The Great Coverup: The Murder of Mahsa Amini

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To our friends at MRM and AIFD:

You are invited to join Dr. Jasser who will be moderating a conversation webinar,
tomorrow Wednesday, October 5, 2022, from 3:30 pm ET to 4:30 pm ET.

The Great Coverup: The Murder of Mahsa Amini

Webinar link
no registration required
Passcode: 869841
Join leaders from the Muslim Reform Movement for a webinar conversation you will not find anywhere else.

Zuhdi Jasser moderates a conversation with heroes of the women’s rights movement around the world from inside and outside the House of Islam. The men with beards are finally on their heels in Iran.

Listen to what leaders of the Muslim Reform Movement, Asra Nomani, Raheel Raza, and Soraya Deen, joined by special guest Saghar Erica Kasraie have to say about this amazing time in history in Iran and across the “Muslim world”!

 

M. Zuhdi Jasser is president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix and the co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement. He is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and former Vice-Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is the author of the book, “A Battle for the Soul of Islam.”

 

 

Asra Nomani is an American author and former Georgetown University professor. She is also a co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement. She is co-director of the Pearl Project and the author of “Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam”.

 

 

Raheel Raza is President of The Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, founding member of The Muslim Reform Movement, Director of Forum for Learning, award-winning journalist, public speaker, and advocate for human rights, gender equality, and dignity in diversity

 

 

Soraya M. Deen is a Lawyer and an award-winning international activist, and a community organizer. She is the founder of the Muslim Women speakers movement.

 

 

Saghar Erica Kasraie is the Executive Director of LIVING WATER Productions. Fluent in both English and Farsi, she is an Iran-born American and Middle East expert, human rights activist, and voice for vulnerable religious minorities, especially women and children.

 

 

 

Additional options to join:
Or One tap mobile : US: +16694449171,,82461828858#,,,,*869841# or +17193594580,,82461828858#,,,,*869841#

About MRM
The Muslim Reform Movement is a dedicated coalition of diverse western Muslim leaders founded in December 4, 2015. The MRM focuses on opposing a very real interpretation of Islam that espouses violence, social injustice, and political Islam.

About AIFD
The American Islamic Forum for Democracy is a non-profit organization based in Phoenix, Ariz. dedicated to providing an American Muslim voice advocating genuine Muslim reform against Islamism and the ideologies which fuel global Muslim radicalization. AIFD’s mission is to advocate for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty, and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. In December 2015, AIFD convened and helped launch the Muslim Reform Movement, a coalition of over 12 Muslim organizations and leaders dedicated to reform for values of peace, human rights, and secular governance.

December 21, 2021 “Combating International Islamophobia Act

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ZUHDI JASSER
AMERICAN ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s “Combating International Islamophobia Act,” a first of its kind, recently passed the House of Representatives (219-212) in a strict party-line vote.

Established as a hysterical response to Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s no doubt rude and ill-advised “Jihad squad” remark, the bill dangerously calls for the establishment of, wait for it, an “Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia” in the Department of State. Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has now introduced the companion bill in the Senate.

While some critics believe this legislation is pure theatrics and won’t even be brought up for a vote, others surmise that senators will make changes before sending it back to the House, making it very possible that anti-blasphemy will now be codified into American law. This is not hyperbole.

The freest nation on earth is now unbelievably on the verge of creating a position in our State Department charged not with protecting inalienable human rights, but with protecting a faith ideology. This will be celebrated by our theocratic Islamist enemies across the world. The U.S. government will have a sanctioned “American Grand Mufti” who will determine what is, and what is not, Islam. Every American Muslim, especially anti-Islamist (anti-theocratic) Muslims, will be marginalized by the new US government arbiter on Islam.

To grasp how dangerous this bill is, it’s important to understand the origins and history of the term “Islamophobia.” It was operationalized by Islamist movements in the West, like the Muslim Brotherhood, in the late 20th century in order to silence western debate where Muslims are a minority, and prevent ideological diversity within emerging institutions of Islam. It was popularized by the ruthless theocrat Ayatollah Khomeini and his movement in 1989, when he issued a fatwa that imposed the death penalty on British author Salman Rushdie for his famous dissident novel “The Satanic Verses.” The term was then also repurposed internally within most Muslim majority countries under the “neo-caliphate” umbrella of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) where autocratic regimes would extinguish domestic dissent through torture, imprisonment, or death, under the guise of protecting God and His faith of Islam. In other words, it is a term that is used to jail critics of shariah tyranny and call them blasphemers.

