Civilizational Unity · printable media sheet

Abdullah al-Ahsan

Historian of Civilizations

“Civilizations are born and progress when they recognize and practice human dignity, and they decline and fall when they stop.”

Wording supplied by Professor al-Ahsan for this website, August 2026.

Full press page

Verified record

Education

PhD in History, University of Michigan
MA in Islamic Studies, McGill University
MS in History, Quaid-i-Azam University

Academic appointments

International Islamic University Malaysia, 1990–2017; Professor and Deputy Dean at ISTAC; Professor of Comparative Civilization, Istanbul Şehir University, 2018–2020; additional visiting, research and teaching appointments listed in his CV.

Scholarship

Five books and more than fifty publications listed in his supplied CV, spanning civilizational history, human dignity, governance, the OIC, Muslim–Western relations, historical method, colonialism and contemporary international questions.

Affiliation

Fellow, Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism. His CV also lists membership in the World History Association and Association of Muslim Social Scientists.

Selected works

Useful entry points

  • Qur’anic Guidance for Good Governance: A Contemporary Perspective, co-edited with Stephen B. Young, Palgrave, 2017
  • Ummah or Nation: Identity Crisis in Contemporary Muslim Society, 1992
  • “Law, Religion and Human Dignity in the Muslim World Today,” Journal of Law and Religion 24:2
  • “The Clash of Civilizations Thesis and Muslims: The Search for an Alternative Paradigm,” Islamic Studies 48:2
  • “Problems of Eurocentric Views of History,” Al-Shajarah 18:1
  • “Israel’s Gaza War: A Symbol of Collapsing Civilization,” in Genocide in Gaza: Voices of Global Conscience, 2025

This is deliberately selective. The Writing page provides a larger source-linked record.

For attribution

Short bio

Abdullah al-Ahsan is a historian of civilizations. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Michigan, held academic teaching and research appointments in Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan and the United States, is the author or editor of five books, and is a Fellow of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism.

Contact & verification

Use the source trail

For interviews, speaking or institutional requests, use the contact form. For biographical verification and authority identifiers, use the press page. For editorial provenance and accessibility standards, see About.

Editorial standard: this sheet is maintained by Civilizational Unity from Professor al-Ahsan’s supplied CV, his requested site wording, and linked records. It is not itself a scholarly publication by Professor al-Ahsan.