Akbar Ahmed - Two Plays: "Noor" and "The Trial of Dara Shikoh"

(Paperback)

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"Noor" is the tale of three brothers attempting to rescue their sister Noor, who has been kidnapped during Ramadan. Each brother represents a different ideological position in the contemporary Islamic world. While exploring the crisis of modern Islam, "Noor" is a heartfelt treatise for religious tolerance. Ahmed points out that the play could be set in Baghdad but also Cairo, Karachi or Kabul. "The Trial of Dara Shikoh" tells the story of the eldest son of 17th century Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Heir apparent, Dara Shikoh is a learned scholar with a strong belief in the unity of different faiths: Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Judaism. Ahmed's play highlights the complex issue of religious interpretation within a human context, set in the 17th century, its text resonating just as strongly for the contemporary reader.

Reviews

Praise for Noor 'Akbar Ahmed sets the clock ticking from the first moments of his wondrous new play, Noor. The three sons of Assad Hussein must find a way to get their beloved sister released from a US-sponsored prison, ironically referred to as the Holiday InnA", before her honour is ruined. Dr Ahmed writes the voice of each of these sons - one a pacifist scholar, another a radicalised doctor, and another a timid, Westernised government official - with compassion and deep understanding. The great achievement of this spectacular - [are] characters whose universality is clear, while at the same time being living, breathing, grieving, struggling people with individual voices captured in utter specificity. Listen in rapture to the voices of modern Islam. I am in awe of this tremendous, important work.' Daniel Futterman, actor (Daniel Pearl in A Mighty Heart) and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (Capote). Praise for The Trial of Dara Shikoh: 'Professor Akbar Ahmed's brilliant new play, The Trial of Dara Shikoh, is not only a fascinating drama but a most important, highly instructive study of the major forces within Islam that continue to reflect the fatal struggle between Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb that grip our modern world and may help to decide our global future.' Stanley Wolpert Distinguished Professor, University of California at Los Angeles Historian of South Asia

Author Bio

Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University. In 2008 he was appointed Distinguished Chair for Middle East/Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He is a former Ambassador of Pakistan to Great Britain and has written numerous books as well as presenting and narrating a television series on the BBC.