American Muslim organization backs NYPD and Chief Kelly efforts to fight Islamist radicalization

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Statement


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


American Muslim organization backs NYPD and Chief Kelly efforts to fight Islamist radicalization

CAIR and New York Times vicious attack on NYPD is meritless

PHOENIX (January 26, 2012) – 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 vicious and malignant attack by the New York Times and the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) on the NYPD and Chief Raymond Kelly:

“The American Islamic Forum for Democracy unequivocally supports the efforts of the New York Police Department and its Commissioner Raymond Kelly to fight the insidious ideology of militant Islamism. The NYPD has been an international leader in this fight and has paid a heavy price for being at the forefront of the ideological war that must be waged. Lost in the shoddy and biased reporting was the most basic fact that NYPD’s counter-terrorism programs have protected New Yorkers and Americans from a vast number of increasing threats like Faisal Shahzad, the Time Square Bomber, who embodies the radicalization described in the Third Jihad.

This week’s attacks on the NYPD and now Chief Kelly are yet another example of the depths of deception that groups such as CAIR are willing to go in order to suppress any criticism of the organization. This attack has nothing to do with the rights of American Muslims and everything to do with the efforts of CAIR to use American Muslims as a tool to suppress dissent and frame our communities as victims of American society.

The editorial board and reporter Michael Powell of The New York Times should be ashamed of themselves. They have abandoned any journalistic standards in their factless regurgitation of the CAIR mantra. The New York Times seems to care little about genuine Muslim diversity or addressing the root causes of terrorism. This latest attack is simply part of a systematic attempt to dismantle the efforts of NYPD to address the root causes of radicalization within American Muslim communities.

In 2007 the NYPD released a landmark report entitled Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat. This report was a seminal piece of research now used around the world on how radicalization occurs. As an American Muslim I embraced this research as a blueprint which Muslims should have initiated to confront the threat knocking on the door of our communities every day. Groups like CAIR saw it as an opportunity to drive a wedge between American Muslims and law enforcement and to preach a victim mindset within our community. Interestingly the behaviors that CAIR is illustrating are eerily similar to the models laid out in the NYPD report.

The story that the New York Times ran this week is over a year old. It didn’t gain momentum last year primarily because it is an insignificant story and its merits paled in comparison to world-wide attention brought to bear on the revolutions in Egypt which erupted shortly thereafter. America’s attention span for the Middle East has worn thin and when a new kernel of information was released CAIR seized that opportunity to reignite the furor. The “shocking” evidence was that 1,500 NYPD officers saw a film that is readily available to the general public and probably already viewed by millions.

This effort by CAIR is a blatant attempt to punish the NYPD and Chief Kelly for doing their job and to strike fear in the heart of anyone that does legitimate work in exposing their lifeblood of Islamism. Political correctness has made mere claims of discrimination and racial bias irrefutable and removed the ability for Americans to have honest discourse on religious issues. The Third Jihad is not anti-Islam or anti-Muslim. If it were I would not have been a part of it.

For me, it was an opportunity to speak with my co-religionists about the threat that exists to our children and our very way of life. It is a wake-up call for our community to accept our responsibility to fight against an ideology within our communities that seeks to strip us of our Constitutional freedoms. CAIR’s victimization of American Muslims emboldens that sinister ideology.

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 CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar, Gordon C. James Public Relations gedgar@gcjpr.com, 602-690-7977

Syrian, Iranian, Kurdish and Lebanese Americans come together to Highlight the Role of Iran in the suffering of the Syrian People

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News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Syrian, Iranian, Kurdish and Lebanese Americans come together to Highlight the Role of Iran in the suffering of the Syrian People

Leaders call for Obama Administration to do more to end the suffering of Syrian People and their exploitation by the Fascist Iranian regime

PHOENIX (January 16, 2012) – In a show of solidarity leaders from the Syrian-American, Iranian-American, Kurdish-American and Lebanese-American Community have come together to denounce the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and demand that the Obama Administration do more to openly support the Syrian people and stop the blatant attempts of the Iranian regime to exploit and further the barbarism in Syria in order to hegemonize the region under Iranian influence. Despite UN estimates that over 5,500 Syrian people have died at the hands of Assad’s military thugs, western governments and in particular the Obama Administration have done little to develop a consistent and cohesive strategy to remove Assad from power and stop the facilitation of his tyranny by the Iranian government.

