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Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed
Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. Ahmed is a distinguished anthropologist, writer, and filmmaker. He has been actively involved in interfaith dialogue and the study of global Islam and its impact on contemporary society. Dr. Ahmed is the author of many books on contemporary Islam, including Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society, which was the basis of the BBC six-part TV series called Living Islam. His Postmodernism and Islam: Predicament and Promise was nominated for the Amalfi Award, and his book Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World was rated among the best nonfiction of the year by the Los Angeles Times. His "Jinnah Quartet," a four-part project on Pakistan's founding father, M.A. Jinnah, has won numerous international awards. Ahmed has co-edited several books including The Future of Anthropology: Its Relevance to the Contemporary World. His latest book Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World is with Polity Press, Cambridge. Dr. Ahmed has been a visiting professor and the Stewart Fellow in the Humanities at Princeton University and held appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Harvard University, and Cambridge University, where for five years he was the Iqbal Fellow. He has held senior positions in Pakistan, including the Pakistan High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom. Since joining the civil service in Pakistan in 1966, he has held several important posts including Political Agent in the North-West Frontier Province as well as Commissioner of three divisions in Baluchistan. He was the founder and director-general of the National Center for Rural Development in Islamabad. Dr. Ahmed is also on the board of directors of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and the editorial boards of several distinguished academic journals. He is the recipient of the prestigious Star of Excellence in Pakistan and the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal given by the Royal Society of Asian Affairs in London. Recently he has been appointed Trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue by the Archbishop of Canterbury and has been the recipient of the 2002 "Free Speech" Award given by the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, DC. Dr. Ahmed recently delivered keynote addresses at the annual meetings of the following organizations: American Muslim Council, American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He also gave the keynote address to the Brookings First Task Force on Islam and delivered the President's Distinguished Annual Lecture at the University of Victoria. Dr. Ahmed also participated in the panel discussion at the Washington National Cathedral on "Personal Faith and Public Choices," which was hosted by Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon and moderated by Tim Russert. He was the distinguished speaker at American University's Emeriti Luncheon and gave the Khattab Lecture at the University of Toledo, Ohio. He presented a paper on Jefferson and Jinnah at Bellagio, Italy, in June, organized by the International Center for Jefferson Studies. Dr. Ahmed lectured at the East India Club in London, UK hosted by the Media Advisor on Islam in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Dr. Ahmed attended a dinner in his honor hosted by the head of the Muslim Council of Britain and was received by Lord Weatherill, former Speaker of the House of Commons, at the House of Lords. He also attended the farewell for the Archbishop of Canterbury organized by the Sternberg Center for Judaism. In addition, he lectured on Islam in Santa Fe on the invitation of the Council for Foreign Relations, attended and gave the keynote address at the Islamic Society of North America annual conference in Washington, DC. He joined the Board of Trustees of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, Leesburg, Virginia, and the International Advisory Board of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, a joint publication of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He addressed the Washington Hebrew Congregation as a speaker for the Amram Sunday Scholar Series. He also attended the World Faiths Development Dialogue conference in Canterbury, UK. Dr. Ahmed has made frequent media appearances in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," CNN, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News and BBC. Dr. Ahmed has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, People magazine, and Newsweek, among other publications and has participated in a seminar, hosted by Bill Moyers, on Islam and the West, at the Aspen Institute, which was broadcast as a PBS special. He has written articles/reviews for The Guardian, The Independent, New Perspectives Quarterly, American Political Science Review, Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post. He is a regular syndicated columnist for the Religion News Service. For more information about Dr. Ahmed and his latest activities, please visit his home page.
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