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.--Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, filmmakers and authors of The Untold History of the United States
Journey into Europe is a timeless and valuable contribution to the understanding of the diverse Muslim communities in Europe that helps the reader to overcome stereotypes and fears.--Angeliki Ziaka, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece
Akbar Ahmed's historically deep, anthropologically rich work is an incredibly important contribution to building understanding between peoples in this dangerous time of growing intolerance in Europe and worldwide. A way has to be found, Dr. Ahmed writes in Journey into Europe, where different peoples can live together in peace irrespective of their race and religion. Dr. Ahmed deserves tremendous thanks and credit for the many ways he is helping to forge that way toward peace.--David Vine, associate professor of anthropology, American University, and author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World
Journey into Europe travels across the continent narrating stories of Islam that are inspiring, heart breaking and sensitive to the region they are a part of. It provides a much-needed intervention in a polarized debate on Islam in Europe that vacillates between the veil, the terrorist and the refugee. As the Syrian crisis deepens and Europe closes its borders to migrants, Akbar Ahmed's measured insights give us an original and compassionate understanding of the histories of Muslim communities and their integration in Europe. With a passionate commitment to scholarship, interfaith dialogue and bridge building this path-breaking study shows us how and why the story of Islam is an essential component of European life.--Amina Yaqin, senior lecturer in Urdu and postcolonial studies, SOAS University of London
I don't exaggerate when I say that today Akbar Ahmed is the most knowledgeable scholar writing on Islam and the way the religion is affecting global affairs. In his extensive coverage of the subject he has brought new insights policymakers in the West would do well to understand. In my own work what I have found most helpful is Professor Ahmed's finding that Islam's appeal to some of the extremists elements in Muslim societies should be understood in the context of the survival of tribalism in the structure and value systems of some of the societies that are contributing recruits to Islamist causes. In dealing with these dissidents, the use of force is not the preferred solution. What would work ultimately is the development and modernization of these societies.--Shahid Javed Burki is former Vice President of the World Bank and former Finance Minister of Pakistan. He is the author of several books most recently, Rising Powers and Global Governance.
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 Aynan--the capacity to see the exterior and the interior, the spiritual and the physical, the emotional and the scientific--which 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.--Mirnes Kovac, editor, Preporod Islamic Magazine, and author, The Siege of Islam, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the midst of a world burning down fast in the fires of xenophobia and hatred, where suspicion against Islam in particular is widening the divide between Muslims and the West--a divide which is an artificial construct in the first place--Akbar Ahmed offers invaluable insights by drawing our attention not only to his lived experience as a South Asian in postcolonial Europe but also to the missing millennium, and a transformative chapter of European history when Europe's Muslims initiated a legacy of convivencia or peaceful coexistence, enabling Western civilization to be lifted out of the dark ages. This book demonstrates why the West's omissions and distortions of Islam are damaging not only to Muslims who are increasingly being made targets of Islamophobia, but symptomatic of a diminishing civilization, one that perpetuates falsehoods that are ultimately self-destructive. The greatest gift of this work is that it teaches us the art of bridge building across differences as it reinvigorates the historical ties that have been mutually beneficial to Muslims and the West in the past.--Shadab Zeest Hashmi, poet and author of Baker of Tarifa and Kohl & Chalk, and former visiting professor at San Diego State University
Akbar Ahmed follows his earlier Journey into Islam and Journey into America with this brilliant new book Journey into Europe. Along with his team of researchers, he has crisscrossed the continent to meet with a wide range of political figures and religious leaders of all faiths to help us understand social, political and religious dynamics within Europe today. His deep empirical knowledge and engaging writing style will ensure this book is of interest to scholars, policymakers and general readers.--James Goldgeier, dean of the School of International Service, American University
Akbar Ahmed continues his lifetime's 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.--Peter Morey, professor of English and postcolonial studies, University of East London, and RCUK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellow leading the for Muslims, Trust and Cultural Dialogue project, and co-author of Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11.
Set against the background of increasing nativism and religious prejudice, Journey into Europe gives us deep insights into the current mood in Europe with respect to Islam. Professor Ahmed's thought-provoking and meticulously researched book based on extensive fieldwork throughout Europe points to the urgent need to find constructive strategies for overcoming these pervasive divisions.--Anthony Quainton, Distinguished Diplomat in Residence, American University
The final element of his quartet, Journey into Europe provides an insightful and moving analysis of Islam and Muslims in Europe, the roles of culture and identity, and how they interact with the frayed modern democratic ideal. Akbar Ahmed delivers his argument with clarity and care, while his plea for more communication and more understanding of our common dignity represents the only true way forward for reconciling the many differences at the root of the crisis of violence, terrorism, and the rise of a nationalistic populism in Europe. Combining theories and insights from anthropology, sociology, political science, history, philosophy and theology, this study challenges many misconceptions about Europe and Islam, while giving us all hope for the future.--Todd Landman, professor of political science and pro vice chancellor of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
This highly instructive work deserves careful attention as people across the world wrestle with how to balance community with difference in an age of reinvigorated tribalism.--Publishers Weekly
A dense but rewarding anthropological account of European reactions to Islam and Muslim immigrant communities, and vice versa. . . . Academic but of considerable interest to any student of current affairs and geopolitics.--Kirkus Reviews
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.--John Milewski, Director of Digital Programming and Moderator and Managing Editor of Wilson Center NOW, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
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 today's 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.--Masood Ahmed, president of the Center for Global Development
At various times a travelogue, a popular history, and a sociopolitical text, Journey into Europe is a good resource for those wanting a crash course on modern European thought in regard to Islam and Islamic immigration.--Benjamin Welton, Foreword Reviews
The greatest gift of this work, as I say in my earlier remarks on the book, is that it teaches us the art of bridge-building across differences as it reinvigorates not only the historical ties that have been mutually beneficial to Muslims and the West in the past but also challenges the divide set thus far by the 'vertical' approach of Anthropological research--rejecting the hierarchical standards established by Western imperialism, establishing a new lexicon for the discipline, and cultivating a multi-faith, multi-ethnic, international community of bridge-builders.--Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Daily TImes
This is precisely the message that must resonate loud and clear. Christians, Muslims, Jews and people of other beliefs must join hands and promote peace. We cannot just nod our heads and not be proactive. We must within our sphere of influence try to eliminate sowing discord and suspicion against those whose beliefs may differ from ours.--Tariq A. Al-Maeena, Columnist, Saudi Gazette
The fundamental message of Journey Into Europe is that throughout history, Islamic and European civilizations have often been not just compatible, but complementary. It's crucial to acknowledge their shared past to reject today's resurgent tribalism. The stakes, as Ahmed puts it, are Andalusia or dystopia. --Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, New York Times Book Review
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.--Mary Kaye Schilling, Newsweek
Journey into Europe is at once an intellectual inquiry, critical commentary, social observation, part-autobiography and case-study-focused, all skillfully interwoven by an expert social anthropologist and storyteller.--Professor Tahir Abbas, London School of Economics Review of Books
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