Category Archives: Project Activities

Join us on June 1 at 5p in Berlin for the European film premiere of Journey into Europe at hackesche höfe kino, sponsored by Stiftung Mercator, in conjunction with the Aspen Institute Germany and the British Council.

For more details, please see the following letter from Michael Schwartz, the Executive Director of Stiftung Mercator.

Please be sure to RSVP by May 27 to journey.europe@stiftung-mercator.de.

Synopsis

Journey into Europe, by world-renowned scholar Akbar Ahmed, was filmed across the European continent and explores Islam in Europe and the place of Islam in European history and civilization. Along the way, we hear from some of Europe’s most prominent figures – presidents and prime ministers, archbishops, chief rabbis, grand muftis, heads of right-wing parties, and everyday people from a variety of backgrounds. Startling, challenging, and emotionally powerful, the film’s themes of identity and acceptance are critically relevant to our world today.

Reviews:
‘A journey through hearts and minds‘ – Tariq A. Al-Maeena
‘Taking the Temperature of Trump’s America: The Power of Pluralist Dialogue Perseveres‘ – Patrick Burnett

Panellists

• Professor Akbar Ahmed
• Professor Peter Morey
• Chair: Dr Amina Yaqin

Registration

This event is free to attend and open to the public. Online registration is required: online registration form.

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a world-renowned anthropologist, Islamic scholar, and filmmaker, explores Islam in Europe and the place of Islam in European history and civilization in this unprecedented study. In the film shot across the continent in countries such as Germany,the U.K., France, Spain, and Bosnia, we hear from some of Europe’s most prominent figures, including presidents and prime ministers, archbishops, chief rabbis, grand muftis, heads of right-wing parties, and every-day Europeans from a variety of backgrounds.

The film showing will take place on Wednesday, May 11 from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm and is co-sponsored by the Asia Program, the Middle East Program, and the Global Europe Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Europe today confronts complicated and controversial issues surrounding its Muslim population, including Sharia law, terrorism, the building of mosques, and the pressures of immigration and multiculturalism. With the recent attacks by ISIS in Brussels, these issues are increasingly pressing for Europeans. On Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00 pm at Temple, Ambassador Akbar Ahmed joins us for a Congregational Conversations Keynote to reflect on the challenges of interfaith conflict presented in Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ book, Not in God’s Name, and to screen his documentary, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity.

In Journey into Europe, Ambassador Ahmed, a world-renowned Muslim anthropologist, provides an in-depth look at Muslim life across Europe and the attitudes and perceptions of Europeans regarding their Muslim neighbors. Filmed as they traveled across the continent in winter and summer 2014, Ambassador Ahmed and his team shined a light on the Muslim experience in Europe.

Ambassador Ahmed is the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland. Currently, he is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has taught at Princeton, Harvard, and Cambridge Universities and is regularly interviewed on Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, and NBC.

For more information, be sure to visit the Washington Hebrew Congregation’s Congregational Conversations page here.

To register, please click here.

Two Belgian-born brothers have been identified as suicide bombers in this week’s deadly attacks in Brussels. As Belgium mourns the loss of 31 people, investigators continue the manhunt for other suspects. This is the third major ISIS attack in the heart of Europe in little more than a year, prompting questions about Europe’s ability to get ahead of such assaults. Fluid borders and what some call a broken security apparatus across multiple countries are under renewed scrutiny. Belgium faces a uniquely difficult situation: it sends more western fighters to Syria than anywhere else, with many returning to Belgium. Understanding what’s behind security challenges in Belgium and across Europe, and what these recent attacks mean for threats to Europe and beyond.

To hear the show, please visit the Diane Rehm Show‘s webpage here.

Wars and oppression-from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan and parts of Africa-last year pushed more than a million people to seek safety and opportunity in Europe. This tide of migrating humanity has heightened Europe’s tensions around its growing Muslim community. Conflict is growing around terrorism, the status of sharia law, the construction of mosques, and the possibility and desirability of multicultural societies. American University anthropologist Akbar Ahmed will screen his 2015 film exploring these tensions in Europe, and discuss their implications, including those for relations between the Islamic world and the West.

Europe’s recent history with the Islamic world includes decades of immigration by Muslims, often as “guest workers” or from the colonies of European empires. But Europe has struggled over how, or even whether, to assimilate its Muslim peoples. Problems surrounding Muslim identity in Europe have moved to the fore of policy debates since the 9/11 attacks, and especially following last year’s terrorist violence that killed more than 140 people in Paris.

These tensions are addressed in Journey into Europe, a film based on Professor Ahmed’s travel with a team of researchers through nine European countries. They interviewed prime ministers and street protesters, archbishops, rabbis, muftis and a range of other Europeans. Ahmed is writing an accompanying book, the last of four volumes exploring relations between the West and Islamic world after 9/11. This screening and discussion are part of a long USIP history of engaging with people and institutions working through religion to build peace in areas of conflict.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University

Rev. Susan Hayward, Moderator
Director, Religion & Inclusive Societies, USIP

Please register in advance here. All guests must be registered online in advance to attend public events at USIP.

From left, Dr. Rafia Zakaria, Madame Ambassador Mrs. Shaista Jilani, and Ambassador Akbar Ahmed gather in front of the Pakistani and American flags, in addition to a portrait of Mr. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, at the Pakistan Ambassador’s Residence in Washington following a talk and luncheon for about 40 Congresswomen and Congressional Wives.

Amb. Ahmed delivers a lecture to a luncheon of top women at the Pakistan Ambassador’s Residence in Washington on March 10, where he discussed the urgent importance of building bridges between the West and the Muslim World.

Amb. Ahmed delivers remarks to a full house of Congresswomen and Congressional Wives on March 10 at the Pakistan Ambassador’s Residence in Washington .

From left, H.E. Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani, of Pakistan, poses with Amb. Ahmed and Dr. Zakaria, who has presented Amb. Ahmed with a copy of her newest book, The Upstairs Wife. Dr. Zakaria, a distinguished columnist and scholar, spoke following Amb. Ahmed. 

All photos courtesy Pakistan Embassy of Washington.