Leading Authority on Contemporary Islam to Speak
at SDSU

Akbar Ahmed to address “Islam in an Era of Globalization" on Oct. 18

Akbar Ahmed will speak at SDSU on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.

Contact:
Gina Speciale
San Diego State University
(619) 594-4563 office
speciale@mail.sdsu.edu

SAN DIEGO (Thursday, October 11, 2007) — Akbar Ahmed, regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on contemporary Islam, will speak about “Islam in an Era of Globalization” on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.  The lecture, which will take place in the exercise & nutritional sciences building room 280, is free and open to the public.

Ahmed, the former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain and current chair of Islamic studies at American University in Washington D.C., will discuss the crises facing Islam in the post-9/11 environment. 

“Ahmed provides a rich, multi-faceted, in-depth perspective on the complex political, social, and of course religious developments around the Muslim world today,” said Ghada Osman, director of the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies, which is hosting the lecture, sponsored by the Shah Family.  “Those in attendance will hopefully walk away with an understanding of the Muslim world that shakes some of the stereotypes, generalizations, and monoliths regularly held to be true.

Ahmed is member of the Centennial Honorary Committee for the Washington National Cathedral Centennial Celebration, along with Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He has been a Trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the World Bank since 2001, and is a Trustee on the Board of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.

SDSU’s Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies was founded in 2000, and administers a new major and minor in Islamic and Arabic Studies. It is committed to supporting teaching and research focused on the lives of Muslim and Arabic-speaking peoples past and present.  The center works to develop a rich state-of-the-art curriculum in Islamic and Arabic Studies at SDSU, to organize outreach activities and programs that help educate the San Diego community at large on Islamic and Arabic subjects, and to engage in scholarly research on these topics in the national and international arenas.

San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to offer bachelor's degrees in 81 areas, master's degrees in 73 areas and doctorates in 16 areas. SDSU's approximately 35,000 students participate in an academic curriculum distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu.

###