“President Bashar Assad has isolated himself from the international community by aligning with the Islamic regime in Iran and following their example of holding on to power and possession at a very high cost of the Syrians’ lives,” said Manda Zand Ervin, founder of the Alliance for Iranian Women. “The Obama administration, for an unknown reason, has chosen not to directly support the real democracy movements in the two countries of Iran and Syria. Knowing well, that unlike the others that they have “liberated”, these two nations are far more likely to move away from Islamism and become more liberal democracies friendly towards America.”

The Iranian regime has been using Syria as a foothold for its plans against the United States, Israel, and any nations in the region that support the West. They have left the children of Iran without food, clothing, and education as they pour Iranian wealth into Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon for their fascist motives in the region. Sources confirm that Iran has been providing the steady stream of financing, arms, and even mercenaries in the evolving genocide against the people of Syria.

The United States current backing of efforts by the Arab League and of the Syrian National Council (SNC), which is appearing more and more to be an Islamist led opposition group, demonstrate how far U.S. influence has diminished in international politics and how unprincipled we are in our approach to develop governments built on liberty in the Middle-East. The Arab League monitors are providing nothing more than a distraction from what is occurring in the streets of Syria. Their increased irrelevance and their presence as an illegitimate arbiter for the people of Syria should be acknowledged by all sides. U.S. support of the SNC and other Islamist groups throughout the region demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the tactical and political situation of the ideological struggles that exist in the Middle-East.

“We have to take a principled approach to the people we are working with in Syria,” said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser co-founder of Save Syria Now! “By supporting a farce such as the Arab League monitors and the now more and more Islamist led SNC, we are sending a message to the Syrian people that we do not stand by the principles of universal freedom. The people in the streets of Syria have no choice but the removal of Assad and if the U.S. continues to give credence to these organizations while ignoring the needs of the majority of Syrians our opportunity to have influence in the region will be completely lost.”

The Obama Administration needs to codify an approach and a doctrine throughout the Middle-East that recognizes the demands of the people in the streets. The U.S. cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past by backing the Darwinian approach that the strongest groups must be our natural allies. Our support of the secular fascists in the past has put us in the position we are in today. The administration’s tacit support of the rise of Islamists in the region even if they articulate democratic principles like many in the SNC will imperil the freedoms of the Syrian people and close the door to genuine liberty for generations to come.

According to Sherkoh Abbas, President of the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, “The people of Syria deserve their chance to develop a free society that embraces a democratic process that guarantees individual freedoms for all regardless of ethnicity or religion. That will not happen as long as Assad is allowed to reign in Damascus. Syria needs western support to remove this dictator and establish a government where power is restored to the people and the military is not used as a tool to bludgeon the submission of the people.”

US Director of the World Council for the Cedars Revolution, Attorney John Hajjar said: “Lebanese Americans stand in solidarity with Syrian, Iranian and Kurdish Americans in calling on the US Administration to use all its resources to help Syria’s people end the oppressive regime and move towards freedom. The three peoples of Iran, Syria and Lebanon have long been oppressed by the Khomeinists in Tehran, the Baathists in Damascus and Hezbollah in Lebanon. We the representatives of the aspirations of millions of Middle East and Arab Americans from Iranian, Syria and Lebanese descent urge the Administration to form the necessary international coalitions to help the Syrian people in its quest for freedom”

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com 602-690-7977

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Save Syria Now! Press Release: Arab League Monitors are only bringing more deaths to the Syrian people by diverting attention from Assad’s killing machine in the streets of Syria

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arab League Monitors are only bringing more deaths to the Syrian people by diverting attention from Assad’s killing machine in the streets of Syria

Another 150 have died while farcical monitors give Assad a free pass by taking up what little bandwidth existed for Syria

PHOENIX (January 6, 2012) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the co-founder of the SaveSyria Now! issued the following statement regarding the Arab League monitors in Syria:

“Another week has gone by with the west abdicating its leadership role in Syria to a group of hapless monitors from the Arab League. While the media has regaled us almost daily with stories of attacks on these monitors, the real story of the struggle for the freedom of the Syrian people continues with another 150 dead in the streets.

