Usama Hasan

Not to be confused with Osama Hassan.

Usama Hasan is a Senior Lecturer in business information systems at Middlesex University^[1] Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society^[2] and graduate of Cambridge University.^[3] He fought in Afghanistan against the Russian occupation.^[4] He was an Imam at the Masjid al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton. His talks have been disrupted for suggesting that Islam is compatible with evolution and he has received death threats.^[3]

He has argued that Islam is compatible with the theory of evolution, dismissing the story of Adam and Eve as "children's madrasa-level understanding" of human origins while pointing to the Islamic world's scientific achievements of the Middle Ages as evidence that Muslims should "move on as adults and intellectuals".^[5] He later retracted some of his statements about evolution^[3] Several Muslim leaders backed his right to free speech.^[6]

References

1. ^ Middlesex University Staff directory. Usama Hasan. http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/staffdirectory/Usama_Hasan.aspx |accessdate=2011-03-13
2. ^ "Muslim academic forced to retract evolution claim - The First Post". http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/76015,people,news,muslim-academic-and-imam-usama-hasan-forced-to-retract-evolution-claim. Retrieved 2011-03-13. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Imam fears 'nutters' could kill him for preaching evolution - London Evening Standard". http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23929834-imam-fears-nutters-could-kill-him-for-preaching-evolution.do. Retrieved 2011-03-13. 
4. ^ "Hardtalk - Usama Hasan". BBC News. 30 August 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6970298.stm. Retrieved 2011-03-13. 
5. ^ Hasan, Usama (11 September 2008). "Knowledge regained - Guardian". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/11/religion.darwinbicentenary. Retrieved 2011-03-13. 
6. ^ http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/12085 |accessdate=2011-03-13

External links

• Usama Hasan's articles at on the Guardian website

Persondata
Name	Hasan, Usama
Alternative names
Short description	Imam of the Masjid Madrasah al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
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