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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Journey into Europe 