Dr. Jasser on KTAR’s Jay Lawrence Show
/0 Comments/in Video/by M. Zuhdi JasserDr. Zuhdi Jasser joined The Jay Lawrence show to discuss the White House mistake with its Public Diplomacy Commission and the need for the United States to have a muscular diplomacy in the Middle East.
Dr. Jasser discusses recent Iranian assassination plot on Follow the Money
/0 Comments/in Video/by M. Zuhdi JasserDr. Jasser joins Eric Bolling to discuss the implications to American interests in the region of the recent Iranian assassination plot of the Saudi ambassador to the US.
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) calls out White House for handling of Jasser appointment to US Advisory Commiission on Public Diplomacy
/0 Comments/in AIFD Press Releases/by M. Zuhdi JasserGaddafi’s death clearly marks an opportunity for Libya to flourish
/0 Comments/in AIFD Press Releases/by M. Zuhdi JasserStatement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The United States needs a principled approach in supporting liberty-minded secular democracies in the fledgling governments of the new Middle-East
PHOENIX (October 21, 2011) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) issued the following statement regarding the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi:
“The American Islamic Forum for Democracy stands in solidarity with the people of Libya who are at last free from the oppressive and barbaric rule of Muammar Gaddafi and his family. It is exhilarating that another Arab fascist dictator has fallen and another country has the opportunity to chart its course to liberty and freedom. Gaddafi’s death will more clearly mark the end of this brutal era and allow the Libyan people to turn the page to the hard work of true societal transformation toward secular democracy.
In the long term I am hopeful for Libya as with the right help and influence from the west they can build institutions that will facilitate liberalism and the rule of law. But we should not be deluded into thinking that Gaddafi’s death automatically means an ally and free Libya. There is a lot of hard work to be accomplished. As we experienced in Iraq, in the short term there will be significant hurdles to overcome that will probably include an Islamist winter, sectarian violence (recent reports for example showed Sunni Islamists destroying graves and mosques of moderate spiritual Sufi sects in Libya), and some chaos as the only groups that were organized were radical Islamists that evolved in the Darwinian environment of Gaddafi for 42 years.
The Gaddafi thuggery is well entrenched and It remains to be seen in the next few months whether the corruption, violence, and oppression of the Gaddafi era is completely gone or whether elements of the military and society that defined Libya for decades will continue and resurface. This is the ultimate challenge in the Middle East transformations happening- Democracies can only be successful if they are founded by citizens that are moral and value human rights, equality, and the rule of law. It will take a while for Libya to get to that point – it certainly is not a light switch that that can simply be turned on.
The United States needs to adopt a principled position with regard to whom and what we will support in the transformations in the Middle East. Senator Lieberman’s position in the Wall St. Journal today regarding supporting the Islamist party Ennahdha in Tunisia is extremely concerning considering that Senator Lieberman is usually one of the more informed Senator’s on the issue. Even if Ennahdha is non-violent and modern in their treatment of women, an Islamist organization by definition is directly opposed to the ideals of liberty and freedom that America is supposed to represent and the Libyan people are endowed with by their creator. I agree with the Senator’s recommendations about Millennium Funds and small business stimuli and even with the concept of engaging Islamist organizations, but that engagement should be limited to the battle of ideas and should not be extended to supporting their involvement in government. Banning these organizations is counterproductive, but openly supporting a role for them in government opens the door to the Islamitization of these fledgling democracies.
The battle on the ground and the contest of ideas is not only non-violence vs. violence but it is western secular democracy vs. Islamism. Helping democracy touting Islamists is like helping non-violent communists or socialists in the cold war. We need leadership that will have the courage to limit our support to truly liberty-minded groups in the new Libya and across the Arab Spring.
In the short term (6mo-2 years) we may see Libya devolve into chaos with the dictator gone. But in the long term (5-20 years) I am hopeful with the right amount of “muscular liberalism” (using PM Cameron’s term) we can see a true secular democracy evolve. So-called Islamic democracies (i.e. Turkey) will never be real allies with the United States since their world is Islamocentric and supremacist no matter how “democratic” they appear. “
About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy
The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Gregg Edgar
Gordon C. James Public Relations
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Gaddafi’s death clearly marks an opportunity for Libya to flourish
/0 Comments/in Resources/by M. Zuhdi JasserThe United States needs a principled approach in supporting liberty-minded secular democracies in the fledgling governments of the new Middle-East
Dennis Miller’s go to Muslim Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
/0 Comments/in Video/by M. Zuhdi JasserDr. Zuhdi Jasser joined the Dennis Miller show to discuss the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki and the White House decision to remove his nomination from consideration for the President’s Public Diplomacy Commission.
Hajj Settlement is a Dangerous Precedent
/0 Comments/in AIFD Press Releases/by M. Zuhdi JasserStatement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Department of Justice should never have intervened in Safoorah Khan’s case against Berkeley, Ill School District
PHOENIX (October 19, 2011) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) issued the following statement regarding the settlement of U.S. vs. Board of Education, Berkeley School District 87, Cook County, Illinois:
“The decision announced on Thursday, October 13, 2011 of the Berkeley Board of Education to settle a lawsuit with the Department of Justice (DOJ) will have implications that reach far beyond the case of Safoorah Khan, a non-tenured computer math lab teacher who had worked for the district for just a little over one-year. In her suit Ms. Khan alleged that the district forced her to choose between her religion and her livelihood when it denied her request for three weeks of unpaid leave to perform Hajj in 2008. The board denied the request twice because it did not meet the requirements of the union contract which gave uniform standards for leave that applied to all employees.
While AIFD believes religious freedom is a cornerstone of American constitutional civil liberties the adjudication of the conflict between an arbitrary demand of an employee that cloaks themselves in religion and an employer who must treat all employees equally is a critical fault line in the battle between theocracy and secular society.
While I am sure the pressure on the board to settle was immense with DOJ’s involvement, it is lamentable because it creates a dangerous precedent by lowering the threshold of what merits action for civil rights abuse.
In Ms. Khan’s case the federal government has taken the wrong side. By championing Ms. Khan’s case which stepped outside of the contract that she and all other certified staff signed with the Berkeley School District, DOJ is essentially making Muslims a privileged class. The interpretation this case demands speaks contrary to the very principle of “ensuring that workplaces are free of bias,” that Jacqueline A. Berrien, Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claims to promote.
The DOJ and their choir of Islamist groups have deceptively positioned that Muslims like Ms. Khan “should not have to choose between their religious practice and their livelihood.” Contrarily, I believe that employers should not have to choose between the threat of intimidation from Islamists or the federal government and honoring the onerous and ultimately limitless demands of any single faith group or individual as a privileged class.
By forcing this settlement the DOJ is empowering an Islamist mindset that demands special consideration above all others which is unacceptable in a society where all are equal before the law.
Further the terms of the settlement are chilling in their Orwellian dictate that Berkeley provide mandatory training on religious accommodation to all board of education members, supervisors, managers, administrators and human resources officials who participate in decisions on religious accommodation requests made by its employees and prospective employees. It is incredulous to us that the Government is now entering into the business of teaching which versions of religion are politically correct and which ones are not.
Ms. Khan’s request was outside the scope of the Union Contract she signed. The Berkeley officials treated her as an equal to her peers and have now lost a civil rights case for that equal treatment. It seems completely contradictory to the intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which this case was filed under. With Ms. Khan, DOJ has essentially reconstituted a separate but equal status for American Muslims.”
About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy
The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.
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MEDIA CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar
Gordon C. James Public Relations
602-690-7977
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