Akbar S. Ahmed

1. Akbar S. Ahmed Presented by Siti Nur Diyana Bt Mohd Ghazali Norhafizan Bt Awang Iliya Nurul Iman Bt Mohd Ridzuan Edited by Dr. Md. Mahmudul Hasan International Islamic University Malaysia 2011

2. His full name is Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed. He is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University in Washington DC. He was the High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain. He has advised Prince Charles, President George W. Bush, General David Petraeus and Secretary Michael Chertoff on Islam.

3. His numerous books, films and documentaries have won awards and his books have been translated into many languages including Chinese and Indonesian. • “The world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” – BBC

4. In September 2008, he was appointed the first Distinguished Chair for Middle East/Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis. • From Fall 2009 he has been a distinguished Visiting Affiliate at the US Naval Academy and he has been a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution for several years.

5. He was a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. • He has taught at Princeton, Harvard and Cambridge Universities. • He was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Liverpool, UK. • He received his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. • He did MA & Diploma in Education from Cambridge University. • He obtained a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons.) degree from Birmingham University.

6. Recent Publications • Journey IntoAmerica: The Challenge of Islam (2010) • Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization (2007). • “The Clash of Civilizations?”, in Debating the War of Ideas edited by E.D. Patterson and J.Gallagher, Macmillan, 2009. • Ahmed’s play, Noor, was part of the summer Festival at Theater J in Washington, DC in 2007. Noorwas performed at the Katzen Arts Center in November 2007 to full houses and was seen again at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in April 2008.

7. Media • He is regularly interviewed on CNN, CBC, the BBC and has appeared several times on the Oprah Winfrey Show as well as The Daily Show. • He presented and narrated “Living Islam”, the six-part BBC television series, in 1993 and “The Glories of Islamic Art”, the three-part television series for Channel 5, UK, broadcast in 2006.

8. He completed The Jinnah Quartet, a feature film, a documentary and two books on M.A. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. • He is a consultant for Rumi Returning, a major television film on the mystic poet. • He is an expert panellist with the new online feature – On Faith – for the Washington Post and Newsweek. • He has recorded 12 lectures for an audio CD series, Encountering Islam, for NowYouKnow Media, Washington DC.

9. He is a Senior Advisor to an innovative on-line project for an Islamic syllabus for Jones Knowledge Inc. • He is on the Advisory Board of The Globalist and is on the Board of Directors for Interfaith Voices, a public radio show. • Ahmed is currently working with his son Babar Ahmed on a film called 24,000.

10. Distinctions and Lectures • Ahmed was awarded the Star of Excellence, one of Pakistan’s highest honours and the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in London. • In 2004he was given the Professor of the Year Award for Washington DC by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education & the first Gandhi Centre Fellowship of Peace Award and invited to join the World Wisdom Council.

11. Ahmed led a Muslim delegation to the Holocaust Museum in December 2006, attended President Ford’s funeral ceremony at the National Cathedral where he was part of the “Procession Order” as “Representative of Faith” escorting the casket, and delivered the invocation at the Mayor’s Inaugural Prayer Service in Washington DC.

13. Akbar Ahmed and his team of young researchers traveled over seventy-five cities across the United States. • They visited over one hundred masjids and visited homes and schools to discover what Muslims are thinking, what they are reading, and how they are living their life in America.

14. This book explores and documents how Muslims are fitting into U.S. society, seeking to place the Muslim experience in the U.S. within the larger context of American identity. • The book is infused with Ahmed’s spirit of fellowship as he builds bridges between non-Muslim and Muslim societies divided by misunderstanding and prejudice. He shows how Muslims live in fear of the “September 11 Syndrome,” which unjustly characterizes Muslims as evil. 

15. “Accommodating Muslims in American society poses a challenge to American identity itself. With their different appearance, different religion, and different values, Muslims create a complexity for mainstream Americans. … Therefore any attempt to analyze America’s predicament needs to begin with a discussion of its identity.” (p14) 

16. “Journey into America is essential reading for all who care about our future and our children’s future.  It is ostensibly about Muslims in America, but it is more fundamentally about who we are and the possibilities for discovering our common fears and aspirations.  Akbar Ahmed is a man of vision, scholarship, courage, conviction, and profound decency.” Professor Brian Forst, Professor of Justice, Law and Society at American University, Washington, DC. • “This is likely to be one of the most definitive works to date on the Muslim experience in the United States. It will have a catalytic affect and will in all likelihood stimulate a generation of scholars.” President Cornelius Kerwin, American University

