In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal speaks with Dr. Elliot Bazzano, Associate Professor at Le Moyne College, about Islamophobia, the election of Zohran Mamdani, and what his success means for U.S. Muslims. Together, they unpack the roots and impact of Islamophobia, tracing how it shapes both public perception and everyday Muslim life. Their conversation situates Mamdani’s rise within a broader history, one shaped by the quiet labor of parents, elders, and countless famous and not-famous Muslim figures who have sustained their communities with resilience and care. They end by reflecting on why Mamdani’s achievement holds such symbolic and personal significance for Muslims across the United States. Elliott Bazzano is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Le Moyne College, where he teaches courses on Islam and comparative religion. Professor Bazzano’s research focuses on the interplay of Qur’anic interpretation, polemics, and mysticism as well as identity and pedagogy in religious studies scholarship. He co-edited Varieties of American Sufism (SUNY Press, 2020) with Marcia Hermansen. His article “Normative Readings of the Qur’an: From the Premodern Middle East to the Modern West,” appears in The Journal of the American Academy of Religion (2016) and “Muslim in the Classroom: Pedagogical Reflections on Disclosing Religious Identity” in Teaching Theology in Religion (2016). Bazzano published two articles in Religion Compass (2015) on Syrian polymath Ibn Taymiyya, “Ibn Taymiyya Radical Polymath, Part I: Scholarly Perceptions” and “Ibn Taymiyya, Radical Polymath, Part II: Intellectual Contributions.” He has authored a book chapter, “Research Methods and Problems,” in The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies (2013, 2015), and has forthcoming chapters on Qur’an interpretation, dating, and Islamic dietary guidelines Islam in Five Minutes (Bloomsbury, 2024). Bazzano serves at co-chair on the Steering Committee for the Study of Islam Section in the American Academy of Religion. In addition to finding inspiration in the mystical percolations of the Sufis, including coffee (pun intended), he finds his deepest wonder and joy in the miracle of his two daughters who offer him limitless possibilities for contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Dr. Roshan Iqbal hails from a small hamlet of 20 million–Karachi, Pakistan. She received her PhD in Islamic Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to this she read for her MPhil at the University of Cambridge. She has studied in Pakistan, the US, Morocco, Egypt, Jordon, the UK, and Iran. Her research interests include gender and sexuality in the Qur’an, Islamic Law, Film and Media Studies, and modern Muslim intellectuals. Her recent book is titled, ‘Marital and Sexual Ethics in Islamic Law: Rethinking Temporary Marriage.’ As an associate professor at Agnes Scott College, she teaches classes in the Religious Studies department and also classes that are cross-listed with Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Film Studies. When she is not working, she loves talking to her family and friends on the phone (thank you, unlimited plans), tracking fashion (sartorial flourishes are such fun), watching films (love! love! love!), reading novels (never enough), painting watercolors (less and less poorly), and cooking new dishes (sometimes successfully).
