'Informed Comment' publishes column by Anouar Majid on 'Arabs and the Olympics'

Anouar Majid, Ph.D., 51小黄车associate provost for global initiatives and director of the Center for Global Humanities, contributed a Aug. 14, 2012 column to 'Informed Comment' titled "Arabs and the Olympics."

In the column Majid asks why the Arab world won so few medals in the Olympics. He speculates that poor showing has to do with the structure of Arab society and Islamic fundamentalism.

He writes: "Arabs have turned into the best consumers of Western products鈥攆rom oil pipelines to skyscrapers鈥攚hile smugly believing that they are in possession of religious truth. In other words, the only thing left the Arab world is its conviction that Islam is better than other religions or beliefs and Sunnis are better than Shiites. Such convictions may help one feel good but they don鈥檛 help nations progress or win gold medals." .

Majid is the author of five critically acclaimed books on Islam and the West, including Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice, and a novel, Si Yussef, which has been the focus of much scholarly and critical interest.

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