Bashar Al-Assad is playing the free world as fools by standing in front of our media and agreeing to terms with the cabal of tyrants to end the violence, while in reality he continues to crush opposition beneath his boot. The protesters in the street know that settlement is not an option. Stepping out of the streets with Assad in power may as well be a death warrant for them.

The Arab League’s mission is beyond a farce. It is an inhumane travesty of global proportions run by a Sudanese agent of a genocidal regime whose President is wanted for war crimes committed in his own nation. The monitors have been told where to go by Assad’s drivers and used primitive means of documentation if any at all. They are autocrats trying to save face for themselves while their fellow autocrat Bashar Assad is finding himself closer and closer to the end of his tyrannical rule. The so called monitors have only afforded the Assad regime more time and sucked the bandwidth away from legitimate coverage of the atrocities that Bashar Assad has committed on his own people.

Instead of appeasing conferences with the OIC in Washington where America apologizes for OIC hyperbole over so called western islamophobia and tries to restrict free speech, the West must put an end to this farce, by demanding that Assad let UN observers and international media into the country to document his crimes. The United States must push harder on every front for the removal of Assad and step forward as a champion of freedom for the brutalized people of Syria and the free world.”

About Save Syria Now!

Save Syria Now! is a group of Americans of Syrian descent organizing to put pressure on the United States to call for immediate action to be taken against the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria and to bring true liberty to the people of Syria. We stand with the Syrians protesting in the streets to end the tyranny of the Assad family. For more information please visit our website at http://www.savesyrianow.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

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AIFD joins AILC’s call for Muslims around the world to unite to condemn attacks on Christians

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NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Muslims around the world must unite to condemn attacks on Christians

Washington, DC (December 30, 2011) – The American Islamic Leadership Coalition, a group of diverse American Muslim leaders released the following statement regarding the awful tragedy that struck Christian communities in Nigeria on Christmas Day.

“The radical Islamist organization Boko Haram, which murdered and maimed innocent Nigerian Christians on Christmas Day, does not represent the majority of Muslims around the world. Boko Haram is a radical Islamist group (“boko haram” means “Western Education is Sinful”) that attacked churches last year as well and has vowed similar attacks in the future. Their actions should be condemned by all Muslims, especially by Muslim leaders.

Islamist groups like Boko Haram want to create an Islamic state based on their interpretations of shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). The Christian presence in Nigeria is perceived as a great impediment to this mission (48 % of the Nigerian population is Christian). The choice Christmas Day to perpetrate their wanton violence illustrates the hateful fascistic sectarian state Boko Haram seeks to impose upon the Nigerian people.

Boko Haram is guided by militant Islamism and its medieval notions of society. For them, full citizenship is limited to those who share their religious beliefs and affiliation, and their Christmas Day act demonstrates the depravity to which they will stoop in realizing that grim vision. The Nigerian government has thus far been unsuccessful in preventing attacks on its Christian citizens, despite a crackdown against the militant group by paramilitary agencies.

The Vatican and secular Western leaders have rightly condemned the attacks on Nigeria’s Christians as heinous, evil, and cowardly. We would like to hear unequivocal denunciations of Boko Haram and other radical Islamist groups terrorizing Christian and other minority communities from every respectable Muslim leader in the free world. Muslim scholars, activists, politicians, and community leaders must respond forcefully to the murderous and supremacist tendencies of Muslim extremist groups, and support the enforcement of the rule of law against such groups. The world must not tolerate or excuse carnage against fellow citizens on any day in any country. All Muslims, and all civilized governments around the world, must put an end to the madness and hatred expressed in brutal acts such as the Christmas attacks in Nigeria.

