Children of Abraham at War: The Clash of Messianic Militarisms

Born in 1951, Talmiz Ahmad obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in History from the University of Pune. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During the last 30 years, he has acquired a special interest in the countries of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, having been posted early in his career in Kuwait, Baghdad and Sana'a, and later as Consul General in Jeddah. He has also been posted at the Indian Consulate General in New York (1984-87); as Minister (Press and Information) in the Indian High Commission in London (1991-94), and as Deputy High Commissioner in Pretoria, South Africa (1994-97). After having been the Official Spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs in 1997, Ahmad served as Joint Secretary (Gulf/Haj) in the Ministry of External Affairs between 1998-2000. He was appointed the Ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia in 2000, and served there for three and a half years, after which he became the Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman in July 2003. He returned to the Ministry of External Affairs as Additional Secretary in October 2004. In April 2005, he joined the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Additional Secretary responsible for International cooperation. Talmiz Ahmad has a special interest in Islamic affairs and the politics of West Asia. His paper on political Islam, titled: The Cry from the Heart of the Believer, was published in the South African Journal of International Affairs in June 1997. He has published a monograph titled: An Introduction to Contemporary Islamic Groups and Movements in India. He regularly lectures on political developments in the Middle East and on energy issues, and reviews books on foreign affairs in the Indian press.