Islam
and the Age of Globalization: A Modern Voyage
of Discovery
By Bina Shah
Recently I had the opportunity
to spend some valuable time with Professor Akbar
S. Ahmed and three amazing young American students
who are accompanying him on a journey across the
Muslim world, to find out, among other things,
who speaks for Islam today. The lesson I walked
away with from my interaction with the professor
and his research team is that bridges are being
built on both sides of the Muslim-American divide,
and that there are forces working for good despite
all the difficulties that the relationship between
both sides faces today.
Akbar Ahmed, scholar and author and eminent expert
on the Muslim world, is the Ibn Khaldun Chair
of Islamic Studies and professor of international
relations at American University. Previous incarnations
have seen him as the Pakistani High Commissioner
to London, the creator of the Jinnah Suite –
a feature film, book, documentary and graphical
novel on the life of the Quaid – author
of many important books on Islam, and the creator
of a multi-faith dialogue with Christians and
Jews in America, an initiative which has earned
him both accolades and death threats. Never one
to shy away from a challenge, the professor’s
latest brainchild is a project on Islam in the
Age of Globalization, an in-depth look into how
technology and the interactions of civilizations
are affecting the practice and cultural traditions
of Islam
Professor Akbar Ahmed and
his students with President Musharraf in Islamabad
According to a press release on the project, “Islam
in the Age of Globalization recognizes the dual
challenges the United States faces in its relations
with the Muslim world and in addressing the role
of religion in twenty-first century world politics.
It will explore the question of ‘Who speaks
for Islam?’ in an era of globalization.
That is, the research project will examine how
authority within Islam is legitimated in the modern
Muslim world; how leaders establish their authority,
especially in relation to divine texts; public
reception of leaders claiming to speak for divine
texts; and the effect of such issues on politics
and policy”.
A lunch was held in honor of Professor Ahmed and
his team with thirty people in attendance, including
one of Pakistan's most important journalists;
the former governor of Sindh, the Minister of
Education for Sindh, and other eminent thinkers
and intellectuals who are closely interested in
Islam and the West, as well as the ramifications
of this project. It was heartening to hear Professor
Ahmed speak so engagingly to his audience about
the project that he has taken on with the same
passion as his previous ones: sponsored by the
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Brookings
Institution, and American University’s School
of International Service, the project aims to
find out how Muslims think in the age of globalization;
who speaks for Muslims, how technology affects
them, and who is being afforded legitimacy in
Muslim leadership today.
Professor Ahmed and his team are traveling from
Jordan to Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, India, Malaysia,
and Indonesia to ask these questions of students,
mainstream Muslims, political and religious leaders;
men and women, old and young alike. The primary
tool of investigation is a questionnaire distributed
amongst people all across the Muslim world; a
book, several research reports, and a documentary
based on their eight-week whirlwind trip will
emanate from the team’s findings, all of
which promise to be incredibly rich and exciting.
The younger team members also spoke about their
aspirations, inspirations, and expectations on
this life-changing journey. Frankie Martin, a
college senior from Washington DC, Hailey Woldt,
a young student from Texas, and Hadia Mubarak,
a Syrian American graduate student all spoke about
what they were learning and experiencing, and
how incredible they were finding their voyage
to the Muslim world. For Martin and Woldt, it
was their first time here; Woldt is only 19 and
her parents were suitably horrified out when they
found out she was going to travel the Muslim world
and stay in the Marriott, the hotel that was the
target of a suicide bombing hardly a week before
their arrival! But not even terrorism could stop
these intrepid young people from coming over to
discover Islam for themselves and serve as ambassadors
of their country to Muslim ones, who desperately
need the kind of understanding and awareness that
such a project will create.
The three students spoke so confidently and so
eloquently despite their youth and previous lack
of exposure to Islam and Muslims that everyone
in attendance couldn’t help but be impressed
with their enthusiasm and their courage. Woldt
described emotional moments in her trip: wanting
to pray at the tomb of St. John the Baptist in
Syria and not being able to find place amongst
all the Muslim women crying for him, and receiving
a shawl blessed by the Grand Mufti of Damascus.
Martin offered analytical observations about how
people in different countries had different role
models – Pakistan was the first country
where Osama Bin Laden showed up as a major Muslim
role model, rather than the Middle East –
and also described the warmth and acceptance of
Muslims he had encountered, and the interest with
which the project was being received. Mubarak,
the only Muslim woman on the team, spoke movingly
about her journey back to Syria, which she had
left when she was only a child, and the sense
of cultural displacement that she hoped could
be overcome by initiatives such as this one, for
her personally and for millions of Muslim Americans
like her in the United States.
Martin observed that negative feelings against
Muslims in America run very high today, but he
also pointed out that Muslims have suffered a
great trauma since 9/11, and that they feel keenly
the loss of dignity and honor in the West's dealings
with them. Woldt noted that Americans must learn
to respect Muslims but also Muslims must respect
Americans. This struck me as particularly truthful,
given that Muslims tend to see themselves as the
victims of Western oppression, and often forget
that respect and honor are a two-way street, both
of which must be given generously in order to
be earned, even in the case of those who we consider
to be our adversaries.
The audience, which consisted of people who are
well acquainted with the West, experienced with
politics, and jaded by both these perspectives,
were so impressed with these young people that
applause, smiles, and even teary eyes greeted
the students at the end of the talk. Professor
Ahmed rightfully named them as rising stars and
ambassadors representing all that is good and
wonderful about their country. An audience member,
Abbas Bilgrami, raised a fascinating point that
the revival of Islam was going to come from the
West, not the East, and the work that Akbar Ahmed
is doing with this team could easily be seen as
proof of that fact.
If more young Americans like these, who are so
open-minded and courageous, and more authorities
from Islam such as Akbar Ahmed are able to step
forward as voices of reason in a time of chaos
and outright lunacy, then there truly is hope
that the rift between our two worlds can be mended,
and that a greater global understanding can come
about as a result of the groundbreaking work in
the area of multicultural dialogue. We should
all pray for a positive outcome to this project
and a safe journey to all these ambassadors of
peace, so that they may bring enlightenment to
both sides of the spectrum, and illustrate the
fact that the conflict between the West and the
Muslim world is a false one. I for one am convinced
that one day understanding and tolerance can be
cultivated in far greater quantities on both sides
of the divide than ever before.
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