We hereby declare our total condemnation against the supremacist Islamism which feeds groups like Boko Haram, and call upon all our Muslim brothers and sisters to stand for pluralism, freedom, and the unyielding and equal respect of universal human rights for all people, especially in Muslim majority nations.”

About the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC)

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) is a diverse coalition of liberty-minded, North American Muslim leaders and organizations. AILC’s mission advocates for defending the US Constitution, upholding religious pluralism, protecting American security and cherishing genuine diversity in the faith and practice of Islam. AILC provides a stark alternative to the Islamist organizations that claim to speak for what are diverse American Muslim communities. For more information on AILC, please visit our website at http://www.americanislamicleadership.org/.

AILC Coalition Signatories

Golam Akhter, Bangladesh-USA Human Rights Coalition Inc., Washington, DC

Bahman Batmanghelidj, Founding Member, Alliance for Democracy in Iran, Virginia, USA

Abdirizak Bihi, Somalian Community Activist, Minnesota, USA

Khurshed Chowdhury, PhD., Silver Springs, MD

Manda Zand Ervin, President, Alliance of Iranian Women, Maryland, USA

Tarek Fatah, Founder, Muslim Canadian Congress

Farid Ghadry, President, Reform Party of Syria

Jamal Hasan, Council for Democracy and Tolerance, Baltimore, MD

Farzana Hassan, Ed.D., Past President, Muslim Canadian Congress

Arif Humayun, Circle of Peace, Vancouver, Washington

M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Phoenix, AZ

Hasan Mahmud, Free Muslim Coaltion, Toronto, Canada

Raquel Evita Saraswati, activist and journalist,www.raquelevita.com

Behrooz Sarshar, Virginia, USA

Jalal Zuberi, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics,Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA


MEDIA CONTACT: Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

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Save Syria Now! Press Release: Walters interview betrays the Syrian people, the Syrian opposition and gives stage to a sociopath

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Walters interview betrays the Syrian people, the Syrian opposition and gives stage to a sociopath

ABC’s engagement of Assad continues its bizarre tour of Despots with no moral value and shameless voyeurism

PHOENIX (December 8, 2011) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the co-founder of the Save Syria Now! issued the following statement regarding the outrageous interview of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria by ABC News’ Barbara Walters:

“Barbara Walters’ irresponsible and disgusting interview of President Bashar al-Assad was a direct betrayal of the people of Syria who have sacrificed everything in hopes of attaining their freedom. ABC’s decision to send Walters’ to Damascus and continue their tour of the Middle East’s leading despots demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of just who these assassins are and what they have done to their own people. Walters’ post interview analysis goes as far as giving Assad the perception of being disconnected from what is happening at the hands of his military. Instead of seeing the broad abuse that is taking place hourly in Syria, ABC viewers were subjected to a litany of insane denials. It was as if Assad was laying the groundwork for the day he will face a tribunal in The Hague by separating himself from his actions.

As if Walter’s interview was not enough, the U.S. State Department has the unmitigated gall to offensively chime in with Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner stating ‘just from what happened or what took place in the interview, he appeared utterly disconnected with the reality that’s going on in his country and the brutal repression that’s being carried out against the Syrian people.’ Toner may as well have been testifying on behalf of Assad. Toner’s statement continues to demonstrate this Administration’s incomprehensible strategy in dealing with this regime. Its inconsistency of one day calling Assad illegitimate and the next recognizing the validity of his government by returning Ambassador Ford to Damascus is allowing this sociopath to continue his tyranny and reign of terror over the Syrian people. Is it any wonder the Syrian people have no faith in the United States effectively siding with them.

ABC, Barbara Walters and the Obama Administration’s actions exhibit a lack of moral clarity. If ABC and Barbara Walters’ wanted to bring attention to what is happening in Syria they should have focused their attention on its people and not given a dictator an opportunity to deny what even the UN has recognized as human rights violations. There is a profound journalistic hypocrisy of sitting down with the brutal thug and giving him a platform of denial while real journalism in Syria is rendered impossible by virtue of Assad’s exclusion of any reporting of the crimes against humanity for which he is responsible. This hypocrisy was laid bare on ABC and is a blight on the principles for which America stands and will be Barbara Walter’s legacy for the Syrian people.

