- Minaret of Freedom Institute
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The Minaret of Freedom Institute is an Islamic libertarian organization established in 1993 and based in Bethesda, Maryland. It was co-founded by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, its president, and Shahid N. Shah. Its board of directors and board of advisors include religious, academic, business and government leaders.[1]
Contents
Mission
Its Mission Statement aims are to:
- counter distortions and misconceptions about Islamic beliefs and practice;
- demonstrate the Islamic origins of modern values like the rule of law and sciences like market economics;
- expose both American and Islamic-world Muslims to free market thought;
- advance the status of Muslim peoples maligned by a hostile environment in the West and oppressed by repressive political regimes in the East.[2]
It implements these goals through independent scholarly research into policy issues of concern to Muslims; publication of scholarly and popular expositions of such research; translation of appropriate works on the free market into the languages of the Muslim world; and the operation of a scholars exchange program.[2]
Religious and political views
Sharia law
The institute appreciates the importance of Sharia law to Muslims, and does not advocate that Muslims should adopt secular government on the Western model.[citation needed] Rather it promotes "Islamic pluralism" which can meld a form of democracy with Islam. It also states in any Islamic democracy that the traditional dhimmi system of protection of non-Muslims must be extended beyond the traditional People of the Book (Jews and Christians) to cover all non-Muslims, and that such dhimmi rights must be explicitly protected constitutionally.[3]
In 2006 the Saudi Arabian Embassy's Islamic Affairs Department distributed "The Noble Koran", with commentary that reflected the outlook of two Wahhabi scholars and included commentary that disparaged Jews and Christians, even though the Qur'anic verses (for which the commentary is made) mention neither group. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad told The Washington Post "The outcry was so great...People were disgusted. And it wasn't just liberals. I couldn't find an American Muslim who had anything good to say about that edition. I would call it a Wahhabi Koran."[4]
Loan interest
One important point in which the institute deviates from orthodox Islamic thinking is its belief that the Qur'anic prohibition of riba (usury) does not prohibit all lending at interest, only that which is excessively high.[5] Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad has stated that the Islamic world pioneered the scientific method, but may have been unable to progress to an industrial revolution because the prohibition of interest prevented would-be inventors from obtaining the necessary financing to develop their inventions.[6]
Circumcision
With regards to female circumcision, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad writes that clitoridectomy and infibulation should be viewed as practices prohibited by Islam. He continues that even all forms of female circumcision jeopardize the girl's future ability to enjoy sexual relations with her husband, and hence should be considered disliked. He dismisses circumcision of any hygienic or religious value, concluding there is no justification for Muslims to engage in "this painful and potentially harmful practice."[7]
However, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad supports male circumcision, writing that although it is not prescribed in the Qur'an "male circumcision is clearly a Muslim tradition."[7]
Secular fundamentalism
In 1999 the Institute sponsored a panel on "secular fundamentalism," which speakers considered as great a threat to liberty as religious fundamentalism. The two speakers, who shared their personal stories, were Merve Kavakçı, an elected Turkish parliamentarian removed from office (and later stripped of her citizenship) because she insisted on wearing the hijab (Islamic headcovering) and Sami Al-Arian, a tenured University of South Florida professor threatened with dismissal because of his statements in favor of jihad. Al-Arian described attacks against his World and Islam Studies Enterprise which was intended to bring Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals together for dialogue, especially after a former leader of the group, another professor at the University of South Florida, left the United States and later was identified as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He describe how the 1996 immigration legislation had led to 29 individuals being held in prison for years under secret evidence; 28 were Muslims. Imad ad-Dean Ahmad described them as "people who have suffered from secular extremism." Ms. Kavakçı stated "Isn't the secularization of Islam an oxymoron? For the religion cannot be separated from itself" and that "enemies of Islam" were behind efforts to secularize or modernize Muslim countries.[8] In 2006, Al-Arian entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to help people associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and later was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered deported following his prison term.[9]
