Muslim rocker on his 'jihad' against extremists

Pakistani-born rock star Salman Ahmad says he is using music to fight the cultural battle against Muslim extremism. Currently in the UK, he has been speaking to the BBC's Caroline Hawley about his own personal "jihad".

His rock band have been described as South Asia's U2. They have sold about 30 million albums around the world.

And now the pony-tailed, Pakistani-born Muslim rocker Salman Ahmad is in the UK to sell his message of tolerance and non-violence to Muslim groups, and promote his autobiography, Rock & Roll Jihad.

Ahmad is fighting a cultural battle against those he calls "murderous thugs masquerading as holy men".

Extremists are reaching out to the same youth market that he is, he says. But Salman Ahmad believes that arts and culture can play an important role in combating extremism.

"Music has the power to bring people together," he insists. "And that's what the extremists don't want."

Ahmad, who trained as a doctor, formed his band, Junoon, in 1990 after giving up medicine for music - a passion since childhood.

At the age of 18, in President Zia ul-Haq's Pakistan, Salman Ahmad suffered the loss of his precious first guitar which was smashed by extremist students who had stormed into a secret talent show in which he was participating.

"After they'd broken my guitar, they threatened to shoot me if I ever played it again," he says. "I saw radicalisation first hand."
He vehemently rejects the hardline view that Islam forbids music.

"I am a practising Muslim and I've studied the Koran," he says, "and I believe my faith inspires my creativity - 1,400 years of Muslim culture has seen artists, singers, and beautiful love poetry."

Salman Ahmad, with his felt hat, necklace, and dark glasses, sees himself as a cultural bridge between East and West.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/sou...a/10138395.stm