@Akiva Students Present

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the current Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, is probably the most well known professor on campus. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show (three times!), The Daily Show, CNN, CBC, BBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Night Line and NPR. (I’m sure I’m missing some, but you get the picture!) His new book, Journey into America: The Challenges of Islam, of course, prompted more media attention. And what better place to hold one of the discussions about his new book then at his very own university?

Co-sponsoring the event with The Center for Islamic Studies was the Center for Israel Studies, where I work. Ambassador Ahmed was joined on stage by Rabbi Bruce Lustig, senior rabbi to the Washington Hebrew Congregation and ABC New moderator John Donvan. It was slightly cliche, the Pakistani Muslim and the Southern Jew sitting on stage talking about Jewish Muslim relationships? Come on.

At first I didn’t really expect them to say anything different from what I had heard from different talks in the past, so I was busy running around doing what my boss needed me to do for the event. But as I sat down, I realized how serious these people where about what they were saying. And how much work they had put into this. Ahmed and his students had gone all over the country interviewing different Muslims about how they felt about America, Jews, and other hot topics in today’s media. Through this investigation, Ahmed wrote his chapter on Jewish/Muslim relations.

In it, he highlighted the similarities, not the differences between Jews and Muslims. He emphasized the uniqueness of both religions, and how important dialogue is between the two. Now, I had heard the whole schpiel about talking to one another and how important expressing ourselves was to other another, but when people mentioned it, it always felt like two polar opposites sitting down to the table. Ahmed and Lustig reminded me that in the end, we’ll always be brothers.

Posted in Uncategorized • 1 Comment »