If the Obama Administration wants to make a difference in the lives of the Syrian people, they need to develop the moral courage to stand for freedom, to stand for the principles that built this country and not facilitate the brutal repression that Assad is directly responsible for despite his denials and obfuscation. “

About Save Syria Now!

Save Syria Now! is a group of Americans of Syrian descent organizing to put pressure on the United States to call for immediate action to be taken against the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria and to bring true liberty to the people of Syria. We stand with the Syrians protesting in the streets to end the tyranny of the Assad family. For more information please visit our website at http://www.savesyrianow.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gregg Edgar, Gordon C. James Public Relations, gedgar@gcjpr.com, 602-690-7977

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Save Syria Now! Press Release: Resistance enters a new phase in Syria as Free Syria Army bravely takes action

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STATEMENT

For Immediate Release

Resistance enters a new phase in Syria as Free Syria Army bravely takes action

Syrian opposition needs support of the free world and especially the White House to secure freedom for all Syrians

PHOENIX (November 18, 2011) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and co-founder of Save Syria Now! issued the following statement regarding the latest developments in Syria:

“After over eight months and more than 3500 innocents dead and tens of thousands tortured, imprisoned, or displaced democracy activists and the opposition in Syria have escalated action with their attack on Syrian military installations The use of the military option had been delayed for as long as humanly possible, but they really have no other choice at this time. Their towns and families are being destroyed and it seems that Assad and his henchmen are only digging in more.

The people of Syria have a moral obligation to defend themselves from the murderous Assad regime and it’s military. The actions of the Free Syria Army against multiple military installations of the rogue Assad regime signal a significant shift from the predominantly peaceful protests that have dominated the uprising. The defectors from the Assad military know better than any other Syrians that Assad’s chief military thugs will never walk away and will only leave by force. The Free Syria Army (FSA) had the character to publicly post on Facebook what they did and why. They sought to strike fear into Assad’s military while disabling the intelligence operations of the outposts they attacked.

The moral dilemma for the opposition has always been that despite the righteousness of a civil war against the Assad military, Assad’s corrupt generals will now use armed engagement of the FSA as a license to exact even greater wanton violence against the people of Syria. We have always warned that the Syrian Revolution was a one-way street, a path of no return, for the activists and certainly for military defectors. Time will show, but in a nation whose entire citizenry does a mandatory period of at least two years in the military, this erupting civil war is not going to be one-sided. While Assad’s forces are far better armed the FSA is growing and fueled by righteousness in the face of evil. We hope and pray that they get the support they need in arms, finances, and technology. Now is the time for the free world and especially the White House to support the opposition in any way possible.

Even larger scales massacres are sure to follow and all out civil war may not be far off depending upon the rapidity of further defections and the ability of the free world to provide operational support. The attacks this week do not seem to be widespread but they are sure to slowly become so as the FSA gains confidence, resources, and witnesses the response of the Assad regime. The Syrian people have no other means by which to rid themselves of the most treacherous regime on earth. Assad and his military will not stop until every Syrian citizen who dreams of freedom is either murdered, tortured, or imprisoned. After eight months, no one can believe the Syrian people have not exhausted every one of the non-military options available to them. Without external help, our families have known for generations that the only way to rid themselves of their oppressors is through a revolution not only against the government but against Assad’s military. Syrian honor has been awakened. It will not go back to sleep until Assad and his thugs are put to sleep.”

About Save Syria Now!

Save Syria Now! is a group of Americans of Syrian descent organizing to put pressure on the United States to call for immediate action to be taken against the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria and to bring true liberty to the people of Syria. We stand with the Syrians protesting in the streets to end the tyranny of the Assad family. For more information please visit our website at http://www.savesyrianow.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

####

Family Security Matters OpEd: The Center for American Progress Fear, Inc. Report: A Roadblock to American Progress

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The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently issued a 132 page report entitled “Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America” (pdf). The report’s supposed objective is to “expose-and marginalize-the influence of the individuals and groups” that CAP claims are a part of an “Islamophobia network in America.” The report was immediately seized upon by many Muslim organizations and enablers on the political left as well as the Iranian government’s Press TV as proof positive of the victimhood of American Muslims.

