Salman Ahmad is a Pakistani rock star whose band Junoon has sold over 25 million albums. A medical doctor by training, Salman currently travels the globe as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, spreading a message of harmony and reconciliation between the West and the Muslim world. He was a featured performer at the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, alongside musical superstars such as Alicia Keys, Melissa Etheridge and Annie Lennox. He currently teaches a course on Muslim music and poetry at the City University of New York's Queens College campus. Salman spends his free time moving between Pakistan and Rockland County, New York, with his wife Samina and their three sons.
..".Has found a way to bridge bitter divides...There is something
unusually compelling about his combination of total coolness,
gentle innocence and self-deprecating humor." -- Sally Quinn, The
Washington Post
"A revolutionist of our own time...[who] perseveres and never stops
believing that music and the arts can help heal his country's
violent and short history...What I love about Rock & Roll Jihad is
not only the story of Ahmad's success against all odds, but how his
journey is intertwined with Pakistan's and the effect they have on
each other." --Northwest Asian Weekly
"Rock & Roll Jihad is a gorgeously written and endlessly
entertaining book that reminds one of both the incredible power of
music to encourage positive social change and how deep the cultural
connections between the U.S. and Muslim world have long been. Rock
& Roll Jihad will forever change the way you think about the Muslim
world, the war on terror, and rock & roll to boot. An absolutely
essential read for anyone concerned about the future relationship
between the United States and the Muslim world. Salman Ahmad's
beautiful writing style is the perfect complement to his
electrifying guitar playing; if his seminal band Junoon is known as
the 'U2 of Asia, ' this book will launch him as the Bono of
commentators on the common future of our hopelessly entangled
civilizations." -- Mark LeVine, author of Heavy Metal Islam
"Rock & Roll Jihad is not just the story of a young man's
incredible journey to becoming a rock star. It is also the story of
how that young man also became a hero, risking it all to stand up
against intolerance and hatred. Read this book and be inspired!" --
P. W. Singer, Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at
Brookings, and author of Wired for War
"Rock & Roll Jihad is the fascinating story of the evolution of a
new kind of planetary citizen. Salman Ahmad's band, Junoon, can
boast of being the most popular rock group in South Asia -- but its
larger signifi cance is that music, poetry, politics, and
humanitarianism have been the core elements of Salman's personal
quest.... I hope in reading this book that you are inspired to take
your own journey of mystery, wonder, enchantment, and most
important of all, healing. The greatest gift an artist can possess
is the ability to raise the consciousness of his audience. Salman
Ahmad has dedicated himself to transformation, and in that I join
hands with him in gratitude and hope." -- Deepak Chopra
"In these troubled times of cultural misunderstanding, there are
peace talks -- and also peace rock. Salman Ahmad's memoir, Rock &
Roll Jihad, describes his own jihad, his struggle with the multiple
crises in the world, and his own youthful idealism. Rather than
throw up his hands at what look to be irreparable divides, Ahmad
turns to the nature of kinship within families and world
communities. He moves from idealism to changemaker as a medical
doctor, a UN ambassador for both AIDS and peace between Pakistan
and India, and the founder and singer in South Asia's biggest rock
band, Junoon. As Ahmad shows, rock & rock diplomacy can create
instant kinship. It may be one of the best ways for the youth of
the world -- the future -- to set aside the old history of fear and
mistrust and just get down and rock out together." -- Amy Tan,
author of The Joy Luck Club
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