Luncheon and Annual Meeting

Professor Ali S. Asani — “Understanding Islam: Going Beyond the Headlines”

We invite you to attend our Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Sunday, May 15, 2016 at Noon.  We are honored to welcome our guest speaker, Professor Ali S. Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. His topic will be Understanding Islam: Going Beyond the Headlines.  Read more about Professor Asani below.

The program will be held at Sunningdale Country Club, 300 Underhill Road, Scarsdale.  Club members will receive an invitation by mail.  You are welcome to bring guests.  RSVP and payment required by May 11th. 

When: Sunday, May 15th, 2016 at noon 
 
Location: Sunningdale Country Club
300 Underhill Road
  Scarsdale, NY
www.sunningdale.org
 
Payment: $65 per person (Club members; members may also bring one guest at this discounted rate)
$75 non-members
Payable online or by check
(Cash bar) 
Inquiries: hrcwestchester@post.harvard.edu
 
Payment may be made online (members click here)or by check payable to Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Westchester with your name, the names of any guests and your email address if you'd like email confirmation of your reservation, to:  Hon. Carole Princer Levy, 54 Brook Ridge Road, New Rochelle, NY 10804.  
 
 

 
Professor Ali S. Asani — “Understanding Islam: Going Beyond the Headlines”

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali S. Asani is currently Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. After completing his high school education in Kenya, he attended Harvard College, with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion, graduating summa cum laude in 1977. He continued his graduate work at Harvard in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, receiving his Ph.D. in 1984. Professor Asani has taught at Harvard since 1983, offering instruction in a variety of languages such as Urdu/Hindi, Sindhi, Gujarati, and Swahili as well as courses on various aspects of the Islamic tradition. Besides his various language courses, he teaches Culture and Belief 19: Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies; Culture and Belief 12: For the Love of God and His Prophet: Religion, Literature and the Arts in Muslim Societies; Religion 1802: An Introduction to the Islamic Mysticism: the Sufi Tradition; Religion 1820: Islam in South Asia: Religion, Culture and Identity in South Asian Muslim Societies; Freshman Seminar 37y: Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literatures. In addition to his specialization in the Muslim literatures of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Professor Asani is interested in Shiism, Sufism and popular or folk forms of Muslim devotional life, and Muslim communities in the West.

His books include The Bujh Niranjan: An Ismaili Mystical Poem; The Harvard Collection of Ismaili Literature in Indic Literatures: A Descriptive Catalog and Finding Aid; Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Muslim Devotional Poetry (co-author); Al-Ummah: A Handbook for an Identity Development Program for North American Muslim Youth; Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Literature of South Asia, and Let's Study Urdu: An Introduction to the Urdu Script and Let's Study Urdu: An Introductory Course (co-author).