Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, my intellectual mentor and role model, has been described by the BBC as ‘the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam’.  At the U.S. Embassy in London a few weeks ago, he was described by Minister Barbara Stephenson, the former U.S. Ambassador to Panama, as ‘one of the greatest scholars of Islam in the world today’.  This is a picture of the two of us presenting our documentary, Journey into America, and holding a panel discussion at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Credit for the picture goes to Ambassador Ahmed’s chief of staff, Harrison Akins.