The London Launch
By Dr Akbar Ahmed
American University
Washington, DC
London is not only one of the great intellectual and cultural crossroads of the world, but it has also played a central role in my life. It is the city where I earned my PhD at SOAS, University of London and the city where I served as Pakistan High Commissioner. As such, I was honored and delighted to return to London recently to present my new book, Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity, to dignitaries and dynamic audiences throughout the city.
My latest journey through London kicked into high gear when on May 22, 2018 I met with Sara Khan, the Commissioner for Countering Extremism, at the Home Office. Zeenat and our granddaughter, Mina Hoti, who has just finished her Bachelor’s program in politics and philosophy at the London School of Economics, accompanied me. During our intense session, we discussed the challenges facing Muslim society and the best ways to promote harmony in the UK. We also discussed the importance of paying special attention to the younger generation and women through educational and employment opportunities.
Sara received us in her office warmly and shared her thoughts and ideas frankly. She is an intelligent and educated woman with a passion for her community. There is much riding on her shoulders and her work will impact the future. We also exchanged our books — my Journey into Europe for her The Battle for British Islam. I look forward to reading her book and understanding the community and its challenges better.
The next day, on May 23, I was warmly greeted by a full house at a Journey into Europe launch event at Chatham House, routinely named one of the world’s top think tanks. The event was chaired by Baroness Pola Uddin, who is a Member of the House of Lords and the Chair of the National Commission on Muslim Women. The program was attended by a number of VIPs, including Jonathan Benthall, former Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute, whom I profiled in a previous column; Commodore Raja Rab Nawaz, the Defense and Naval Adviser to the Pakistan High Commission in London; Zachary Harkenrider, Political Counselor at the US Embassy in London; Mohsin Akhtar, owner of Heydon Grange Golf & Country Club; Dr Jafar Qureshi, a prominent psychiatrist and community leader; and many other distinguished members of Chatham House. Hasan Akhtar, an old friend from Burn Hall in the 1950s, and Dr Roger Boase, a leading scholar at the University of London on medieval Iberian history, were in attendance as special guests as well.
The book and my work more broadly received a rich amount of feedback throughout and following the Chatham House event. Baroness Uddin opened the event by warmly commenting, “I want to say welcome home… For me you are one of the most distinguished individuals with authority and I am not surprised that you’ve written this latest book about Journey into Europe about some of the most pressing issues of our time.” Mr Harkenrider remarked in a dynamic question and answer session, “Akbar Ahmed always has important things to say and his latest book promises to illuminate one of the central political issues of our day. Anthropology, next to history, is probably the single most important discipline for what we do.” Mohsin Akhtar added, “I was very pleased to see my old friend Akbar Ahmed and attend his lecture on his new book which is very eye opening for anyone who does not know Muslim history and how they were very fair and helpful to all communities.” And the cherry on top of an already warm and touching afternoon came when a Pakistani taxi driver returning us to the hotel excitedly commented, “Wait till people hear I drove Akbar Ahmed!” and requested an autograph and pictures.
The next evening, on May 24, I launched Journey into Europe at my alma mater, SOAS, University of London. I was honored that Lord Bhikhu Parekh, a preeminent political theorist and professor emeritus at the University of Westminster, who launched the project at the House of Lords four years ago, joined as my chief guest and that Professor Stephen Hopgood, Pro-Director (International) of the Governance and Compliance Directorate at SOAS, moderated the event. It was also great to be back in the Brunei Gallery, a premiere museum of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern culture, where I screened my film, Journey into Europe, two years ago. There was a great audience of senior scholars and attentive students packing into the hall. Prominent Pakistanis in the audience included the editor and author Muneeza Shamsie, Professor Yaqoob Bangash of ITU Punjab, and Dr Amina Yaqin of the SOAS South Asia Institute and the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS.
Lord Parekh warmly opened the event by remarking, “I want to give my thank you to Dr Ahmed for this absolutely brilliant and scintillating exploration of this all the way throughout his book.” Lord Parekh also shared with the audience the significance of my unique dedication for the book: “He’s done something absolutely remarkable, which I haven’t seen before. The book is dedicated, amongst others, to one of his students [Frankie Martin]. And that is a marvelous compliment from a guru to his chela. From a teacher to his student.”
Following the event, Zeenat and I, along with the event dignitaries, gathered at a nearby Lebanese cum Middle Eastern restaurant called Comptoir Libanais and celebrated the great success of the evening and of the book.
Dr Yaqin posted on Twitter after the event: “Ambassador Ahmed’s findings from his European journey into Islam offer a much needed intervention on how we debate and move forward with Muslim identities in Europe. Congratulations on a brilliant book.”
Lord Parekh also wrote to me after the event to comment:“Yesterday was a great occasion and I enjoyed it enormously. Your speech was perceptive and thoughtful and covered most of your major themes. It was a privilege to be invited to comment on the book and I only hope that my comments were of some help. As I said it’s a fine book and deserves to be widely read. I also enjoyed meeting some members of your team whose loyalty and affection for you were evident and touching. I do hope we’ll meet again before long. With warm regards to you both, Bhikhu.”
In the midst of all this activity in London, we received terrific news from back in the States. On May 23, Newsweek named Journey into Europe to their list of “The 50 Coolest Books to Read This Summer: 2018’s Best Fiction and Non-fiction (So Far).” Of the book, they wrote, “Ahmed’s study of European reactions to Islamic immigrants is more anthropological than political, but it offers fascinating insights into how white Europeans struggle to reconcile outsiders, and how Muslim communities end up reinforcing negative stereotypes. The bigger takeaway, though, is evidence of the harmonious relations that existed between Islamic and European civilizations throughout the past—a potent argument against rising nationalism and tribalism.” I can think of no better note upon which to end my fruitful return to London.
(The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, Washington, DC, and author of Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity)
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