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, revival of philosophical discourse in Islam, the thought of Søren Kierkegaard, inter-faith dialogue as well as Islamic readings of the New Testament.

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

After studying philosophy (B.A. and M.A. degrees) at Cambridge, Shabbir got a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion from the university of Calgary (1984), his thesis being entitled: "Religion in the age of reason : faith and the apostasy of humanism."

His first book, Reason and the Radical Crisis of Faith (1987), on the possibilities and complexities of upholding faith in a secular society, was described by anti-theist author Keith Parsons as "to be widely read. He argues with insight, wit, and lucidity. His arguments gain a special cogency from the scrupulous fairness with which Akhtar treats those whom he criticizes."

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." 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."

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