Dr. Akbar Ahmed and Four Young Americans Talk about their Experiences on a Nine-Nation Tour of the Muslim World

Dr. Akbar Ahmed

Ibn Khaldun Professor of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC, named by the BBC as the world’s foremost Islamic scholar, a regular analyst of Muslim affairs on Interfaith Voices.  This trip to nine Muslim nations in 2006 is recounted in his new book: Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization.  

Jonathan Hayden

Dr. Ahmed’s assistant at American University, organizer of the trip, holds a degree in History and Political Science from the University of Alabama.

Hadia Mubarak

Research assistant for the project, holds a Masters’ Degree in Arab Studies, first woman elected president of the National Muslim Students Association.

Frankie Martin

An honor student at the time of the trip, and a research assistant on the team, now holds a degree from American University and works with Dr. Ahmed.   

Hailey Woldt

A junior who is an honor student at Georgetown University, accompanied Dr. Ahmed for the entire trip. 

This is an extraordinary conversation with one of the world’s most distinguished Islamic scholars and four young Americans who accompanied him on a nine-nation tour of the Muslim World.

All of them said they were well received wherever they went, even in very conservative Islamic settings.  Indeed, many people to whom they spoke were meeting Americans for the first time, and were anxious to share their thoughts, grievances and hopes.  Every step of the way, they found that careful listening and engaged dialogue helped overcome stereotypes and, at times, even improved America’s image with some.

Dr. Ahmed noted that globalization has had mixed results in the Muslim world.  On the one hand, it facilitated rapid donations of aid after the Asian tsunami and Pakistani earthquake.  On the other hand, it spreads media messages worldwide, including TV channels from the West like CNN, Fox and BBC, on which Muslims often hear negative views of Islam and of Muslims. 

The number one problem the United States faces in the Muslim world, according to everyone on this trip, is the widespread belief that Americans do not respect Islam, or care about Muslims.

The Three Models of Contemporary Islam

Dr. Ahmed and his team describe three models, or “ideal types” of Islam in the contemporary world. 

The first, or Ajmer model, is the mystical or Sufi tradition in Islam, exemplified by the poet, Rumi.  It is an open, compassionate, inclusive approach to Islam, evident at the mosque this team visited in Ajmer, India, where people of all faith traditions were welcomed warmly.

The second is the Deoband model, named after a madrassa – or Islamic school – in India.  This conservative school believes that Islam is under attack in the world, and must be defended by drawing boundaries and defending them.  Although a few of its adherents might be drawn to terrorism, the vast majority are simply trying to understand the world they inhabit, and the place of Islam in that world.  This model is on the ascendancy in the world. 

However, in a sign of hope, Hailey Woldt and Frankie Martin relate the story of the Web master at Deoband who began by telling them that the actions of Osama bin Laden were justified in Islam.  After extensive dialogue, that same Web master re-considered his position such that he offered to translate one of Dr. Ahmed’s books into Urdu, a Pakistani language.

The third model, the Aligarh model, is the modernist school of Islam.  Its adherents, like Dr. Jinnah, the founder of modern Pakistan, believe that one can be a devout Muslim and a citizen of the modern world at the same time.

Either Sunnis or Shiites can embrace any of these three models, or even move from one to the other.

The team carried a questionnaire with them, asking Muslims to share their role models.  The Prophet Mohammed, as one might expect, was first everywhere.  After that, many cited people like Osama bin Laden or President Amadinejad of Iran.  This team believes they are admired, not because these Muslims agree with everything they say, but because they “stand up to the West.”

Policy recommendations emanating from the trip and the book include: the U.S. government’s reaching out seriously to the Muslim world to listen and engage in serious dialogue, finding ways to overcome stereotypes and show that the U.S. respects Islam as a religion, a program of economic generosity that shares more educational resources and fewer instruments of war, and the United States’ living up to its own ideals of democracy, civil rights and civil liberties. 

Dr. Ahmed believes that the U.S. State Department should field ambassadors who are as respectful, dignified and dialogic as his four young companions on this journey into Islam.