Shabbir Akhtar

1960–2023 · United Kingdom · Philosopher of religion, poet, author

Shabbir Akhtar was a British Muslim philosopher of religion, born in Pakistan in 1960. He read philosophy at the University of Cambridge and completed a doctorate in the philosophy of religion at the University of Calgary in 1984. He taught philosophy at the International Islamic University Malaysia and later at Old Dominion University in the United States, and from 2012 was associated with the Faculty of Theology and Religions at the University of Oxford. He died in Oxford in July 2023.

His work dealt with faith and secular modernity, comparing how Islam and Christianity have responded to it, as well as pluralism and race relations in Britain. He came to wide public attention with Be Careful with Muhammad! (1989), a response to the Salman Rushdie affair. Other books include The Light in the Enlightenment (1990), The Final Imperative: An Islamic Theology of Liberation (1991), The Quran and the Secular Mind (2008), Islam as Political Religion (2010) and The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (2018). He also published several collections of poetry.

He contributed a number of papers to Yaqeen Institute.

Photo: Nageeb Gounjaria, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Archived 14 October 2026 · Biography sources: yaqeeninstitute.org · en.wikipedia.org

Works

Papers 3

PAPER 2018 · English · Yaqeen Institute

Finding and Following Jesus: The Muslim Claim to the Messiah

Archived 14 October 2026 · Source: Yaqeen Institute

Cite

Akhtar, Shabbir. Finding and Following Jesus: The Muslim Claim to the Messiah. 2018. Yaqeen Institute, https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/finding-and-following-jesus-the-muslim-claim-to-the-messiah. Archived 14 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/shabbir-akhtar/#yq-finding-and-following-jesus-the-muslim-claim-to-the-messiah

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PAPER 2020 · English · Yaqeen Institute

A Path Straightened Out: Perspectives on Human Nature in the Qur’an

Archived 14 October 2026 · Source: Yaqeen Institute

Cite

Akhtar, Shabbir. A Path Straightened Out: Perspectives on Human Nature in the Qur’an. 2020. Yaqeen Institute, https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/a-path-straightened-out-perspectives-on-human-nature-in-the-quran. Archived 14 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/shabbir-akhtar/#yq-a-path-straightened-out-perspectives-on-human-nature-in-the

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PAPER 2022 · English · Yaqeen Institute

Cultivating Faithful Enthusiasm: How the Qur’an Creates Transformative Willpower

Archived 14 October 2026 · Source: Yaqeen Institute

Cite

Akhtar, Shabbir. Cultivating Faithful Enthusiasm: How the Qur’an Creates Transformative Willpower. 2022. Yaqeen Institute, https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/cultivating-faithful-enthusiasm-how-the-quran-creates-transformative-willpower. Archived 14 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/shabbir-akhtar/#yq-cultivating-faithful-enthusiasm-how-the-quran-creates-transformative-willpower

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