From his professorial perch at American University in northwest Washington, he witnessed the eruption of a 
huge backlash against the Muslim world that would eventually lead to two global wars.

While drum beats of those wars grew louder in the US capital and other parts of the country, Ahmed, a renowned anthropologist and Islamic scholar, began devoting even more time to his calling: mending civilisational ties and building cultural bridges. In subsequent years, he produced a prodigious array of intellectual output — which includes numerous books and op-ed pieces, interviews and speeches, blogs and plays — advancing that mission.

Journey into America, a documentary that explores the American identity through Muslim eyes, is Ahmed’s latest effort on that front. Premiered on July 4^th, the American Independence Day, the movie is the result of a cross-continental trip that he took along with four young Americans, Craig M. Considine, Jonathan Hayden, Frankie Martin and Hailey Woldt.  Pakistan-born Madeeha Hameed was also part of the team for a significant portion of the voyage. Over nine months, the group visited 75 cities and more than a hundred mosques across the United States.

Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, will further dissect the topic in a book to be published by the Brookings Institution next year. Journey into America is a sequel to the former diplomat’s last major work, Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalisation. That book, which he called an “anthropological excursion into the Muslim world,” had taken him to several Muslim countries. Hayden, Martin and Woldt were his companions in that journey as well.

Even though the American odyssey was undertaken “to learn about Islam in America,” Ahmed says he found he could not “do so without learning the American identity.” Early on, the professor and his fellow travelers discovered a key reality: that people had different ideas about “what it means to be American” or “who can be an American?” Their experiences at each destination — be it Plymouth in Massachusetts, the place where the pilgrims established the first settlement; Las Vegas and New Orleans, the cities known for casinos and carnival; or Dearborn in Michigan, home to the largest Muslim community in the United States — would underline the same.

Along the way, the group also traced the roots of Islam in America. On Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia, they meet a descendant of an African slave brought to the country in the 19^th century, who tells them about the fascinating remnants of Islam still visible on the island (such as churches facing east to Makkah). In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the American heartland, they visit the oldest mosque in America.

The film reveals that America is not a monolithic entity many flag-waving Americans want the country to be and many of its critics in the Muslim world project it to be. Over centuries, America has provided rich materials to many discerning voyagers. From Alex de Tocqueville in the early 19^th century to Sacha Baron Cohen in our own era, a bevy of writers, thinkers and artists from overseas have left us many brilliant imprints of the land, and its people, culture and social systems that range from the classic to the comedic.

Ahmed’s account of America is largely a sympathetic one, much like that of the early Tocqueville. As he reveals at the very beginning, this trip was, besides being a “journey of discovery,” also a tribute to the country that welcomed him and his family “so warmly.”

Yet, the film’s final message is one of concern about the direction the United States is heading. Ahmed laments 
that “tragically” America is “bogged down in its relationship with Muslims” and, unless the country straightens itself out, it is in jeopardy of losing Thomas Jefferson’s “extraordinary pluralist vision.”