Happy Fourth of July from AIFD

This Fourth of July, AIFD wishes you and yours a happy, safe, and powerful day in celebration of our great nation.

It is only because of the sacrifices of those great patriots – our founding fathers and mothers, who came to America in search of a new freedom – that we have the liberty to speak, think, believe and live as openly and as honestly as we do today. Ever since then, those freedoms have been protected by patriots both on and off the battlefield, to whom we owe our most sacred gratitude.

As the enemies of this freedom show themselves in obvious ways: ISIS rages on, calling vulnerable Americans to join them; and while peddlers of hate continue their attempts to divide our great nation, we are rightly inspired to act. Yet we must also remain vigilant in the face of seemingly benevolent actors, whose efforts also compromise our movement against Islamism – and even more so because many remain blind to their true intentions.

Take this tweet, from none other than Bill Gates: he declares the “philanthropic” efforts of Saudi’s Prince Waleed  bin Talal “an admirable milestone.” Does Gates really believe that a man whose wealth is a result of his membership in the House of Saud – which imprisons and tortures dissidents, oppresses women and exported the very ideology behind the 9/11 attacks is capable of “admirable” efforts against the very essence of who he is?

Unfortunately, Bill Gates is not alone in his naivete (or worse). Supposedly well-meaning individuals are blinded to the ways that the likes of Waleed bin-Talal spend their extraordinary wealth – on foundations, for example, that fuel Islamist apologia and damage real reformist efforts like ours. “Benevolent Islamists” like Waleed bin-Talal continue to be the bankrollers of radical Islam’s growth over the past half century.

As we liberty-minded Muslims take this month of Ramadan, and this Fourth of July, to reflect on how to better serve our country and humanity, Bill Gates’s celebration the Saudi regime is a slap in the face.

If Prince Waleed bin-Talal really wanted to serve humanity, he would counter the establishment in his own country, demonstrating moral courage and sincere dedication to reform.

At AIFD, our Muslim Liberty Project inoculates American Muslim youth against the “charm offensive” of nonviolent Islamism. Our youth believe first and foremost in American values, and in the protection of them against malignancies like ISIS and Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism.

Last weekend, Dr. Jasser spoke to Uma Pemmaraji of Fox News about the wave of attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia. The attacks, carried out by Islamist radicals possibly connected to ISIS, have marred another Ramadan with bloodshed. To watch this video, please click here.

While these attacks mark the bloodiest form of Islamism, they are supported by those individuals who see our faith of Islam not as “God-centered,” but “ego-supremacist” – and this form of Islamism is part of what empowers both the theocracy of Saudi Arabia and the viciousness of ISIS.

This Fourth of July, we at AIFD continue to dedicate ourselves to the fight against Islamism in all its forms, and hope you will join us in those efforts. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter; and for those who are able, please make a tax-deductible contribution today by following this link.

 

07/26/2015 Russia Should Embrace Its Religious Diversity (Op-Ed)

Source: The Moscow Times

How will Europe’s human rights court respond to a government that treats a pacifist religious group as a dangerous extremist cell? The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will answer that question this summer when it rules on whether Russia’s prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses under its extremism law criminalizes freedom of religion or belief.

A ruling against the Kremlin could be a landmark decision for Russia, affecting not only Jehovah’s Witnesses. From Muslims to dissenting members of the Moscow Patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church (MPROC), other Russians are also caught in the wide net cast by this overly broad law.

Under the extremism law, religious material is banned throughout Russia once a higher court upholds a lower court ruling that it is “extremist.” Convicted individuals face up to four years in prison. As of this June, Russia’s list of banned materials reached 2,859 items, having started in 2007 with 15 items.

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