Santa Barbara, Calif.   —   2011-08-18   —  

Author Amitabh Pal will be appearing on C-SPAN to discuss topics from his book "Islam" Means Peace: Understanding the Muslim Principle of Nonviolence Today (Praeger, 2011). Pal provides a rebuttal to general misperceptions about the religion by documenting its rich tradition of nonviolence.  The book examines the sources of Islam—the Qur'an, the main religious text of Islam, and the Hadith, the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. It contests the prevalent notion that Islam is built on violence in part by illuminating the role of the tolerant, mystical tradition of Sufism in Islam, while at the same time examining the misunderstood place of jihad in the religion.   

Amitabh Pal is managing editor of The Progressive magazine, founded in 1909, and coeditor of the Progressive Media Project, an op-ed service, in Madison, WI. He has interviewed several eminent personalities for the magazine, including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama, and Joseph Stiglitz. Pal holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in political science, specializing in international relations and comparative relations, from North Carolina State University.