Back here in the west, the charge of “Islamophobia” is wielded against anyone who criticizes the religion or its Islamists and Jihadists counterparts. As a result, the crimes of Islamist terrorists and their sponsors are whitewashed and obfuscated around the world in favor of political correctness. Pause. Reflect on what such an outpost in our Department of State will be serving?

Do not forget that the radicalized American Left is now pushing this theocratization of American Muslim identity. The Democratic Party just spent the last few years ripping America apart via the racialization of our nation and the foundations of our American principles. With this new Act, they are taking the weaponization of the label of “bigot” globally and handing it to Islamists to use with the full blessing of the American imprimatur. This is exactly what the global Red-green (Progressivist-Islamist) Axis does and has been doing at the United Nations for 80 years.

Never mind that Muslims like myself, who stand up against Islamist religious extremism, and who criticize imposition of shariah law and the abysmal treatment of women, gays and minorities in Islamist countries, are consistently and bizarrely also branded “Islamophobes” for doing so. On the contrary, we are the greatest defenders of genuine Muslim and non-Muslim rights. We at the pro-liberty, anti-Islamist Muslim Reform Movement are doing the actual work fighting anti-Muslim bigotry. This Orwellian office at the StateDepartment would only empower a look at the world through the binary Islamist lens of “Muslim and non-Muslim.”

We reformers constantly speak out against the atrocities committed throughout the world by Muslims against Muslims. So what will Congress do now, having passed this bill, when it confronts the uncomfortable fact that the vast majority of global attacks on Muslims are clearly committed by other Muslims?

The space that Omar’s bill creates for the suppression of countervailing ideas of liberalism is striking upon reading it. Its language reads like an OIC state manual, and even the statistics that are used to cite anti-Muslim bigotry in the bill’s press release are highly misleading, including referencing websites that have been thoroughly debunked as containing fraudulent data.

Not only did those who wrote it fail to consult with the State Department, but they do not even define what would apparently constitute “Islamophobia,” leaving open the possibility of reproval for anyone who says something negatively associated with Islam. Of even more concern is the repeated dangerous references to “incitement” language, which is code for an Orwellian control of free speech and protection of any “ideas” within “Islam” no matter how theocratic or repulsive they may be. Americans have already seen how this weapon is deployed by the “Establishment” against conservative thought. Now it is being weaponized globally on behalf of the “Islamist Establishment.”

This “anti-Islamophobia” position in the State Department will become a massive liability for our foreign policy. It will fulfill no other purpose than attacking western democratic nations (and of course Israel), while leaving millions of Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others to continue suffering at the hands of their tyrannical regimes. In other words, the supreme danger of this legislation is that it will give Islamists and Jihadists a free pass to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing against their fellow Muslims because it doesn’t fall under the purview of the Office of the American “Grand Mufti” of Islamophobia.

And given the foreign policy views of those who support this legislation, it will surely put the U.S. government in a position to withdraw protections granted by the First Amendment, as it will be increasingly difficult to draw attention to real human rights abuses by jihadists or Islamists without fear.

It is unthinkable that congress has come to this. Real anti-Muslim bigotry exists. But “Islamophobia” is a manufactured virtue signal that allows one to appear on the right side of social justice. This new and un-American position at State is named and founded on the racialization of an ideology, a faith — Islam. A party, the Democratic Party, that has repeatedly exaggerated the label of “bigotry” in order to suppress critical thinking now has the temerity to create a perch within our foreign policy apparatus that will weaponize the same Orwellian racialization of the faith of Islam that Islamist tyrannies do across the planet.

History will show that the Democratic Party of the 21st century has become the platform of Islamists, for Islamists.