This report portends to be an in-depth investigative analysis that connects the dots of a supposedly sinister anti-jihadist movement. But a glossy cover around 132 pages of politicalblog material does not make a report either journalistically or academically sound. From my perspective, CAP lost all journalistic and academic credibility when it failed to contact me to corroborate, refute or even respond to any of the accusations the report levels against me and our organization- the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. This would not be considered acceptable for a college term paper, let alone a report that is being billed as useful in-depth analysis.
CAP indicts me as a “validator” of this invented conspiratorial ‘Islamophobia’ network. They make libelous allegations that I am a misinformation expert and simply attack me for being critical of President Obama and Congressman Keith Ellison, and somehow because I do not blindly pledge allegiance to the left’s favorite Muslim activist groups. Most bizarrely CAP tries to paint me as an Islamophobe hell bent on defaming Muslims and Islam in America in an effort to spread fear and make money.
I address the specific fallacies of all of CAP’s allegations in-depth at our website, but the intellectual gymnastics that CAP had to go through to make this last allegation is worthy of Olympic recognition. Not once do they actually address the central premise of our ideas against Islamism presented in volumes of public material available in print, on the web, and in television media. The great irony is that my mission at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy is driven by a deep desire to raise my children as orthodox Muslims who embrace the unparalleled freedom that is guaranteed for them in the United States Constitution. At the core of our mission is the understanding that the greatest threat to both American security and the harmony of the Muslim consciousness is the spread of political Islam- the global movement to create Islamic states ruled by shariah law. We believe that the only way to defeat Islamism is by Muslims advocating for the reforms necessary to separate mosque and state.
While this effort is often criticized as Islamophobic and I am routinely labeled an Uncle Tom or traitor to Muslims by those who adhere to the ideology of political Islam, I have taken the Islamic tradition of ijtihad (modern, critical interpretation of scripture and tradition) to heart as a personal responsibility as an American Muslim as it should be for every Muslim. That responsibility comes from a fear of what the human manifestation of my faith of Islam could represent for my children and what many in our current faith leadership have allowed to become the predominant message of the public face of Islam. I believe we American Muslims have a major crisis in leadership with most organizations in the United States coming out of the Muslim Brotherhood legacy tree and ideology. Should another devastating attack occur and Muslims are not seen as leading the fight against Islamism- the cancer within their faith, I fear for the climate towards Muslims in the U.S. Crying wolf now about “Islamophobia” or anti-Muslim hate is certainly wrong-headed.
CAP’s accusations against me in Fear Inc. were done in a vacuum with no intellectual analysis of my extensive writings, interviews or testimony. Even the quotations they used we prove to be half-truths and deceptively attributed. How they can come to a conclusion that a devout Muslim who prays five times a day and basically performs most of the rights and practices of Islam, and who believes that the problems of radicalization can only be solved by Muslims could “have an exaggerated fear, hatred, and hostility toward Islam and Muslims” defies logic.
