Lauren Green, the Fox News interviewer, plainly thought she had questioned Reza Aslan, the author of a controversial Biography of Jesus.

Reza Aslan, "a worldwide critically acclaimed writer and scholar of religions," according to his online biography, has gotten a boost in sales and popularity from his "embarrassing" interview with a Fox News anchor about his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

But Mr Aslan more than not biased of the suggestion that as a Muslim, he had no right to pen a biography of Jesus. With an intelligence honed by years of scholarship and academic achievement, he turned the tables on his questioner, sparking a wide public debate in the United States about Islamophobia and the role of religion.

"Well, to be clear," Mr Aslan answered, speaking slowly for effect. "I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim."

Since it aired on July 26, Ms Green's online interview with Mr Aslan has been watched by millions of people, earning an unanticipated publicity bonanza for the author and propelling his already popular book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth to the top of bestseller lists. Within a week the book was Amazon's No 1 seller, and it debuted at No 4 on the New York Times best-seller list on Sunday.

More importantly, the interview with Fox News, a mouthpiece for conservative and right-wing views in the US, moved the discussion about Islamophobia beyond its usual liberal confines, Mr Aslan said.

"It's not even about me anymore, it's not about Fox News anymore," Mr Aslan, 41, said. "Any scholar who is able to launch a much-needed public discussion on these heady topics has to feel good about it."

The Iran-born scholar, who teaches both religious studies and creative writing at the University of California-Riverside, until now was best known for his 2005 book on the history and evolution of Islam, No God But God. He became a well-known commentator on Islam, regularly appearing in liberal media outlets such as The Daily Show.

Over the two weeks since his Fox News interview, Mr Aslan has broken through, at least for now, to a much larger and more politically diverse American audience.

"I've gotten a lot of emails from Fox viewers who said it was outrageous, that the interview was an embarrassment to them," Mr Aslan said.

He is not used to the words of support from those on the right, and has long been the target of what he calls the "anti-Muslim fringe". A well-funded and vocal movement in the US, its supporters have pushed for anti-Sharia laws in state legislatures and mobilised to attack attempts to portray Muslims as anything but violent fanatics.

Mr Aslan said the roots of these groups lie in the "identity crisis that's taking place in the US as a result of political and economic uncertainty".

"I feel proud that these rabid Islamophobes have focused on me and my work," he said. "It must mean that I'm doing something right."

His latest book, Zealot, is an attempt at a biography of the historical Jesus, not the divine Christ of the Christian religion, an idea Mr Aslan argues Jesus himself would not have understood.

The book sets out to portray the man as a revolutionary Jewish nationalist who sought to end Roman rule in Palestine on behalf of the poor and marginalised, not a messiah who preached peace and finding his kingdom in heaven.

This historical examination, which clashes with Christian beliefs, is at the heart of fundamentalist Christian anger over the book, represented in the clumsy Fox News interview. But for the most part, the response from Christians, even if they disagree with aspects of the book, has been "overwhelmingly" positive, Mr Aslan said.

On Twitter, his rants show absurd tweets always looking for a fight and controversy

Afterall cotronversy always sells.

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