Has Islam Been Hijacked?" Panel at Rutgers-Camden on March 5

February 25, 2004

CONTACT: Mike Sepanic, Rutgers-Camden public information office, (856) 225-6026, msepanic@camden.rutgers.edu

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN -- The eclipse of moderate Islamic voices by extremist radicals will be discussed during “Has Islam Been Hijacked?,” a conference at Rutgers University-Camden at 1 p.m. Friday, March 5.

The event will feature Walid Phares, a professor of Middle East studies at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of eight books on the Middle East, including: “Pluralism in the World,” “The Iranian Islamic Revolution,” and “Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and fall of an Ethnic Resistance.” His research has appeared in such leading periodicals such as Middle East Quarterly, Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and Global Affairs.

He regularly is interviewed by international media, including the Jerusalem Post, Beirut Times, CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC, as well as several European outlets. He frequently serves as a terrorism analyst for MSNBC. A well-known expert on Middle Eastern affairs and ethnic and religious conflict, Phares has testified before the U.S. Senate, conducted Congressional briefings, contributed to U.S. State Department seminars, and was cited in the congressional records as an advisor to the working team on the "Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1998." He is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

The Rutgers-Camden conference also will feature Jamal Hasan, a native of Bangladesh who now works for the U.S. Census Bureau. He writes widely and critically on the subject of radical Islam and has been published in Pakistan Today, the Bangladesh Times, and several Internet forums.

Hasan currently is co-editing a book, “Beyond Jihad: The Many Voices of Moderate Islam,” in collaboration with Kim Shienbaum, an associate professor of political science at Rutgers-Camden.

The event, which is free of charge and open to the public, will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room on the main level of the Campus Center, located on Third Street, between Cooper Street and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Rutgers-Camden campus.

For more information, call (856) 225-6084, ext. 44. Directions to Rutgers-Camden are online at www.camden.rutgers.edu.

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