Zuhdi Jasser is the founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, based in Phoenix, Arizona, and the co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement. He is also a senior fellow for the Center for Security Policy and a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander. He is a former Vice-Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and author of the book, A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith. He is also a physician in private practice. Find him on Twitter: @DrZuhdiJasser.

December 1, 2021: Press Release – Muslim Reform Movement Opposes the Biden Administration’s Appointment of Rashad Hussain to Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom

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PRESS RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Media Contact:

Mischel Yosick
Muslim Reform Movement
480 225 7473
mischel@zliberty.com

 

December 1, 2021

Muslim Reform Movement Opposes the Biden Administration’s Appointment of Rashad Hussain to Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom

PHOENIX, Ariz. –  The Muslim Reform Movement, representing a global network of Muslims from the United States to Afghanistan, opposes the Biden administration’s appointment of Rashad Hussain to the position of U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, arguing that Mr. Hussain’s years of support for Islamist theocracies and autocracies rooted in Islamism, or political Islam, sends a dangerous message to Muslims around the world who oppose the hateful, divisive and bigoted ideology of Islamist governments and organizations.

The Muslim Reform Movement has long valued the importance of the U.S. State Department’s focus on international religious freedom across its diplomatic portfolios. As a diverse international coalition of Muslim reformers dedicated to defeating political Islam, many of us have long and very productive relationships with members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

The position of Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom is especially important since the person sets the agenda for religious freedom advocacy globally for the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. State Department.

The Muslim Reform Movement is concerned about President Biden’s appointment of Rashad Hussain to the post of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. While we certainly, as a Muslim coalition, welcome the appointment of a Muslim to the position, such an appointment, especially if a Muslim, should be filled by an individual with established credibility in fighting vigorously for the freedom of each and every individual persecuted for their faith beliefs by regimes across the planet. While Mr. Hussain may have given lip service, in his previous positions as “Special Envoy” from the U.S. to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in supposedly trying to protect the rights of non-Muslim minorities in the Muslim majority autocracies and theocracies that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, his painful silence about the dangers embodied in Islamist movements, Islamist governance and their theocratic instruments of shariah, or Islamic law, underscores why he is not a sensible choice for this position.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a cofounder ot the Muslim Reform Movement, said, “I served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom USCIRF for four years from 2012 to 2016, and American Muslim organizations that serve as legacy groups for the Muslim Brotherhood are celebrating. They vociferously protested my appointment and now strongly support Rashad Hussain’s appointment as Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom, just as they cheered his work as ‘Special Envoy’ to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He paved the way for the inroad of Islamist groups, governments, and radicals to the United States, in his position as Organization of Islamic Cooperation Envoy and Observer for the United States under the Obama administration. There, he failed to be a voice for Muslims fighting the Islamist establishment, its ideology, and its crimes against Muslim dissidents across the world.”

As Muslims, we are dedicated to countering the idea of political Islam and its theocratic instruments that permeate the Islamist establishment globally. Mr. Hussain has been revealingly silent about the persecution of Muslim dissidents, including feminists, writers, poets, and artists, in Muslim majority nations where they face persecution, harassment, imprisonment, and even death. Mr. Hussain would have had to express the dangers of an Islamic theocracy and its shariah state, and to date he has failed to do so, instead pandering to those nations as “Special Envoy” from the U.S. to the OIC.

Asra Nomani, a cofounder of the Muslim Reform Movement, said, “With the rise of Rashad Hussain within his administration, President Biden is sending a dangerous and troubling message to the brave Muslim men and women around the world who are defenders of human rights for the LGBTQ+ community, women, artists, dissidents and others. Mr. Hussain has protected and advanced the illiberal values of Islamic theocracies that perpetuate a disturbing and hateful ideology of Muslim supremacy, male supremacy, privilege, racism and misogyny, denying most of the citizens of its societies fundamental human rights, equality, and dignity.”

The Muslim Reform Movement is concerned that a Muslim placed in this post as an Islamist apologist for theocracies will send a troubling message to Islamist states, governments, and movements across the world, from Pakistan to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami, to name just a few threats to America’s values of secularism and human and women’s rights. 

The U.S. will send a message to Muslims around the world that the United States supports global Islamist movements, not the individual human rights of Muslims in Muslim-majority countries. 

