Salman Ahmad

Salman Ahmad

Founder, Junoon

"On Faith" panelist and rock musician Salman Ahmad founded the popular South Asian band Junoon. The group has sold over 25 million albums and in 2001 became the first rock band invited to perform at the U.N. General Assembly. Ahmad also was appointed U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. He personalized the "I Care, Do You?" U.N. poster campaign in Pakistan by taking the well-known verse of the Koran about reverence for human life and paraphrasing it to say: "Saving one life (from AIDS) is like saving the whole of humanity." Born in Pakistan , Ahmad grew up in New York . He obtained his medical degree from Pakistan 's King Edward Medical college in Lahore . He helped form Pakistan 's first pop band, Vital Signs , whose debut album sold a million copies. Ahmad decided to give up his stethoscope and pick up his guitar, and after leaving Vital Signs in 1990 he founded Junoon. Recently Ahmad appeared in two documentary films: It's My Country Too , about Muslim-Americans, and Rockstar and the Mullahs . Both were broadcast worldwide on PBS and the BBC. A passionate activist in promoting peace between India and Pakistan , Ahmad made a song/video Ghoom Tana . It is on his latest solo album INFINITI. Close.

Salman Ahmad

Founder, Junoon

"On Faith" panelist and rock musician Salman Ahmad founded the popular South Asian band Junoon. The group has sold over 25 million albums and in 2001 became the first rock band invited to perform at the U.N. General Assembly. more »

Main Page | Salman Ahmad Archives | On Faith Archives


August 2007 Archives



August 15, 2007 7:04 AM

"O Mankind, God Created You . . ."

As a musician I've always been fascinated by the creative process and how it relates to music, God and the Universe. Innate talent, hard work and intuition seem to guide this magical, mysterious and musical manifestation of our thoughts and feelings.

John Lennon made the observation after writing his magnum opus "Imagine" that he felt like a channel through which the Universe was filtering its thoughts. Other artists, writers and poets from all belief and unbelief systems have also been humbled into similar confessions.

As a Muslim I can relate to that because Islam gives mankind the title of 'Ashraf-ul-makhlooqat' (The greatest of God's creation). The Qur'an insists on the Unity of a humanity derived from a single Creator expressed through the culturally diverse expressions of human societies engaged in similar attempts at actualizing their divine gifts.

A couple of sayings and quotes that stay with me when I'm on tour and home:

"When you follow your own personal legend the entire universe conspires to make you succeed ' --Paulo Coehlo

"When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, the World Will Know Peace" -- Jimi Hendrix

"O Mankind, God created you into nations and tribes so that you may get to know each other" -- Holy Qur'an

Posted by Salman Ahmad | | Comments (992)


« July 2007 |

Top Local Global

What Islam Really Says About Violence, Rights and Other Religions

Gomaa, Fadlallah, Mubarak, Khan, Siddiqi, Ellison, others | On Faith

On Faith is an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is PostGlobal, a conversation on international affairs. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for On Faith to editor and producer David Waters.