Ideological battles are waged from unlikely turfs. From the hallowed confines of religion, from the parochial precincts of orthodoxy, the clinical quarters of academia, the rational recesses of mind. Akbar S. Ahmed doesn’t come across as a warrior, but he’s on a crusade. Mostly, he is an anthropologist, a scholar trying to decode Islam for the world.

Cut to the core and he’s a Pakistani, born in India, based in America, trying to promote dialogue among warring faiths. A moderate Muslim — a rare phenomenon, by his own admission — he is countering a philosophy that has pitted Islam against the religions of the world.

‘‘Muslims are themselves to blame’’, he says of an Islam sheathed in conservatism, that bristles when its Prophet is mocked. ‘‘Muslim leaders don’t want to read, don’t want to apply their minds, let in fresh ideas. They just want to cling to power.’’ Given his undiluted opinion, is it a wonder these leaders accuse him of “betraying Islam” and issue threats against him?

Ahmed is undeterred. With a shuffling gait that betrays his 63 years but belies his tenacity, he has stuck to his mission. ‘‘I’m here’’, he says of his recent visit to India, part of a four-nation tour that includes Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, ‘‘because three places in India are very important in understanding contemporary Islam. Deoband, which has an extreme, exclusivist approach; Aligarh, which is inclusivist with a mix of West and Islam, and Ajmer, which represents a genuine South Asian model of synthesis.’’

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