Raheel Raza, a cofounder of the Muslim Reform Movement, said, “Certainly, if President Biden is seeking to appoint a Muslim to this position, he can find a Muslim who has established a coherent track record against the ideologies of Muslim supremacy, ‘Islamic Republics’ and their state-sponsored terrorism against even Muslims who dare to challenge their tyranny. Mr. Hussain had many opportunities during his previous positions to reveal his positions against the global threat of Islamism and not only did he not do so, but he in fact also often gave lip service to Islamist groups and ideologies that our Muslim Reform Movement knows are the root cause of Muslim radicalization against Western secular liberalism.” 

This appointment will undermine the United States’ national security and further the agenda of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, its radicalization of Muslims and its support for Islamist anti-West establishments.

As Muslims who love our faith and our country, we at the Muslim Reform Movement would like to call attention to the fact, particularly, as Muslims are appointed to positions often because of their faith and beliefs, it is incumbent upon them to be leading the advocacy of freedom and liberty for all, not just Islamists. 

Also, as leaders, they must have demonstrated a track record against the theocratic ideology of Islamism as they work to advance the ideas of secular liberal democracy from which our U.S. constitutional system is derived. To put in place an Islamist sympathizer and apologist, like Rashad Hussain, who simply checks the box of Muslim diversity for the Biden administration is frankly offensive to Muslim dissidents and non-Muslims across the world, and it compromises our security.

We must appoint to U.S. leadership Muslims who affirm the values of secular governance and human rights for all members of a society, regardless of gender, sexuality or other identity markers.

Zuhdi Jasser – President & Founder, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Phoenix, Arizona
Asra Nomani – Journalist & Communications Consultant, Washington, DC
Raheel Raza – President, Muslims Facing Tomorrow, Toronto, Canada

 

ABOUT THE MUSLIM REFORM MOVEMENT

In December 2015, a number of reform-minded American Muslim organizations convened and launched the Muslim Reform Movement, a diverse coalition of over 15 Muslim organizations and leaders dedicated to reform for values of peace, human rights and secular governance. While each has their own Muslim organizations, work, and advocacy, together they form a diverse coalition defined by the values enshrined in their founding “Declaration of the Muslim Reform Movement” (See full document here). The founders are listed here.   

Find the coalition on social media at:
#MuslimReform
Twitter: @TheMuslimReform
Instagram: @TheMuslimReform
Facebook: Muslim Reform Movement

 

9/27/20 – AIFD Wishes the Jewish Community “L’Shana Tova!” and a Blessed Yom Kippur

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From all of us at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy,

L’Shana Tova to all of our Jewish friends and supporters – Happy New Year and a blessed Yom Kippur! We wish you “Good Yontif”.

We know that in this time of reflection and atonement for the Jewish community tomorrow we are all thankful for the strength of faith which unites us in our diversity and also for this great nation which provides us religious liberty.

Please know that all of us at AIFD will remain diligent at working for a more peaceful, just and humane world. In these times more than ever, we are reminded of the strength of prayer and unity under a spirit of national cohesion that gives us all strength as a nation and as individuals.

May your New Year and Yom Kippur be fulfilling, and may it bring in joy and hope.

 

Yours forever in liberty,

 

Team AIFD

August 24, 2020: AIFD joins the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy in Praising Trump Administration’s Historic Peace Deal between Israel and the UAE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 2020

Media Contact:
Mischel Yosick
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
480 225 7473
mischel@zliberty.com

“This deal is historic on many levels”.

M. Zuhdi Jasser, President, AIFD

Phoenix, AZ: Today M. Zuhdi Jasser and the American Islamic Forum for Democracy joins the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy in Praising Trump Administration’s Historic Peace Deal between Israel and the UAE.

Read the full story here.

