Ambassador Akbar S. Ahmed is an anthropologist, Islamic scholar, poet, playwright, and filmmaker, recognized by the BBC as the 'world's foremost expert on contemporary Islam.' He currently occupies the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC, and has previously taught at Cambridge, Princeton, and Harvard universities. Ahmed also served as Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland. His renowned "Jinnah Quartet" comprises a feature film, a documentary, an academic book, and a graphic novel about Mr. Jinnah. For Brookings Press, he has authored four books examining the relationship between the West and the Muslim world, with two accompanied by films. Currently, he is working on "The Mingling of the Oceans: How Civilizations Can Live Together."