Akbar Ahmed’s Abrahamic Mission
By Susan Bradford on 12 December 2005
Susan Bradford is a prominent journalist and writer who has worked for Fox News Channel, CBS News, PBS Red Car Film Project, City News Service, and the European Review.
The magnitude 7.7-earthquake in predominantly Muslim Pakistan, which left tens of thousands dead, presents an opportunity for the Abrahamic faiths to come together to help the victims. Just a few years ago, a joint effort of assistance from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities would not have been possible, but times have changed.
After 9/11, Islam was public enemy number one in the United States. Attempts to understand Islam were equated with condoning the activities of its violent extremist members, and government officials and pundits alike found political mileage in bashing Muslims. The Jewish-Muslim exchange was especially pernicious, as Islam had become politicized, often within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a wider pan-Arabic dimension, with U.S. policies perceived by Muslims as unduly supportive of the interests of Israel, often at the expense of their own.
Proceeding along this path, with extremists on both sides of the divide fanning the flames of dissent and hatred, the world religions appeared to be headed towards an inevitable clash of civilizations, as predicted by the renowned scholars Samuel Huntington, Bernard Lewis, and others.
Skip ahead to 2005, and something miraculous has happened instead. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes has embarked on a listening tour to Muslim countries, and promoted interfaith dialogue. Hughes has confounded neoconservative critics by reaching out to Muslims in an attempt to understand them and forge policy which is sensitive to the diplomatic nuances and aspirations of those countries and their peoples.
Even more significantly, Jews and Muslims are speaking to each other, noticeably in more amicable terms. Last month, the world’s first visiting professorship in Jewish/Muslim relations will be inaugurated at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago-Kent School of Law, highlighting “the importance of Jewish-Muslim dialogue,” with the inaugural lecture delivered by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed –- American University’s Chair of Islamic Studies.
Such a joint Jewish-Islamic professorship is unprecedented, but Dr. Akbar Ahmed, who has been described by the BBC as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” believes this development reflects the moral courage, wisdom, and imagination of the United States. He is hoping other universities will adopt similar measures, enabling professors of various religions to build bridges, share knowledge, and foster mutual understanding.
A highly sought speaker in Muslim circles, Ahmed is unique in that he delivers the same message of compassion and dialogue to both Muslim and Western audiences. His quest to promote understanding among the Abrahamic faiths is a deeply personal one. Ahmed joined American University just a few days before 9/11 and was teaching a class, as a Muslim in Washington, DC, when the planes struck the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Interpreting the attack as a call to action, he initiated interfaith dialogue with a rabbi and bishop who shared his vision. Together Ahmed, Washington Hebrew Congregation Rabbi Bruce Lustig and Washington Bishop John Chane became the “three spiritual musketeers,” encouraging the Abrahamic faiths to adopt a unified stance on peace and interfaith dialogue.
Initially, Ahmed received hate mail and death threats, with the Pakistani press denouncing him at the time as “the sole Muslim voice talking to the Jews.” Chane and Lustig were similarly maligned. However, they persevered, and Ahmed teamed up with Judea Pearl — father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl — in well-attended Muslim-Jewish dialogues across the country and abroad.
Ahmed’s efforts have resulted in a paradigm shift in interfaith relations within the United States. Bigoted remarks — such as those by ex-WMAL radio host Michael Graham, who referred to Islam as a “terrorist organization” — are fading from public discourse, and a new exchange is taking its place.
At one of Ahmed’s recent dialogues with Pearl in Ottawa, for example, the Pakistani and Israeli ambassador were publicly seen sitting side by side. An Israeli and Pakistani Counsel General — representing predominantly Jewish and Muslim countries respectively — joined Ahmed and Pearl in another interfaith dialogue. At the recent United Nations Summit, moreover, the Pakistani President and Israeli Prime Minister publicly shook hands, even though neither country has formal diplomatic ties with the other.
The driving force behind this change is Ahmed, who has spoken to President Bush, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Undersecretary Hughes herself about the value — and indeed, necessity — of interfaith dialogue. The vacuum of dissent and irreconcilable differences among the Abrahamic faiths is slowing being filled with peace and reconciliation, demonstrating the power of one individual and his friends to make a difference and advance the cause of peace.
Last updated 16 June 2010