The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy unequivocally supports President Trump’s bold and historic peace initiative to normalize relations between our two allies in the Middle East, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Though our advisor, Dr. Walid Phares, was not standing behind the President when the deal was announced, he played a critical role in the development of its concept with the major actors going back to December 2015, when he and then-candidate Trump discussed the possibility of creating an Arab coalition to counter Iran along with Israel. In September, 2016, Dr. Phares then met with UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and then in November of that year, he met with the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Later, he met with American Jewish leaders and Israeli scholars, as well as advisors to the Palestinian Authority visiting Washington. Always, Dr. Phares endeavored to advance the vision that he and President Trump developed back in 2015.

“This agreement is destined to change the history of the Middle East,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “After Obama signed that disastrous Iran deal, which betrayed all of our long-time allies in the region, it took some time to re-build the trust and confidence of the moderate Sunni states.”

“Now that the UAE has come to the table, others will follow,” continued AMCD co-chair John Hajjar. “A new strategic set of alliances in the Middle East will create the necessary peace and stability so that the people of the Middle East can begin to thrive and prosper. They have had enough of the death and destruction that radicalism brings. Young people are looking for a new direction. The people of the region are way ahead of their regimes and are ready for peace with Israel and a rejection of sectarianism. The UAE-Israel pact, although extremely important and historic, merely reflects this reality. Our communities will reflect this fact when we show our support at the signing ceremony in DC.”

“This deal is historic on many levels,” declared Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, President and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. “You know it’s real when the imams inside the UAE are now giving sermons about the need for Arab and Muslim friendship with the Jewish community and with the state of Israel. Without that deep ideological shift and reform, similar deals would be meaningless. Mark today in history as a time when a tectonic shift happened in Arab-Israeli relations. Many with political agendas will try to minimize the relationship, yet other Arab states including Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, and even Saudi Arabia may be next. Naysayers need to be asked one question: If this is not a big deal, why has it not happened in the past? The fact that the Arab world’s greatest radicalizing influence on Muslims, the Islamist political movements from the Muslim Brotherhood, to Erdogan’s AKP to the Jama’at in Pakistan are upset speaks volumes to the long lasting impact of this deal.”

“The death-dealing Iranian regime has been trying to export the revolution all over the Middle East by supporting radical Islamists of all stripes,” added AMCD vice-chair Hossein Khorram. “They want to dominate the Middle East and to do that, they sew chaos and destruction at every opportunity. A stable coalition of moderate Arab states will eventually force them to become another nation among nations.”

“The people of Iran are seeking peace and prosperity,” said Sheikh Mohammad Al Hajj Hassan, who leads the Free Shia Movement and is chairman of the American Muslim Coalition. “They are furious that the Mullahs support terrorism to the tune of some $16 billion a year. This is money taken directly from the people of Iran where it is needed most. The people don’t want their money going to Hezbollah and Hamas, especially when the country is hurting so much economically.”

“The deal with the UAE is a step in a broader process of Arab political recognition of Israel’s strategic, technological, and economic importance in the Persian Gulf zone, and across the Middle East,” added Dr. Mordechai Nisan of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Israel is rising to new heights in the historic saga of the re-constituted Jewish state.”

AMCD is planning to hold a demonstration to support peace in the Middle East in Washington DC when the UAE’s Crown Prince comes to the White House to sign this historic agreement sometime in September.

WASHINGTON, DC, USA
August 24, 2020
EINPresswire.com
Rebecca Bynum
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy
+1 615-775-6801

January 3, 2020: AIFD applauds the U.S. operation to terminate General Qasim Soleimani

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 3, 2020

Media Contact: Mischel Yosick American Islamic Forum for Democracy 480 225 7473 mischel@zliberty.com

January 3, 2020: AIFD applauds the U.S. operation to terminate General Qasim Soleimani

“The death of Qasim Soleimani and possibly also his lead militia generals is a victory for freedom and the future of the people of Iraq, Iran and Syria”.

