Akbar Ahmed Quotes
Even the Prophet, Mohammed, invited people from other religions to his Mosque because he wanted to show them respect.
One of the great historical religious puzzles is how Islam evolved from its origin of respect for other religions, to one where a large number of Islamic leaders preach that not only is Islam the only true religion but all other religions are enemies of Islam, and the preaching of hatred for Christians, Jews, Bhai, Budhists and other religions.
Akbar Ahmed, Islamic Studies Scholar, C-SPAN Book TV, After Words, July 31, 2005
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Many, if not most, non-Muslim scholars and thinkers very much disagree with Hamid on this point. The great exceptions of Islam are almost 1,000 years in the past. Current Islam, they argue, is not more exceptional than the beliefs of modern Mongolia which dominated most of the known world centuries ago, but has little that deserves special respect in the 21st country beyond the general respect which is owed to all religions and nationalities. With the exception of Turkey, Islamic nations are for the most part, backward, and virtually no other non-Muslim nations try to emulate them in any way.
He was referring to whether or not Iraq should be a Muslim state.
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. This quote is historically very important as it is one of the first expressions of religious tolerance. Tragically, this principle was ignored by most Christians for over a millennium. Some Christians still ignore it. See {626754} for a modern example.
Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and is Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C. A former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, Ahmed was a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan and served as Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency and Commissioner in Baluchistan. He also served as the Iqbal Fellow (Chair of Pakistan Studies) at the University of Cambridge as well as holding teaching positions at Harvard, Princeton, and the U.S. Naval Academy. An anthropologist and scholar of Islam, he received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has been called "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC.
