Shabbir Akhtar

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.

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."

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 studying philosophy (BA and MA degrees) at Cambridge, Shabbir got a PhD 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."

Shabbir Akhtar (born 1960) is a British-Pakistani philosopher, poet, researcher and writer. His interests include political Islam, Quranic interpretation, revival of philosophical discourse in Islam, the thought of Søren Kierkegaard, Islamophobia, extremism and inter-faith dialogue as well as Islamic readings of the New Testament. His articles have appeared both in academic journals and in the UK press. Several of his books have been translated into the major Islamic languages.