Saad Samatar, Hennepin County Library

Muslim refugees escaping from civil wars, poverty and religious fanaticism in the Middle East and Africa have made Europe their home. “Journey Into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity” is a fascinating and well-researched book by scholar and writer of Islam Ahmed Akabar. The author captures the historical significance of Islam in Europe and describes contemporary Islamic identities. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics and relationship between the Europeans and Muslim communities.

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Journey Into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity, by Akbar Ahmed (Brookings Institution Press) Ahmed’s study of European reactions to Islamic immigrants is more anthropological than political, but it offers fascinating insights into how white Europeans struggle to reconcile outsiders, and how Muslim communities end up reinforcing negative stereotypes. The bigger takeaway, though, is evidence of the harmonious relations that existed between Islamic and European civilizations throughout the past—a potent argument against rising nationalism and tribalism.

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In the eyes of most Europeans, Muslims have come to represent fanaticism, fundamentalism, and female suppression, subjugation and repression. Antidote to such an alarming trend is the most recent book of Akbar Ahmed, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity.

It is an original and unique contribution to the expanding literature on Islam in Europe for several reasons. First, as an anthropologist, Ahmed breaks away from the usual solitary work of the researcher consigning his observations into a notebook. Instead he works in team with young scholars of different ethnic and religious backgrounds who offer fresh and diverse perspectives on the situation at hand.

Second, this team work is a great asset for presenting the diversity of Muslim voices in Europe, while most of the essays or scholarship on the topic tend to shed light on one particular group at a time.

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Akbar Ahmed was born a subject of the British Raj. He devoted his career to building a modern Pakistani state, accepting some of his government’s most dangerous jobs, including political commissioner in the tribal agency of Waziristan. He rose to represent Pakistan as its high commissioner in the United Kingdom. Since retiring from government, he has taught at American University in Washington, D.C., where he has written books and produced documentaries about Islam’s place in the modern world. His newest book, Journey into Europe, is the culmination of years of study of the Muslim migration northward, which has accelerated dramatically since the Syrian Civil War. Ahmed and I have debated the impact of this migration for years. We continued the conversation recently over a long written exchange.

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David Frum: You are promoting a new book, about Islam in Europe. As so often in your intellectual career, you perceive potential harmony where others see mostly conflict. Terrorism in the name of Islam has claimed many lives in Europe over the past two decades—and the reaction to mass migration from the Islamic world is shaking the politics of the continent. Meanwhile much of the Muslim world seems to be turning away from the liberal values that have defined Europe since 1945. You see this especially in Turkey, once a candidate for entry into the European Union, now an increasingly authoritarian and religiously chauvinist state. Why are you so hopeful?

Akbar Ahmed: There have been too many deaths due to Muslim acts of terrorism—though more like hundreds rather than thousands—and undoubtedly Islam is now a highly debated “hot” issue in Europe today. As a social scientist who rests his analysis on field research and facts, I am concerned about the potential for violence and conflict in the future. But as a humanist with faith in the pluralist legacy that exists in Europe, I have hope that with wisdom, compassion, and courage, the leaders of Europe will be able to guide the continent through this difficult time.

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Former ambassador Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University Washington, D.C. He is former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland. Professor Ahmed is named “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” by the BBC. He is the author of several books on Islam and Muslim identity and has written extensively on Muslim identity in the West.

In his recent book, Journey into Europe, Akbar explores Islam’s journey into Europe while elaborating the roots of two different identities; Islam and Europe. He tries to find out if these two distinct identities, Muslims and European, are compatible?

In the words of Noam Chomsky, who praises Akbar’s latest book, “His latest study, based on direct research with a group of young scholars, explores the complex interfaith reality of Europe, both in history and today, from an Eastern perspective, reversing the familiar paradigm. It is sure to be yet another influential contribution, one greatly needed in a world riven by conflict and misunderstanding.”

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