Shabbir Akhtar

Shabbir Akhtar
Born 1960
Pakistan
Occupation Philosopher
Writer

Shabbir Akhtar (born 1960) is a philosopher, researcher and writer. His interests include political Islam, Quranic interpretation and revival of philosophical discourse in Islam.

Personal life

Shabbir Akhtar was born in Pakistan, raised in the Bradford in the United Kingdom and went to Canada for higher education.

Education

Shabbir is a Ph.D. from University of Calgary (1984).

Career

After the publication of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, Akhtar represented the Bradford Council of Mosques in the ensuing media interest in the reactions of the Muslim community in the United Kingdom. On 27 February 1989 he published an article in The Guardian, in which he stated: "there is no choice in the matter. Anyone who fails to be offended by Rushdie's book ipso facto ceases to be a Muslim...Those Muslims who find it intolerable to live in a United Kingdom contaminated with the Rushdie virus need to seriously consider the Islamic alternatives of emigration (hijrah) to the House of Islam or a declaration of holy war (jihād) on the House of Rejection."[1] The article also included the much-quoted sentence: "The next time there are gas chambers in Europe, there is no doubt concerning who'll be inside them."[2]

In the mid-1990s, he taught philosophy in Malaysia but came back disillusioned of the belief that a majority Muslim society would really pursue reason in education.[3]

Recently, he has published books that are philosophical in approach and strident in presenting a certain point of view and trying to lay the foundation of modern Islamic philosophy.[4]

Books

References

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