Monthly Archives: May 2017

Dr Akbar Ahmad is a man of many parts. Civil servant, diplomat, author, filmmaker (creator of the biopic Jinnah) and teacher, he has also served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. Currently Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, it is his extraordinary insight into Muslim societies around the world and contribution as a scholar of Islam that truly set him apart from his tribe.

Distinguished author of such groundbreaking books as Postmodernism and Islam, Predicament and Promise (1992), Living Islam — From Samarkand to Stornoway (1993), Discovering Islam, Making Sense of Muslim History and Society (2002), and Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World (2002) that came out in the tumultuous post-9/11 era to underscore the pacifist and humanist teachings of Islam, he is a living and walking encyclopedia on contemporary Muslim societies.

Given the unprecedented double-edged challenge of extremism and Islamophobia facing Islam and Muslims, it is only natural that Professor Ahmad has constantly written and spoken about it, analysing often for the benefit of western audiences the underlying causes and historical drivers of violence and radicalisation, as he most recently did in The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam (2013).

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Muslims continue to face attacks from all directions in today’s America. The Council on American-Islamic relations recently released their annual report on Islamophobic attacks, finding a 57 percent increase in attacks on Muslims in 2016 from the prior year. The trend does not appear to be abating in 2017. Just last week, a video of a Muslim woman being harassed in line at a Northern Virginia Trader Joe’s went viral, showcasing how some now feel comfortable casually harassing Muslims over their faith in the middle of a grocery store. Meanwhile, an Oregon man was just arrested after threatening to kill worshipers at a mosque, and a Muslim family on a beach in Texas was recently subjected to an Islamophobic tirade by a self-proclaimed Trump supporter. To say it is a challenging time for Muslims in America would be an understatement.

Thankfully, there are bright spots for American Muslims in this toxic environment. On May 10, as part of the annual American University School of International Service (SIS) End-of-Year Celebration at the Maggiano’s Chevy Chase in Washington, DC, Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University (AU), was awarded the 2016-17 SIS Scholar/Teacher of the Year award. As a leading faculty member of SIS, one of the top ten schools of international affairs in the US, Ahmed received this award in recognition of his “innovative and important scholarship as well as [his] dedicated, rigorous, and inspiring mentoring of our students and [his] service to our community.” Joined by several members of his family, including his wife, Zeenat, his two sons, Babar and Umar, his daughter-in-law Melody, and two of his grandsons, Alexander and Gabriel, along with two key members of his research team, Frankie Martin and myself, for the ceremony, Ahmed received this prestigious award before a full house and a standing ovation of SIS staff and faculty.

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There are many people today who argue Islam and Christianity are locked in a civilizational war, a view that has become a rationale for a number of the Trump administration’s policies.

This argument, however, is an inaccurate and simplistic assessment of the relationship between these two faiths. Quite distinct from the apocalyptic struggle many espouse, an examination of the foundations of the Islamic faith shows respect for Christianity.

Islam is part of the same Abrahamic tradition as Christianity. Key figures within the Bible — Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Mary (Maryam), and Jesus (Isa) among others — are all respected prophets and figures within Islam. There is a chapter in the Quran about Mary and, within the Quran, Jesus is the only person who can perform miracles.

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Imagine these scenes: a newscaster portrays grim events of a policeman being hacked to death by a Muslim, who in turn is shot by police. Riots by nationalist groups fill streets with smoke and flames as if from an apocalyptic drama. A menacing man brandishes a machete toward a screen, with a voice over retelling the terrible threats he is making. These bleak and frightening images open the film, Journey into Europe, a documentary on Islam in Europe and the place of Islam in European history and civilization produced by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland. Meanwhile, newspapers nearly every day flash with bombings and shootings which target Christian minorities in many Muslim majority countries. Whether in London or Lahore, Muslim-Christian tension all too often violently spills onto the streets of cities throughout the world. Many in both the West and the Muslim world would say that these horrific events show that Islamic and Western identities are incompatible, and that it is impossible for Christians and Muslims to coexist with peace and mutual respect.

However, in this world of sorrow and bloodshed, I have been privileged to witness the incredible friendship between Ahmed, a Muslim Pakistani who now calls America his home, and James Shera, a British Christian Pakistani. The affection and generosity of spirit which they have extended towards one another challenges this very narrative of hostility and hatred between the Muslim world and the West, Christians and Muslims.

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