17. Some of his article are: • “Muslims in the West” • “Islam and Freedom of Thought” • “Islam's Crossroads - Islamic leadership” • “Islam and Judaism” • “America has yet to grasp the cost of losing in Afghanistan” • “Swat in the eye of the storm: Interview with Akbar Ahmed” • “Islam in Today’s World: A Conversation with Akbar Ahmed” • “Talking Can Stop Hate” was featured as the “Big Idea!” • “Bush Still Doesn’t Get It”

18. “Muslims in the West” • In this article, Ahmed introduces the history, values and culture of Islam, looks into conflicts between Islam and Western culture and clear up misconceptions. • For the last thousand years, the West treated Islam as the 'other’ and as 'over there’. • But today this simple world-view has been complicated by the presence in the West of over ten million Muslims. • The exact numbers of Muslims living in Europe and America tend to be somewhat unreliable since immigrants and converts do not wish to declare their identity or register and are therefore difficult to enumerate.

19. Muslims’ presence in the West is theologically in harmony with the Qur’anic position. Again and again, the Qur’an emphasizes that God's domain is not restricted by East or West: it is everywhere. “To God belong the East and the West: withersoever you turn, there is a Presence of God. For God is All-Pervading, All-Knowing.” (Qur’an, 2: 115) • It is to say that Muslims can practice their religion whether they are in Cairo or California, London or Lahore. So it can no longer be seen as Islam versus the West, it is Islam and the West or Islam in the West.

20. The growth of the Muslim community has been impressive. The masjids in London and in Washington symbolize this growth: these masjid are full of worshippers, beautifully constructed and are the hub of Muslim social and religious activity. • However, there are certainly sociological and political problems for the Muslims in the West.

21. The Muslim presence in the West has added fuel to anti-Islamic sentiments. For instance, girls wearing hijab in France have become the subject of hostile news, Muslims wanting separate schools in England are at the centre of heated national debate and also the Salman Rushdie controversy continues to involve Muslims and the majority in a virulent confrontation. • This charged atmosphere encouraged the growth of European racism dramatically in the 1980s and several other factors have sharpened the Muslim sense of identity.

22. The younger generation • A younger generation of Muslim immigrant has come of age in the West. Most of them were born in the West, unlike their parents who migrated there in the 50s and 60s. • Generally, the young people rejected the idea of integration and assimilation and they wished to assert themselves. Many of them compete for places in universities and are becoming highly educated. • Nevertheless, a study of immigrant Muslim communities in the West showsed that with each succeeding generation there was a decline in strict adherence to specific Islamic values. As a result, less Muslims care for five daily prayers, some Muslim girls feel that there is nothing wrong in marrying non-Muslim as long as they love and care for each other and 70 to 80 percent of all Muslims do not belong to any Islamic centre or masjid and do not care about them.

23. The American vs. the European experience • There are some interesting differences between the USA and Europe which can help us to understand better the phenomenon of Muslims living in the West. The main differences are the social and economic composition of the Muslim community. In the USA, Muslims are largely from the middle class such as doctors, engineers and academicians, whereas in Europe the community remain stuck in the working class or even underclass. Next, in the USA there is a greater geographical spread. Muslims are not concentrated in one state or city but in Europe, there is a tendency to concentrate. Bradford in England, for instance. Furthermore, Muslims in the USA are conscious that they are there by choice, however many people think that they are in Europe because their parents migrated there or were forced to migrate due to economic reasons.

24. Muslim integration in Western nations • It is a common assumption that the Muslim presence in Europe began after the Second World War but the roots of Muslim immigration actually go back much further. Immigration was caused largely by the European government themselves, where they encouraged their former colonies such as the Asians and West Indians, to migrate to the ‘mother country’ because of the need for labour in the post-war reconstruction. Yet, it is often forgotten by the native people that Muslims were actually invited by their government.

25. What can Muslims do to improve their chances in the West? • Ahmed has mentioned five main actions: 1. American converts should be trained quickly and thoroughly for positions of leadership in order to avoid the categorization of Islam as a foreign 'cult'. 2. The stereotypical negative image of Islam must be transformed through proper use of the media. 3. Provocative anti- Christian polemics should be avoided lest they provoke a strong reaction among Christians. 4. Muslims should attempt to reach more achievable goals by promoting co-operation among themselves instead of focusing their concern on homogenizing diverse Muslim ethnic groups. 5. Muslim individuals should become involved in da’wah (social welfare and propagation) activities in order to overcome the powerful assimilative influence of the American mainstream.

26. Conclusion • Akbar S. Ahmed is one of the prominent scholars of Islam. He talks about the issues faced by Muslim immigrants living in the West and in a way helps the non-Muslim to learn and understand more about Islam. Hence, one can say that Ahmed has contributed in making Islam being recognized in the Western world. He also points out that it is Muslims’ responsibility more than anyone else’s to explain Islam to the West. Akbar S. Ahmed is rightly called “the ambassador of Islam” to the West.