M. Zuhdi Jasser, President, AIFD

Phoenix, AZ: Today M. Zuhdi Jasser and the American Islamic Forum for Democracy hailed the death of Qasim Soleimani, and possibly also his lead militia generals, as a victory for freedom. Especially for the people of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and for all people of conscience on the planet who have sought safety from his reign of terror over the last many decades. The Trump administration should be lauded for its clarity and courage to respond to the belligerence of the radical Islamists of Iran who have sought to not only oppress the people of Iran but destroy the democracy of Iraq and continue Assad’s genocide in Syria. Today, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD President, stated,

“Even more so than AlBaghdadi of ISIS, Soleimani represented a state sponsored, heavily funded and protected network of terror in the region led by his Qods forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and beyond, with a treasury from Iran that dwarfed the threat of ISIS or even Osama bin Laden.“

Make no mistake about it. Even beyond the threat to our soldiers, General Soleimani and his henchmen have been the death knell for nascent democracies in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and across the Middle East. With the endless blood on his hands he crushed the hopes of freedom for the Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese people. His broader impact against all Muslims and non-Muslims in the region who wanted to be free cannot be overstated. His persona as a threat to those who pushed back against Iran’s theocrats should never be underestimated. It is a profound blessing that he is gone. AIFD supported the designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2019 by the Trump administration. Dr. Jasser further added,

“All the partisan hackery today about an Authorized Use of Military Force (AUMF) is nonsense and puts Americans at risk. No AUMF was necessary for Osama bin Laden, Awlaki, or AlBaghdadi. Our commander-in-chief must protect our homeland from heads of designated terror organizations. Today thanks to the strength of our operations against General Soleimani and his generals, America and the world is safer and Iran will think twice before exploiting the previous administration’s blind eye to their terror”.

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November 21, 2019: Press Release – Arizona Muslim Alliance brings to the Valley radical Islamist Imam Siraj Wahhaj

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2019

 

Media Contact:
Mischel Yosick
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
480 225 7473
mischel@zliberty.com

 

AIFD calls on Arizonans and especially our Muslim communities to speak out against Siraj Wahhaj, a well-known notorious radical Islamist anti-American cleric whose dossier of Islamist and separatist ideologies is legendary in the United States. 

 

Phoenix, AZ: This weekend the upstart new coalition of selected mosque leadership in Maricopa county who basically represent the Islamist “establishment” in town, calling themselves the Arizona Muslim Alliance (AMA), are having their first annual “Celebrate Unity Leadership Summit” to be held at the Islamic Center of the Northeast Valley in Scottsdale, Az., on Saturday, November 23, 2019. Our American Islamic Forum For Democracy, based here in Phoenix, Az. for over 15 years, was horrified to learn this week that the prominent speaker this leadership coalition had selected to teach our communities is the notoriously radical Siraj Wahhaj, who is the Imam of the Al-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, New York.

 

AIFD calls on Arizonans and especially our Muslim communities to speak out against Siraj Wahhaj, a well-known notorious radical Islamist anti-American cleric whose dossier of Islamist and separatist ideologies is legendary in the United States.

 

The fact that this local upstart “coalition” of mosques, the Arizona Muslim Alliance, is sponsoring Wahhaj and using his problematic background and Islamist lens as their first impression to their followers at their mosques and Islamic institutions in the Valley is very revealing, consequential and should be concerning as to the ideological underpinnings of various mosque leaderships involved in this so called “unity organization” of many of the mosques in the valley.

 

AIFD has compiled a report detailing the radical commentary, speeches and associations which Imam Wahhaj has with a number of individuals convicted of terrorism. Some of Wahhaj’s known associates include Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman responsible for the 1993 WTC bombing, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, with the defunct American Muslim Council, now serving 25 years in prison for terror financing and working with Al-Qaida and the Libyan government to assassinate the King of Saudi Arabia, as well as his son, Siraj Wahhaj Jr., recently arrested in 2018 for leading a radical Islamist terror cell in New Mexico which was planning to attack a school and a hospital using small children.

