ROCK & ROLL JIHAD

A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution

Salman Ahmad

‘The story you are about to read is the story of a light-bringer, a way-shower. He will be the first to insist that there is nothing special about anything that he has done. Yet there is no other that has gone before him and walked his path’ – Melissa Etheridge, from her introduction to Rock & Roll Jihad

ROCK & ROLL JIHAD: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution (S&S UK; May 13th, 2010; £16.99) is the memoir of Salman Ahmad, born in then-liberal Pakistan in 1963, who immigrated to the United States in the 1970s where he attended school. Like many teenagers, he often felt alienated and alone, and found solace in music. Buying his first guitar at the age of 15, Ahmad joined a garage band in New York with friends, who included an Irish Catholic guitarist and a Jewish bass player.

In his early twenties Ahmad returned to a changed, newly fundamentalist Pakistan to study medicine. He then led an underground jihad of his own to spread rock music in the Islamic nation and spearheaded a national movement of clandestine rock & roll bands who played just outside the control of religious authorities. As his renown increased, Ahmad found himself the target of religious fundamentalists and corrupt politicians, but through his band Junoon, which was dedicated to helping Pakistan regain its progressive tradition, Ahmad also found broad appeal beyond the borders of Pakistan. Selling over 25 million albums worldwide and performing to sold-out crowds from Central Park to the Royal Albert Hall, Ahmad had become more than just a musician; he was now an ambassador for peace. And then came September 11, 2001.

As the world reeled from the terrorist attacks in America, Ahmad watched the long-simmering tensions between the West and the Islamic worlds explode into war. He knew he had to make a choice – and having seen the power of music to overcome fear, Ahmad realized his life’s true purpose was to use music to bring people from all faiths and cultures, serving as teacher and spokesman for universal values expressed through music. He now travels the world as a United nations Goodwill Ambassador, using music to create dialogue and tear away the chains of fear

and mistrust between the worlds of the Cross and the Crescent. ROCK & ROLL JIHAD highlights the incredible journey of a young boy from the streets of Lahore to a garage band in New York to the height of the world’s foremost institution dedicated to peace.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Salman Ahmad’s band, Junoon, is generally known as the U2 of the Muslim world. A medical doctor by training, Ahmad 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, and he currently teaches a course on Muslim music and poetry at the City University of New York’s Queens College campus. Ahmad spends his free time moving between Pakistan and Rockland County, New York, with his wife Samina and their three sons.