After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations

World Bank Book Launch

May 31,2005

Dr. Akbar Ahmed

After September 11, 2001, people frequently said that the world had changed forever. Personal security, economics, politics and social life across the world have been affected directly or indirectly by the events of that dreadful day. In an important sense, they are right.

Political Scientists, historians, religious scholars, journalists, dramatists and social scientists are trying to help us understand the world we live in.

Samuel Huntington of Harvard University has written about the “Clash of Civilizations” , an idea that gained global currency after September 11. Huntington argued that the clash in our times would be defined by cultural and religious civilizations. He identified Islam as a major global civilizational opponent to the West.

The idea and term “clash of civilizations” first came from the historian Bernard Lewis at Princeton University. Opposed to the idea of a clash of civilizations, President Khattami of Iran proposed a dialogue of civilizations at the United Nations in 1998; he pointed to the strengths of Islam and its great traditions of scholarship, understanding and dialogue. Another religious scholar, Dr. Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, in his book, The Dignity of Difference (2003), argues that the roots of the clash go much deeper. According to Sacks, the clash is really between Abrahamic values – which define Judaic, Christian and Islamic cultures – and our contemporary values which have little time for piety, modesty, humility, compassion and scholarship. He too advocates dialogue and understanding.

I created a class on campus called “Dialogue or Clash of Cultures” shortly after September 11, 2001. My aim was to answer the following questions:  What impact do these perspectives have on international affairs?  What is the role of religion within these emerging discourses?  And how are we to relate an impartial understanding of the Divine to the violence we often see on our television screens? We looked at how an understanding of civilizations in all their multiple-aspects can lend to a more harmonious existence in the 21^st Century.

At first, I was unsure how this class would be received. I did not know if students would be interested in the class at all. But, after teaching it for 3 years now, it is one of the most popular courses on campus. The University has made it into an honors class and students have to be turned away. The success of this class leads to the development of “After Terror: Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations”.

My respected colleague and friend, Brian Forst, and I met over lunch one day and started talking about doing a project together. We came up with the idea of asking the world’s leading scholars, religious leaders, politicians and personalities to write an essay on the subject of dialogue. We wanted to see if these brilliant minds agreed with Huntington’s “Clash” or if they were in support of dialogue. To our delight, the response was overwhelming, as you can see by the roster of essayists. This book has a collection of essays by some of the most remarkable figures in our world today. The main theme is a challenge to the idea of “Clash of Civilizations”. We have a lineup that includes major world figures like the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Jonathan Sacks, the   former Archbishop of Canterbuty Lord Carey, Kofi Annan and Jim Wolfensohn, former World Bank President. All of them are clearly, unequivocally, challenging the idea of the clash of civilizations.

I would like to urge everyone here to join us in the dialogue. This is a crucial time in the world and we cannot afford to have a “Clash”. We are encouraged by the support that we have received for this book and I thank you for coming here to launch “After Terror”.