Reza Aslan, a prominent scholar and commentator on Islam, spoke at the Varsity Theater Monday night on current issues facing the Middle East and their consequences.

Aslan's speech, "The Future of Islam: Toward the Islamic Reformation," was the annual Marquette University Allis Chalmers Distinguished Professor of International Affairs Lecture.

Richard Friman, professor of political science and Eliot Fitch Chair for International Studies, introduced Aslan, noting the scholar's many achievements.

Aslan covered a range of issues, from the War on Terror to a Reformation that parallels those of Christianity and Judaism. Aslan began the lecture by placing the current situation in the Middle East in a historical context, and then moved toward a synopsis of several conflicts now happening in the Middle East, specifically the War on Terror.

"It's kind of depressing," Aslan admitted to the crowd. "Things aren't going particularly well in the Middle East."

Aslan spent part of the hour-long lecture explaining his thoughts on what he called the missions, goals and ideas behind the War on Terror. Unfortunately, he said, the exact opposite of democratization has occurred in the Middle East.

Instead, Aslan said, it can be seen as "at best as a sham, at worst as an expansion of American military hegemony."

He went on to define the War on Terror as a rhetorical battle like the endless fights waged against drugs and poverty.

"Have we won the war on drugs?" Aslan asked. "I wasn't paying attention."

Some in the audience noted Aslan's biting sense of humor and scholarly expertise as one reason why Aslan has become popular recently.

"He's a formidable speaker," said Irfan Omar, assistant professor of theology. "He is well-informed and has strong ideas. Aslan is very energetic, which is a positive point, and he speaks in realistic terms, in the American idiom."

According to Omar, Aslan is making an important contribution to the topic of Reformation. The brunt of Aslan's main ideas involved Muslim reformers, whose movement, he said, is being "accelerated by surprising but inevitable phenomena."

He said large youthful populations in the Middle East and widespread online access to fatwas, or Islamic legal opinions, are two factors of the movement. The Reformation, Aslan said, involves a sense of individualism on the part of its supporters, which creates non-mainstream ideologies such as Islamic extremism or fundamentalism. Groups creating violence like Al-Qaeda are usually the minority, he said.

Aslan said Osama Bin Laden is the poster child for the Reformation.

"It's often the loudest voice that's heard, and quite frankly, you can't get much louder than airplanes slamming into skyscrapers," Aslan said.

Some Muslim students in attendance agreed with Aslan about minority Muslim groups whose violent actions are shown by the media.

"Reza Aslan presented a picture of Islam that should be presented to the media," said Salman Gill, a junior in the College of Engineering. "Those groups give the wrong perception. They're minority groups, and it's sad that those opinions exist. Islam is a very peaceful religion."

Conflicting opinions about the interpretation of ideas like jihad certainly exist in the Muslim world, a reality exhibited by a short, intense argument that took place during the question and answer session following the lecture. Aslan and a lecture attendee went back and forth about the way jihad should be interpreted by Muslims. Omar mentioned the difficulty of resolving religious arguments.

"To unpack a huge topic like Reformation is complicated and complex, but Aslan did a good job of explaining the lay of the land in only an hour and a half," he said.