Brookings Institution - Journey into Europe: Islam, immigration, and identity

Advance Blurbs for Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity

Akbar Ahmeds profound and careful inquiries have greatly enriched our understanding of Islam in the modern world. His latest study, based on direct research with a group of young scholars, explores the complex interfaith reality of Europe, both in history and today, from an Eastern perspective, reversing the familiar paradigm. It is sure to be yet another influential contribution, one greatly needed in a world riven by conflicts and misunderstanding.

N OAM C HOMSKY , Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Akbar Ahmed and his globe-trotting team of young scholars have done it again! Adding to a vital and urgently needed body of exemplary work, Journey into Europe provides an antidote to the fear and ignorance that is too prevalent in contemporary discourse. Ahmed delivers empowering knowledge combined with heartfelt compassion. Read it and share it.

J OHN M ILEWSKI , Director of Digital Programming and Moderator and Managing Editor of Wilson Center NOW, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

A deeply engaged and brilliantly executed book by one of our most distinguished anthropologists and public intellectuals. I know no other that throws as much light on the subject as it does. Read widely as it should be, it will make the world a less agonizing place.

B ARON B HIKHU P AREKH , former Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull, Vice Chairman of the U.K. Commission for Racial Equality, Chairman of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, and Centennial Professor in the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics

This book is essential reading to all who want to understand our world. As a South Asian Christian I can say with pride South Asia has produced two AkbarsAkbar the Great, the emperor who united India, and Akbar Ahmed, who brings peace and harmony among the nations through research and knowledge. Akbar who I have known for decades is my brother and my hero. He belongs to all of humanity. Long live the passion of Akbar to see one harmonious world with animosity and hatred for none.

C OUNCILLOR D R J AMES S HERA, MBE , S.Pk., Former Mayor of Rugby, England, Freeman of the Borough of Rugby, and Distinguished Formanite

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed is a treasure. His voice, insights, wisdom, and experience are desperately needed right now when so much U.S. and European policy toward the Muslim world is guided by fear, ignorance, and greed. We applaud Akbar Ahmed, perhaps the best-known scholar of Islam today, for continuing to enlighten us through his quartet of studies. Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity , the fourth in the series, is indispensable reading given the state of affairs today.

O LIVER S TONE AND P ETER K UZNICK , filmmakers and authors of The Untold History of the United States

Akbar Ahmed has rightly acquired a reputation as one of the foremost scholars on Islam and Muslims in the modern world. His latest project, Journey into Europe , demonstrates yet again his unique talent for conveying complex ideas through accessible language, combining rigorous scholarship with compelling personal anecdotes based in intensive fieldwork, and relating todays problems to their oft-forgotten historical context. I strongly recommend this outstanding study to anyone interested in the ongoing discussion about Muslims and their contribution to European society.

M ASOOD A HMED , President of the Center for Global Development

Ambassador Akbars exploration and insight into issues affecting European Muslims are needed now more than ever. Extremism fosters an environment of suspicion, and suspicion is born from ignorance; therefore Professor Akbars detailed analysis will undoubtedly help governments, policymakers, and civic society to better tackle radicalisation in Europe.

H UMZA Y OUSAF , Minister for Transport and the Islands, former Minister for Europe and International Development, and Member of the Scottish Parliament

The Muslim world faces the most critical challenge in modern history with Islam under siege both from within and by the West, where Islamophobia is now widespread. Amid the unconscionable silence of Muslim political leadership and the faint voices of Islamic scholars, the inhumanity of radicals has come to represent Islam. Akbar Ahmed, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing since we trained together at the Civil Service Academy in Lahore half a century ago, has emerged to offer a rare voice of exceptional force, clarity, and dare I say sanity. His landmark study in four volumes representing outstanding scholarship should have a lasting historical impact in improving relations between Islam and the West and is indispensable reading.

T OUQIR H USSAIN , Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, senior Pakistan visiting fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and former Pakistani Ambassador and diplomatic adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Akbar Ahmed cuts across disciplines with geographical breadth and historical vision, allowing him to illustrate that understanding Islam today means understanding ourselves. Us and Them are intimately connected. As anthropologist, ambassador, and humanitarian, Dr. Ahmed pursues policies of sanity, replacing fear with co-existence, and ignorance with documentation using film and the written word. All are issues of national security, both here and elsewhere.

L AURA N ADER , Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Of all the scholars I have studied, the work of none is quite so uniquely characterized as that of Akbar Ahmed by what traditional Islamic scholars called looking at the world through two eyes, or Dhul Aynanthe capacity to see the exterior and the interior, the spiritual and the physical, the emotional and the scientificwhich enables the accurate and fair understanding of different perspectives. He brings the same quality to his project on Muslims in Europe, and he makes me especially proud as a Muslim European.

M IRNES K OVAC , editor, Preporod Islamic Magazine, and author, The Siege of Islam

Ambassador Akbar Ahmeds tireless quest for coexistence and peace is essential for the planets future. Either we explore the path to coexistence, or we shall be condemned to perish. Akbar Ahmed shows us the right path in this book. It is a treasure of understanding and wisdom. We are grateful to him for pursuing his admirable and noble quest.

F ADELA M OHATAR , President of the Institute of Cultures and Minister of Culture and Festivities, Melilla, Spain

This project should be required in the classrooms of Europe and the world. Understanding that every continent is a collection of civilizations, not a clash of them, can only help the next generation overcome the shortcomings of this one.

N ATHAN K ING , correspondent, CCTV America

Akbar Ahmed continues his lifetimes work of building bridges of understanding between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. Against simplistic views of a clash of civilizations, his combination of historical rigor and deep humanity reminds us of the long history of Muslims in Europe. Journey into Europe is an important and timely reminder that what binds us together is more important than what separates us. Where before this work was important, I would venture to say that now it is a matter of survival. Take courage, my dear friend; as Shelley said, Ye are many, they are few.

P ETER M OREY , former Professor of English and Postcolonial Studies, University of East London, Leadership Fellow for Muslims, Trust and Cultural Dialogue project, coauthor of Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11, and Chair in English Literature, University of Birmingham