 

AIFD has been exposing Wahhaj’s comments since our founder and president, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser was first confronted with Wahhaj’s separatism at the Islamic Society of North America in his keynote speech in 1995 as detailed in Dr. Jasser’s book , “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save his Faith” (see excerpts here). Dr. Jasser had the following to say about Wahhaj’s visit to the Valley:

 

Wahhaj is an Islamist imam with an extensive history of separatism and anti-American, anti-Semitic vitriol. This imam has a long track record of vilifying America, it’s society its citizens and culture. Our report includes a smattering of many of the radical comments he’s made and while the Arizona Muslim Alliance claims to be a “diverse organization” they all seem to be monolithically Islamist having agreed to bring one of the most notoriously radical imams in the United States to their first event. When all is said and done, the AMA leadership selected this leader to represent them and to teach their population here locally while they claim to be a diverse organization. The reasons should be now obvious to all reasonable Americans why truly moderate, pro-American, reformist Muslim organizations like the American Islamic Forum For Democracy and other leaders locally, are not part of this Arizona Muslim Alliance and will likely not only never be a member but will continue to confront and openly expose their Islamic separatism which they pedal under the rubric of pan-Islamic unity.

 

 This Arizona Muslim Alliance is already proving themselves to be just another Muslim Brotherhood legacy establishment group with a penchant to amplify the voices of anti-American separatism and radicalism of leading Islamist icons like Siraj Wahhaj.

 

We call on local leaders to review our report on our website, here, and publicly express concern that many of the leaders and organizations used for interfaith activities for our local Muslim activities associate with and allow their followers to be radicalized by individuals like Imam Siraj Wahhaj.

###

 

Eid Mubarak! — AIFD wishes all of our friends a Blessed Holiday of the Feast ( Eid Mubarak) on Eid Al-Fitr, June 4, 2019

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To our Muslim friends and supporters:

As the month of fasting, reflection and atonement of Ramadan ends tonight at sundown, we at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy would like to wish Muslims around the world “Eid Mubarak”(a blessed holiday) as tonight and tomorrow, we celebrate Eid al-Fitr, (the holiday of the feast) the celebration marking the close of Ramadan.

We hope that this month has allowed each of us to discover a renewed sense of spiritual solace. A time where we rededicated our ourselves to our families, our purpose, our humanity, our faith in our country, our duty to protect our nation, and our duty to protect our world from the radical savagery of militant Islamism.

AIFD has had many opportunities to share our mission during this time of sacrifice, reflection and spiritual growth and we thank those of you have offered your blessings and wishes for continued success and to those who continue to support our efforts through donations, with whom without, we could not exist.

Yours forever in liberty,

All of us at the,
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
aifdemocracy.org

AIFD renews its call for the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization). – April 30, 2019.

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AIFD PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Mischel Yosick
480 225 7473 mischel@zliberty.com
April 30, 2018

After meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi earlier this month, President Trump has begun taking steps towards officially designating the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a foreign terrorist organization.

As a Muslim led organization that remains devoted to the preservation of the United States Constitution, Dr. M Zuhdi Jasser and the American Islamic Forum for Democracy stand in full support of this designation, one that would finally allow our nation to begin to address the root cause of the theocratic strain of Islam (or Islamism) and ultimately make us safer as a nation.

On July 11, 2018, Dr. Jasser testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security where he discussed the global threat of the Muslim Brotherhood and advocated in favor of the MB being designated a terrorist organization.

“No group embodies the threat of radical Islamism more than the Muslim Brotherhood, and no group runs deeper into the consciousness of global Islamism, especially in our Arab Sunni communities than the Muslim Brotherhood and its global network of affiliates and progeny across the world,” stated Jasser.

Dr. Jasser goes on to assert “there is nothing more pro-Muslim than designating them a terror group.” While we call for their “mothership” in Egypt and offshoots in Yemen, Syria, Kuwait and a few other places to be designated, our testimony takes a very nuanced approach in the West where their legacy groups operate under different byproduct names.

We reaffirm our position on the MB and fully support these measures that will prevent groups like the MB from continuing to take advantage of our unprecedented freedoms and excessively thrive in a manner that is often not possible anywhere else in the world.

Please take a moment to view Dr. Jasser’s full testimony where he discusses the Brotherhood’s origins, history, networks, ideologies, and direct connections to terrorism.

https://aifdemocracy.org/15998-2/

Press Release: November 21, 2018 “Judge Friedman’s premature ruling is beyond egregious. It is inhuman and un-American.”

/in , , /by

AMERICAN ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY
Press Release

Contact: Mischel Yosick – AIFD
Phone: 480-225-7473
Email: mischel@zliberty.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 21, 2018

“Judge Friedman’s premature ruling is beyond egregious. It is inhuman and
un-American.”