“Fear, Inc.” is clearly the latest volley in the ping pong games between virulently partisan organizations on the left and the right that exploit American Muslims as the ball. CAP and Think Progress’ entire mission is to be a player in that partisan game, but AIFD, if the authors cared to look, is an Islamic organization that works within the Muslim consciousness for reform against Islamist organizations for national security. That discussion requires me to advocate for a “muscular liberalism,” as Prime Minister Cameron of Great Britain refers to it, that advocates for Muslim and non-Muslim audiences to wake up to the need to take sides within the Muslim community against the Islamist agenda in favor of the liberal secular democratic agenda. CAP’s attack failed to address any of the specific ideological issues that I and AIFD confront and lacks any religious background to confront the issues of faith that need reform.
Islamophobia is a term that AIFD rarely uses because it is a mechanism that has been employed by a number of organizations, such as CAP, to shut down conversation, free speech, and introspection and to reinforce a concept of victimization of Muslims. I cannot speak for any others who were smeared with this term in “Fear, Inc.” but as a devout Muslim I am deeply offended that CAP would presume to instruct me on my allegiance to my faith.
Apparently, the CAP’s position is that any Muslim who dares to question or oppose the destructive, separatist, offensive acts that some Muslims perpetrate – which they claim is justified by Islam – should be publicly smeared as someone who creates hatred of Islam itself. Would the CAP also allege that Catholics who are opposed to the cover-ups concerning child abuse are guilty of “Catholicphobia”? Or allege that Jews who are opposed to strict orthodox interpretations of the Torah are guilty of “Judeophobia”?
The CAP apparently has singled out Islam as the one religion whose (supposed) leaders must not be questioned – least of all by a devout Muslim such as myself, because to do so means to open oneself up to being publicly smeared and lied about, as in “Fear, Inc.”
The Washington political circles in which CAP swims, have a habit of turning to the alphabet soup of Muslim lobbying organizations based in Washington (most of whom tow the Islamist line) to be their token outreach to the Muslim community. CAIR, ISNA, MPAC and MSA have all done a good job of positioning themselves to the political elite as being the representatives for American Muslims. The problem is that this rather small circle of American Muslims does not represent the Muslim community as was clearly demonstrated in a recent poll by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center where at best 12 percent of American Muslims identified with them. Continued outreach to these groups that support the Islamist ideology is akin to reaching out to the Black Panther Party and saying that you had reached out to the “African American Commun
ty”. While the Black Panther Party certainly represents a segment of the African American Community, it does not by any means represent the broad African American Community. Neither political party would accept an assertion that they did. And while Islamists like to look upon Muslims as a political party, in the American context where mosque and state are separate, the reality is media and government should be looking for Muslims who do not attempt to hijack our community for a political or partisan agenda. OurAmerican Islamic Leadership Coalition has over 15 organizations represented which provide diverse alternatives to these monolithic Islamist groups. But the CAP cared little to get the opinion of any in our coalition. Why? Because we do not fit the Islamist narrative about who is and who is not a respected Muslim leader.
The Center for American Progress created this report with a set of biases and conclusions that were predetermined. Their accusation that a devout American Muslim devoted to raising his children as proud Muslims can be Islamophobic is arrogant and laughable. To pretend that “Fear, Inc.” is factual research is a fallacy and in many ways harmful to the communities it pretends to serve.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor M. Zuhdi Jasser, MD, is the founder and Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix Arizona. He is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, a physician in private practice, and a community activist. He can be reached atZuhdi@aifdemocracy.org.
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Obama Administration unable to acknowledge the threat of Islamists in the Middle East

