Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat.[2][3] He currently is a professor of International Relations and holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University, School of International Service in Washington, D.C.[2][3][4] Akbar Ahmed served as the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland. He currently is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Prior to the Brookings quartet of studies, Ahmed's projects included the Jinnah Quartet and Living Islam. The Jinnah Quartet comprised a feature film Jinnah (1998), with Christopher Lee in the title role; a documentary, Mr. Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan (1997); a graphic novel, The Quaid: Jinnah and the Story of Pakistan (1997); and a biographical study, Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin (1997). Ahmed presented and narrated the six-part BBC TV series Living Islam (1993) and authored the accompanying book of the same name. Later, Ahmed served as Pakistani High Commissioner (ambassador) to the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1999 to 2000.
Research interests and literary works
Ahmed's research interests focus on Pashtuns and others including tribal groups, Muslim society and development anthropology.[6] He has conducted anthropological fieldwork with Pashtuns in Afghanistan, undertaken comparative studies of Islamic social customs in Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and researching global Islam alongside its impacts on contemporary society.[3][7][16] Among his works on Pashtuns are: Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (1976), Pukhtun Economy and Society (1980), and his wide-ranging study The Thistle and the Drone (2013) that focuses on Muslim hill peoples in Pakistan, Yemen, North Africa and afar as the Philippines which examines US drone operations in the Muslim world, its subsequent consequences and reputation of the USA being considered synonymous with the drone.[2][17] Ahmed has criticized some anthropologists for studying "Muslim groups without reference to the Islamic framework".[18] Other areas of research interest include Modernity and Muslims along with Islam and the concept of postmodernism in relation to Muslim societies, cultures, media and the West.[19]
Ahmed has co-edited several books with other academics.[3] He has authored many articles and more than a dozen books that have won awards such as Discovering Islam which became the basis for a six-part BBC TV series called Living Islam.[3][8] Other books are Postmodernism and Islam: Predicament and Promise which was nominated for an Amalfi Award and Islam Today: A short Introduction to the Muslim world was awarded by the Los Angeles Times as the best non-fiction book of the year.[3] Ahmed has written a biography of Muhammad Jinnah, Pakistan's first Governor General.[20] and a study Journey into America: The challenge of Islam based on fieldwork with American Muslims.[8] He has also written plays like Noor and The trial of Dara Shikoh which have been published and staged for audiences.[8] Ahmed's publications have been translated into other languages such as Indonesian and Chinese.[8] Functioning between both worlds, through his writing and broadcasting Ahmed has attempted to bridge the Muslim-West world divide and encourage communication between both groups.[5] He has expressed admiration of English translations of Islamic classics in assisting him to "discover the riches" of "Islamic cultural legacy" and "appreciate critically the beneficial impact of the West".[5]
Interfaith dialogue
In the aftermath of 9/11, Ahmed initiated a series of studies that were published by the Brookings Institution Press covering issues regarding relations between Islam and the West.[2] Ahmed has been engaged in a series of public interfaith dialogues across the US and abroad with Professor Judea Pearl, father of deceased reporter Daniel Pearl focusing on divisions between Muslims and the West and between Jews and Muslims.[4][21] For their efforts, he and Pearl were awarded the first Purpose Prize by the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington at the National Cathedral and Ahmed received the Herschel-King award for Interfaith Activism.[8] He has also been appointed as a Trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue by the Archbishop of Canterbury and has received the 2002 Free Speech Award from the Muslim Public Affairs Council based in Washington DC.[3] Ahmed has received accusations of being "a Zionist conspirator" and close to the West however he has felt that "dialogue, harmony, communication and debate" are for Islam and the West the key issues of engagement.[5]
