Just weeks after Dr. Ahmed Akbar came to American University in August 2001, his life changed.
“I’m teaching one of my first classes when the plane slams into the Pentagon,” he said. From that moment on, he was on a mission.
“Because my subject is Islam, because I am a Muslim, it makes my task even more urgent,” he said. “I’m trying to create bridges of understanding, trying to create bridges of dialogue, on campus and off campus.”
The relevance of his topic is undeniable considering the unwanted and undeserved attention cast on Islam because of other tragic events — the D.C. sniper shootings in 2002, committed by John Allen Muhammad who was executed Nov. 10, and the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shootings, allegedly committed by Maj. Nidal Hasan. Both men self-identify as Muslims.
“The gap between mainstream Americans and Muslims … is growing wider,” he said.
That’s what spurred Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American and former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom, to lead five young Americans to 75 U.S. cities to learn about the experiences of the 7 million Muslims in America and the perception other Americans have of Muslims.
He surveyed Muslims in nine countries in spring 2006 and discovered that the biggest threat Muslims perceived was the American misperception of Islam.
