Category Archives: Project Activities

By Robin Marsh

Renowned scholar Professor Akbar Ahmed is on a tour around Europe on a research project to write a book on, ‘Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire’. Last night UPF-UK had the honour to host one of the programmes on the tour. The tour is being supported by ‘Muslims, Trust and Cultural Dialogue’ represented by Prof. Peter Morey and others last night. One of Prof. Ahmed’s team, Asmaa Soliman, who is also a core team member of YouthUPF, was the MC and one of the main organisers of the event.

Professor Ahmed explains, ‘The lessons of a society in which different religions and cultures can live together, create art together, and worship freely while respecting each other, is a desperately needed model to guide us today.’ He highlights several eras in European history, like Cordoba’s ‘La Convivencia’ when this occurred. Please see below for the written explanation of the Tour.

I had the opportunity to introduce Universal Peace Federation and mention Father Moon’s response to 9/11 was to sponsor three intra-Muslim dialogue conferences in Jakarta, London and Washington DC at which the then President of Indonesia (Gus Dur) Wahid and his wife participated along with many other dignitaries from across the Islamic world.

Last night was an opportunity for Prof Akbar’s team to feature the artists in his documentary and to interview them. They think that the sphere of arts and culture is relevant and want to shed light on Muslims’ involvement in creative arts that is unfortunately often ignored in mainstream media. This was organised in collaborationEntertainment with ‘Rumi’s Cave’ including comedy, poetry, song, art and rap.

Professor Ahmed introduced Commander Mak Chishty of the Metropolitan Police explaining that he is the highest ranking Police Office from a Pakistan community background. He is currently the Commander for West London with pan London responsibility for Anti-Social Behaviour, Drugs & Alcohol, Hate Crime and Children & Young People. He is the national lead for the sensitive area of honour killings on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers, helping to formulate policy on a national level. Commander Chishty emphasised the need to counter alienation among young people that leads them to fight in Syria or similar conflicts.

To continue reading at the Universal Peace Federation website, click here…

On May 14th, the Journey into Europe project which had brought us to London, our first stop, was launched successfully at the House of Lords in a standing room only event with Lord Bhikhu Parekh chairing and hosting the discussion. In attendance were prominent figures including two additional lords, senior representatives from the Pakistani High Commission, Dr. Richard Stone, one of the most important Jewish leaders and pioneers of interfaith dialogue in Britain and a philanthropist, Malise Ruthven, the well known author of books on Islam, the noted scholar John Hutchinson of the LSE, Mohsin Akhtar, owner of the Heydon Grange Golf course who had come down from Cambridge, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain, and Dr. Jafer Qureshi of Muslim Aid, UK. Additionally, a large contingent from the Bradford Muslim community had especially come down for the event in anticipation of our visit to Bradford. It was also an interfaith gathering, with prominent members of the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths represented.

Lord Parekh welcomed Professor Ahmed with great personal warmth and acknowledged Professor Ahmed’s contribution to the social sciences and interfaith dialogue decades ago as a pioneer. Next, the UK partners of the project, Professor Peter Morey and Dr. Amina Yaqin, spoke to welcome Professor Ahmed and the project team and wished them well on their important study. Professor Morey and Dr. Yaqin, both prominent academics, have initiated important studies on Muslims in the UK and have teamed up with Professor Ahmed and his team for this particular project.

Professor Ahmed then outlined the main ideas of the project in the context of his quartet of studies examining relations between the west and Islamic world after 9/11. He identified issues of multiculturalism, immigration, interfaith understanding and dealing with the “other” as some of the areas of his academic interest in this project. Ahmed described the rich Muslim contribution to European history a thousand years ago at a time known as the golden age. It was a time when Muslim scholars were at the cutting edge of science, philosophy, art, and architecture. He said it was a challenge for Muslims to raise themselves to the standards they had once set. Non-Muslims, he argued, needed to understand that though certain groups accused Muslims of being non-Europeans and “barbarians,” these examples proved they were neither. But, he added, because he was embarking on a research project, he could not present any foregone conclusions. His conclusions will be driven by the research findings which his tried and tested team, were already busy compiling.

The audience then had a chance to ask questions and make comments. Several useful suggestions were made to enhance the quality of the research and expressions of support were also tabled. Jew, Christian, and Hindu—everyone wished us bon voyage and Lord Parekh offered to host an event at the same venue on our return at which we would share our findings. The meeting ended with many expressions of goodwill and warmth. As someone said afterwards, rarely have so many people of so many faiths been able to come together with such unanimity and good will. It was a good omen for our long and difficult project. We went away feeling buoyed and encouraged.

Renowned Muslim Anthropologist To Examine Europe Through the Perspective of the Muslim Community

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 11, 2014)—Akbar Ahmed, renowned anthropologist and Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies in American University’s School of International Service, is embarking on a new field project, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire, to study Muslims across Europe and the attitudes and perceptions of Europeans regarding their Muslim neighbors. This ethnographic study will take Ahmed and his research team across the continent of Europe during the Summer of 2014.

Throughout the trip, team members will be posting their thoughts as well as photos and videos from their experience to their blog, http://www.journeyintoeurope.com.

This study is the fourth in an unprecedented quartet of award-winning books published with Brookings Press exploring relations between the West and the world of Islam after 9/11. The first, Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization (2007), examined what Muslims thought of the US and the West through field work across the Muslim world; the second, Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam (2010, Winner of the 2011 American Book Award), examined how Americans perceived Islam and Muslims based in Ahmed and his team visiting 75 cities and 100 mosques across America; the third, The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam (2013, Named a “Book of the Year” in The Times Literary Supplement, Winner of the German Peace Prize, and short-listed for the Coca Cola Award for Best Non-Fiction at the 2014 Karachi Literature Festival) explored the tribal societies on the periphery of nations where the real “war on terror” is taking place.

Journey into Europe will complete Ahmed’s quartet by examining the historical relationship between Europe and the Muslim world and the contemporary challenges posed by increased immigration from the Muslim world, complicated and controversial issues including Sharia, terrorism, and Muslim female dress and the new pressures of security, globalization, and multiculturalism.

Following the trip, the results of in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and observations will be compiled and analyzed for the book, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Empire and footage will be collected to produce the documentary film Journey into Europe.

Ahmed’s quartet of books has received praise from prominent politicians, journalists, religious leaders, and academics. Speaking of his previous book, The Thistle and the Drone, Professor Marilyn Strathern, the former William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, declared, “I am moved, horrified, and encouraged all at once. Above all, Professor Ahmed makes me proud to be an anthropologist!” The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, wrote of the same study, “This book is of genuinely global importance…Professor Ahmed combines a clear professional anthropological expertise with an equally clear, critical and humane moral perspective. This is an unusual and groundbreaking book, which should be compulsory reading for Western governments.” Commenting on the first book of the quartet, Journey into Islam, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel stated, “Akbar Ahmed’s voice needs to be heard, and his courage strengthened.”

Ahmed is the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland. He is considered “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” by the BBC. Previously, he was the Iqbal Fellow (Chair of Pakistan Studies) and Fellow of Selwyn College at the University of Cambridge. He has also taught at Harvard and Princeton Universities. Ahmed is the author of over a dozen award-winning books, including Discovering Islam, which was the basis of a six-part BBC TV Series called Living Islam. He is regularly interviewed on Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, and NBC and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation’s capital and around the world. http://www.american.edu.