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: In an unexpected disappointing turn, a federal judge has dismissed charges of female genital mutilation (FGM) against Michigan physicians over his belief that the federal law passed in 1996 was unconstitutional. The Detroit Free Press reported yesterday that, “In a major blow to the federal government, a judge in Detroit has declared America’s female genital mutilation law unconstitutional, thereby dismissing the key charges against two Michigan doctors and six others accused of subjecting at least nine minor girls to the cutting procedure in the nation’s first FGM case.”

The AIFD has been following this Detroit case closely since charges were first announced in April 2017 when we noted, “The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), a Muslim-led organization whose founding principles include gender equality, welcomes the news that Jumana Nagarwala, a Detroit-based physician, has been arrested for allegedly carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) against girls here in the United States.”(full release)

AIFD President, M. Zuhdi Jasser, has written extensively on this case including a comprehensive piece for the Gatestone Institute in June 2017: “Female Genital Mutilation: American Muslim Physician Says Stop Defending the Abuse of Girls and Women.”

Today, in reaction to Judge Friedman’s dismissal of the FGM charges, Dr. Jasser, AIFD President, said:

“Judge Friedman’s premature ruling is beyond egregious. It is inhuman and un-American. The judge essentially just signaled to butchers like “Dr” Nagarwala that they can seek refuge in the U.S. federal system for their crimes against the humanity of young girls. I understand the mental gymnastics of his federalist ruling. But the case hasn’t even been tried yet. While Nagarwala may yet end up in jail for decades due to obstruction charges, there appeared to be many other ways justice could have been served for those poor tortured girls she slaughtered without dismissing the entire #FGM charge.”

Dr. Jasser further noted the profound implications of this premature ruling:

“This is a landmark case. The judge cannot just wrap himself conveniently in a few words of acknowledgment of the horrors of FGM. This case was breaking new ground and it’s not clear to anyone that the feds made their case at all yet let alone fully, as to why they had jurisdiction and why the federal law was in fact constitutional. Instead it appears that the judge simply took a sweeping premature puritanical approach to his federalist concerns. Seven to nine year old girls were being trafficked between states and then tortured by licensed physicians. Federal law enforcement devoted heavy national resources to the case after finding probable cause for the crimes on federal books. It requires a suspension of disbelief for anyone to even entertain an argument that FGM based in cross state trafficking could not fit into many aspects of federal jurisdiction especially given the ’96 law. Yet the judge predetermined the law to be unconstitutional. So if this case is about the hope of finding any justice for the young tortured mutilated girls, there must have been countless ways for the judge to hear the case and then send a clear and unmistakable message about FGM regarding many counts against the perpetrators while yet leaving some room in the decision for some teaching points on “federalism”.”

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If you would like more information about this topic please email:
info@aifdemocracy.org.

About AIFD
The American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a Muslim led think tank based in Phoenix, AZ, addresses the root cause of the domestic and international threat of radical Islamist terrorism. AIFD’s mission is to advocate for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution – liberty and freedom – through the separation of mosque and state and is dedicated to providing an American Muslim voice calling for genuine reform against Islamism and the ideologies which fuel global Muslim radicalization. AIFD promotes reform-minded Muslim voices for liberty, and is shaking the hold which Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood have upon Muslim leadership.

About M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D.
Dr. Jasser, president and founder of AIFD, and co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, is the author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith”, and is also founder of Take Back Islam. Dr. Jasser is an American Muslim and son of Syrian immigrants who fled Ba’athist oppression in 1966. Zuhdi is a physician in private practice and a former US Navy officer. He is a former commissioner and Vice-Chair of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) appointed by the U.S. Senate serving from 2012-2016. An internationally recognized expert on Islamism, Dr. Jasser is widely published in the field and is featured in many top-tier media. He regularly testifies to the U.S. Congress on the threat of global Islamism and domestic and foreign counter-ideology strategy. Zuhdi’s work is dedicated to championing universal human rights rooted in an American and Western identity from within the “House of Islam”. Twitter: @DrZuhdiJasser

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