Footsoldier of Faith

Riju Dave Mehta

Posted online: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST

Ideological battles are waged from unlikely turfs. From the hallowed confines of religion, from the parochial precincts of orthodoxy, the clinical quarters of academia, the rational recesses of mind. Akbar S. Ahmed doesn’t come across as a warrior, but he’s on a crusade. Mostly, he is an anthropologist, a scholar trying to decode Islam for the world.

Cut to the core and he’s a Pakistani, born in India, based in America, trying to promote dialogue among warring faiths. A moderate Muslim — a rare phenomenon, by his own admission — he is countering a philosophy that has pitted Islam against the religions of the world.

‘‘Muslims are themselves to blame’’, he says of an Islam sheathed in conservatism, that bristles when its Prophet is mocked. ‘‘Muslim leaders don’t want to read, don’t want to apply their minds, let in fresh ideas. They just want to cling to power.’’ Given his undiluted opinion, is it a wonder these leaders accuse him of “betraying Islam” and issue threats against him?

Ahmed is undeterred. With a shuffling gait that betrays his 63 years but belies his tenacity, he has stuck to his mission. ‘‘I’m here’’, he says of his recent visit to India, part of a four-nation tour that includes Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, ‘‘because three places in India are very important in understanding contemporary Islam. Deoband, which has an extreme, exclusivist approach; Aligarh, which is inclusivist with a mix of West and Islam, and Ajmer, which represents a genuine South Asian model of synthesis.’’

Deconstructed, the theory is simpler: ‘‘Ajmer has Pushkar, sacred for Hindus, the Dargah Sharif (tomb of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti) as well as the Gurdwara Singh Sabha. A model that is successful in the 21st century has to be based on mutual respect and understanding of all religions.’’’

Peaceful coexistence is a philosophy he has professed over the years in high office and through mass media. A former Pakistani ambassador to the UK, Ahmed has employed his grasp of Islam to advise Prince Charles and George Bush, has lent perspective to global events on the BBC and CNN, and has written several books — Islam Under Siege, Discovering Islam and After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilisations, a compilation of essays on 9/11 by world’s leading lights, which he edited and released in May last year.

‘‘Terror is seen as an Islamic phenomenon, but Muslims are more badnaam (reviled) than in reality. Do you realise that in the past 20 years the Tamil Tigers have killed more people than have Muslims? Islam is perceived as a religion of violence, but in the Koran, God is seen as The Merciful, The Compassionate. So, how can I or anyone make sense of suicide bombers?’’

It’s rationale like this that has won him credibility, that make political correctness seem like a virtue.

Perhaps also the reason India has taken to him with abandon on his third visit to the country. ‘‘They’re calling me Akbar Allahabadi (a reference to his place of birth). They’re treating me like a prodigal son, completely negating my Pakistani connection. I’m almost afraid to go to Pakistan now,’’ he jests, failing to keep the glee out.

But Pakistan is always just a thought away. ‘‘India always misreads Pakistan. If it is emerging as a superpower, it cannot ignore the 160 million Pakistanis on its doorstep. It has to think long term’’, says the man who is as proud of his Jinnah as any Pakistani would be. ‘‘There are serious misconceptions about Jinnah in India. People want to preserve the idea of Jinnah, not his person. But he’s not a Nawaz Sharif or a Benazir Bhutto. How you define Jinnah is how you see Pakistan.”

Moulds, the ones in the mind, are not easy to break, and Ahmed knows it. So he advocates dialogue, between India and Pakistan, between Islam and Christianity, between reason and rebellion.

‘‘Muslims are at history’s crossroads. If we, 1.4 billion Muslims across the world, don’t change, we’re in big trouble. The world needs to understand Muslims as much as the Muslims need to know the world’’, he says, returning to the Ajmer model almost by rote, seeing it as a panacea for the world’s terror travails. He may be right. Sometimes, ideological battles are won from the most unlikely turfs.