Daily Times July 29, 2021 Where can we find “unity in diversity?” This question is on the minds of many in today’s tumultuous network of political, cultural, and religious rivalries, which made the recent lecture all the more essential. On the evening of July 8 in Washington, D.C., the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) at arguably China’s premier University, Tsinghua University, Beijing, hosted a lecture given by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed. The event was organised by the distinguished Professor Tingyi Wang, a faculty member. Ahmed was introduced by Dr Louis Goodman, the Dean Emeritus of American University’s School of International Service (SIS), who called him “one of the world’s preeminent scholars on Islam.” Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at SIS, the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, and a decorated author, anthropologist, filmmaker, and prominent advocate for religious understanding. The presentation was inspired by his most recent book, The Flying Man, Aristotle, and the Philosophers of the Golden Age of Islam: Their Relevance Today.