Akbar S. Ahmed

Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed (born 15 January 1943) is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat.

Ahmed received the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) and Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) from the Pakistani government for academic distinction and the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in London. and was named a 2015 Global Thought Leader by The World Post and the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

Career

Living Islam Hugh Purcell, the executive producer of the BBC television series Living Islam (1993), who worked closely with Ahmed on the production, wrote in a 2025 review that Ahmed’s work over the decades reflects a sustained commitment to peace and “co-existence,” calling it “sorely needed.” Purcell, a BBC producer with over two decades of experience, has also stated that Living Islam, presented by Ahmed, was the production he was “most proud of” in his career.

Civil service and academia He studied at Burn Hall School (now Army Burn Hall College) in Abbottabad from 1954 to 1959. Burn Hall was founded in 1943 by members of Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill (MHM) in British India as a missionary school for boys. It was ceded to Pakistan Army Education Corps in 1977 and was renamed Army Burn Hall College. Ahmed entered the Pakistani civil service in 1966. He has conducted anthropological fieldwork with Pashtuns in Afghanistan, undertaken comparative studies of Islamic social customs in Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and researching global Islam alongside its impacts on contemporary society. Among his works on Pashtuns are: Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans (1976), Pukhtun Economy and Society (1980), and his wide-ranging study The Thistle and the Drone (2013) that focuses on Muslim hill peoples in Pakistan, Yemen, North Africa and afar as the Philippines which examines US drone operations in the Muslim world, its subsequent consequences and reputation of the USA being considered synonymous with the drone. Ahmed has criticized some anthropologists for studying "Muslim groups without reference to the Islamic framework". Other areas of research interest include Modernity and Muslims along with Islam and the concept of postmodernism in relation to Muslim societies, cultures, media and the West.

Ahmed has co-edited several books with other academics. and a study Journey into America: The challenge of Islam based on fieldwork with American Muslims. Ahmed has been engaged in a series of public interfaith dialogues across the US and abroad with Professor Judea Pearl, father of deceased reporter Daniel Pearl focusing on divisions between Muslims and the West and between Jews and Muslims. For their efforts, he and Pearl were awarded the first Purpose Prize by the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington at the National Cathedral and Ahmed received the Herschel-King award for Interfaith Activism. Ahmed has received accusations of being "a Zionist conspirator" and close to the West however he has felt that "dialogue, harmony, communication and debate" are for Islam and the West the key issues of engagement.

Media appearances and advisory roles

Ahmed has been interviewed by the BBC, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, "Think Tank," NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, Fox News, and other media organisations. In addition to The Daily Show and The O'Reilly Factor, he has made several appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Books The Flying Man, Aristotle, and the Philosophers of the Golden Age of Islam: Their Relevance Today (2021). Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity (Brookings Press, 2018). The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam (Brookings Press, 2013). Suspended Somewhere Between: A Book of Verse (Busboys and Poets, 2011). Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam (Brookings Press, 2010; Winner of the American Book Award). Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization (Brookings Press, 2007). After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations Co-Edited by Brian Forst, (Polity Press, 2005). Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World (Polity Press, 2003). The Future of Anthropology: Its Relevance to the Contemporary World; Co-Edited by Chris Shore, (Athlone Press, 1999). Islam Today: A Short Introduction to The Muslim World; (I.B. Tauris, 1998). Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin; (Routledge, 1997). Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity with Hastings Donnan; (Routledge, 1994). Living Islam: From Samarkand and Stornoway (BBC Books, 1993). Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society; (Routledge, 1988). Postmodernism and Islam: Predicament and Promise; (Routledge, 1992). Resistance and Control in Pakistan; (Routledge, 1991). Pakistan: The Social Sciences' Perspective; (Oxford University Press, 1990). Toward Islamic Anthropology: Definition, Dogma, and Directions; (Vanguard Books, 1987). Religion and Politics in Muslim Society: Order and Conflict in Pakistan; (Royal Book Co., 1987). Pukhtun Economy and Society: Traditional Structure and Economic Development in a Tribal Society (Routledge, 1980). Pieces of Green, the Sociology of Change in Pakistan, 1964–1974; (Royal Book Co., 1977). Social and Economic change in the Tribal Areas, 1972–1976; (Oxford University Press, 1977). Millennium and Charisma Among Pathans: A Critical Essay in Social Anthropology (Routledge, 1976) Mataloona: Pukhto Proverbs (Oxford University Press, 1975). Mansehra: A Journey (Ferozsons, 1973).

Plays The Trial of Dara Shikoh (Saqi Books, 2009) Noor (Saqi Books, 2009)

Films Journey into Europe (Documentary, 2015) Journey into America (Documentary, 2009) Jinnah (Feature Film, 1998) Mr. Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan (Documentary, 1997) Living Islam (BBC Six-Part Series, 1993)