We at AMCD were saddened by the news of the passing of Tarek Fatah. The 73-year-old Pakistani-Canadian columnist passed away on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer.

“Fatah was a brave intellectual who was also very kind and good-hearted,” began AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar. “He wanted peace and sympathetic understanding between religions and nationalities. He was a very fine journalist who will be greatly missed.”

“His was a reasonable voice which sought to find a middle ground in a sharply divided polemics on the issue of Islam in the modern world,” said AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “He wanted to bring the emotional temperature down so that the many problems plaguing the Islamic world could be calmly and rationally discussed.”

“Tarek Fatah was a generous soul who was comfortable straddling worlds,” added Hossein Khorram, AMCD co-chair. “He made important contributions toward the goal of mutual understanding between the Hindu, Muslim and Christian worlds. At the same time, he was a cosmopolitan who didn’t really fit within any of them, but rather stood at a slight distance and thereby gained a wide perspective on each. We will miss his good humor and profound insights.”