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Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Obama Administration unable to acknowledge the threat of Islamists in the Middle East

As the Middle East stands before a tipping point, the United States needs to provide leadership towards liberty and freedom and away from the Muslim Brotherhood

PHOENIX (November 8, 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 statements from the US Department of State on the acceptability of Egypt being run by the Muslim Brotherhood:

“Remarks made on November 4 by US Special Adviser William Taylor, the State Department’s special coordinator for Middle-East transitions, regarding the likely victory of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian parliamentary elections, demonstrate a dangerous lack of appreciation for the negative impact of Islamism upon their nations and upon global security and peace. While preferring to stay out of the ideological battle going on within emerging democracies in the Middle East, the Obama Administration ends up ushering in the strongest horse while compromising core American principles of universal human rights. The administration’s positive attitude towards Islamists gives them a legitimacy which empowers their ascendancy and violates our own advocacy for the genuine ideas of liberty and freedom.

When asked what the United States reaction would be to a Muslim Brotherhood victory, Taylor said ‘I think we will be satisfied, if it is a free and fair election.’ He continued by stating, ‘What we need to do is judge people and parties and movements on what they do, not what they’re called.’

There is no mystery about who the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt or who the Ennahda party is in Tunisia. The ideological position of these Islamist movements is well documented and completely open for anyone to read and it is in direct contrast to the founding principles of the United States and the United Nation’s principles of Universal Human Rights no matter which way the Islamists try to spin their platforms. Taylor’s inability to recognize that does not bode well for the change we all hope comes to the Middle-East or for the soft power which the United States has maintained for so long with secular advocates of liberty in these now emerging nations. If the Islamists ascend we will have facilitated quasi-theocracies. If they do not, we will have alienated the secularists who are our natural allies. The United States needs to provide principled leadership that supports groups and organizations that will be focused on bringing the people of Egypt true freedom. We cannot provide support to Islamists whose ideological positions ultimately see the world through a lens which is Islamo-centric and in direct conflict with western secular democracies.

The Middle-East is now at a tipping point and its peoples are going to be a lot more open for change towards secular freedom now than if Islamists were to take hold and set into motion Islamist inspired constitutions and legal systems. The people of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt marched in the streets this past Spring and in the case of Libya fought a bloody civil war to bring freedom to their people. The Islamists are winning elections in these countries, not because they are the most preferred, but because they are the largest and most politically organized bloc. The remainder of the secular groups are so numerous and fractionated that they are rendering themselves ineffective to the Islamists. Without a concerted effort from our government to take the side of liberty-minded secularists in the ideological battle on the ground, we will have lost our greatest opportunity in a generation to bring the people of the region real freedom and bring true national security to the West from the threats of Islamist terror.

Taylor’s assertion that ‘As long as parties, entities do not espouse or conduct violence, we’ll work with them,’ continues to subscribe to a dangerously myopic vision that believes that “violent Muslim=bad” and “non-violent Muslim = good.” Violence is merely a symptom of the broader problem. The continued use of this dangerous theory open’s the gate to continued ideological breeding of a radical Islamist militancy that ends in violence and will allow the Middle East to exchange one fascism for another. Just because the Muslim Brotherhood or Ennahda is not preaching violence today does not mean that they are organizations that the United States should be supporting. Just because they come to power legitimately does not mean that they will establish governments rooted in equal access, pluralism, universal human rights. We need leadership in Washington with the ideological backbone to advocate within these countries for governments that embrace values that every free human being desires rather than Islamism which is supremacist. Elections are not the victory. Freedom for these nations will never come from the Muslim Brotherhood or any other organization that sees an Islamist form of governance as the solution. Theocracy breeds corruption and oppression. We cannot be seen by the people of these countries as supporting yet another regime that will put yet another yoke around their necks.

Let us use the documents that founded our Republic as our guiding principles in how we deal with the transitions in these countries and who we should and should not support. Supporting non-violent Islamists in today’s Middle East is like supporting non-violent communists during the Cold War of the 20th century. Let the United States be the advocate for freedom for all of these people as we were at the fall of the Soviet Union.”

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 CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar, Gordon C. James Public Relations, gedgar@gcjpr.com, 602-690-7977

PRESS RELEASE: Wishes for a Blessed Eid Al-Adha (Holiday of the Sacrifice) from the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

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Muslims will be commemorating the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha (holiday of the sacrifice), the ‘biggest holiday’ in the Islamic calendar of this year 1432 of the Islamic (Hijri) lunar Calendar on Sunday, November 6, 2011.

Eid al-Adha occurs on the 10th Day of the month of Dhul-Hijja, the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Eid al-Adha marks the end of the annual pilgrimage (Hajj) of Muslims to Mecca. — 12/10/1432 (Islamic Lunar calendar) and 11/6/2011 (Gregorian calendar).

Over 2.5 million Muslims usually participate annually in the Hajj (pilgrimage) which commemorates the Muslim understanding of the challenges placed upon the Prophet Abraham by God in demonstration of his monotheistic belief.

To all of our Muslim friends, members, and supporters we at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) wish you a most Blessed Eid al-Adha.


May the commemoration of this holiday remind us of all of God’s blessings which we enjoy every day and may it also remind us of the responsibility which comes with them.

Annually, in addition to those who participate in the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims take this holiday to remember God, family, and country and thank God for health, happiness, and prosperity.


M. Zuhdi Jasser
President and Founder
American Islamic Forum for Democracy