Anti-imperialism
In his interview with Reason magazine, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad said that the fact that Western liberals had abandoned their anti-imperialist views, including by invading Iraq, had alienated Islamists from pro-liberty viewpoints. Moreover, handing out money to various factions in Muslim and Arab countries usually is counterproductive because it tends to prop up the most oppressive elements.[6]
Liberation of Palestine
In his address to the First Conference on Jerusalem in Beirut, Lebanon in 2001 Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad stated that American’s support of Zionism was due in part to their ignorance of Zionism’s “history, its racist foundation, its colonialist nature, and the systematic brutality of its daily dealings with the indigenous people of Palestine,” as well as their hearing “only what the Zionist-controlled media and politicians have let them know.” However, he put even more blame on the defenders of the Palestinians working with corrupt Muslim governments and power-hungry revolutionary movements. He urged them to abandon the “duplicitous and hierarchical modes of operation” that plagued the Muslim world and “operate as the open and transparent agency” in order to "liberate Palestine."[10]
2006 subpoena
In 2006 an Alexandria, Virginia grand jury subpoena was issued to the Minaret of Freedom Institute and immigration and customs agents visited the home of Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad seeking notes about the symposium on “The United States and Iran: It’s Time to Talk” that he moderated in 1999. It featured Ambassador Robert Pelletreau, Chairman of the American-Iranian Council and a former United States Assistant Secretary of State. Ahmad told the New York Sun "They were looking for a seven-year-old event that was publicly broadcast on C-SPAN" probably because Sami Al-Arian was there. Ahmad eventually was excused from testifying to the grand jury. He expressed suspicion the subpoena was issued in retaliation for his July 2006 blog posting criticizing federal prosecutors for charging 11 Muslims who allegedly practiced with paintball guns for potential combat with India in Kashmir. Charging religious bias, he wrote on his web site "How many American citizens who violated the same law by going to Israel to fight against Arab countries against whom the United States has not declared war have been prosecuted?"[11]
References
- ^ Staff and Board listing at Minaret of Freedom Institute web site.
- ^ a b Mission Statement at Minaret of Freedom Institute web site.
- ^ Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D., Reconciling Secular Government with Islamic Law, Minaret of Freedom Institute, 2005.
- ^ Caryle Murphy, For Conservative Muslims, Goal of Isolation a Challenge, Washington Post, September 5, 2006, A01.
- ^ Riba and Interest: Definitions and Implications, Minaret of Freedom Institute Preprint Series 96-5, delivered at 22nd Conference of American Muslim Social Scientists, October 1993.
- ^ a b Tim Cavanaugh, Revealed Libertarianism: Minaret of Freedom tries to square the Quran with the free market, Reason Magainze interview with Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, July 28, 2003.
- ^ a b Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D., Female Genital Mutilation: an Islamic Perspective, Minaret of Freedom Institute Pamphlet #1, 2000.
- ^ Ayesha Ahmad, Muslim Activists Reject Secular Fundamentalism, IslamOnline, April 22, 1999. See also Minaret of Freedom 5th Annual Dinner, Edited Transcript, Minaret of Freedom Institute website.
- ^ MegLaughlin, In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to?, St. Petersburg Times, April 23, 2006.
- ^ Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad's Address to the First Conference on Jerusalem in Beirut, Lebanon, January 29, 2001, at Minaret of Freedom Institute web site.
- ^ Josh Gerstein, Subpoenas Issued in a Terror-Finance Probe Spark a Secret Battle Before a Federal Court, New York Sun, March 22, 2007.
External links
- Minaret of Freedom Institute web site
- Minaret of Freedom Institute weblog
- Reason magazine interview with Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
- An Interview with Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, featured on Free Market Mojo.
Libertarian-oriented links supporting Palestinian property rights
- Richard Ebeling, "Property Rights and the 'Right of Return'" http://www.fff.org/comment/com0305o.asp, Future of Freedom Foundation, May 26, 2003.
- Sheldon Richman, "Ancient History: U.S. Conduct in the Middle East Since World War II and the Folly Of Intervention", Cato Institute, Policy Analysis no. 159, August 16, 1991.
- Stephen P. Halbrook, Esq., "The Alienation of a Homeland: How Palestine Became Israel", Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. V, No. 4, Fall 1981.
Categories:- 1993 establishments
- Islamic organizations based in the United States
- Syncretic political movements
- Political and economic think tanks in the United States
- Libertarian think tanks
- Libertarian organizations based in the United States
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