Category: Dr. Ahmad’s blog

[On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy held a conference on “Democracy Denied: Political, Human Rights, and Policy Implications for the Arab/Muslim World.” These are our takeaways of high points of the conference. Most of conference may be viewed here.] Panel 1: “The Israel-Gaza War: Implications for Democracy…

A Statement on the Role of the US in Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza[1] With Israeli war crimes in Gaza mounting into what the International Court of Justice has declared a “plausible genocide,” the Board of Directors of the Minaret of Freedom Institute (MFI) finds it necessary to supplement its previous October 2023 statement[2] on…

[On February 20, 2024, the Libyan American Alliance held a discussion commemorating the revolution that deposed Muammar Qaddafi. Speakers included Amb. Keith Harper, the former U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (2014-2017) and Christopher “Kip” Hale, Chief of Staff – Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) for Ukraine and  former…

Three university presidents found themselves unable to explain to members of a House committee the difference between reprehensible but protected free speech and terrorist actions.  Perhaps they should have given an extreme example, such as the following: “If a person holding a position with the university were to attempt to argue that the mass killing…

Statement on the Gaza-Israel War We at the Minaret of Freedom Institute are committed to speaking truth and advancing liberty for all people. We do not employ armaments, but ideas.  We speak the truth to academics, policy researchers, policymakers, journalists, and the general public with the information necessary for honesty, justice, and liberty to prevail. …

[On September 26, 2023, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy held a dinner with former Tunisian President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki. This is my summary of highlights of the program, not a transcript. Use of the first person is for convenience only. For a video of the entire discussion click here.] Mohamed Moncef…

Asma Afsaruddin, Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know (New York: Oxford University Press 2022). Asma Afsaruddin’s scholarly 370 page book Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought was published in 2013. Her most recent 208 page book, Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know is aimed at a more general audience.…

[On March 30, 2023, Radwan Masmoudi moderated a Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy panel discussion on “The Independence of the Judiciary, and the Prosecution of Opposition Leaders in Tunisia.” This is my summary of highlights of the program, not a transcript. Use of the first person is for convenience only. For a…

Former Minaret of Freedom Institute’s board member Ali Memon passed away yesterday, leaving behind his wife Razia and two sons Kamran and Nauman. Today, I joined them and other members of his family and many friends at his burial where we prayed for him and put the earth over his grave. Ali is remembered by…

The following article by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad “The Moral and Ethical Role of Taqwa in the Personal, Social, Economic, and Political Spheres of Life in the 21st Century” was first published in the Discussion and Debate section of the Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies (JIMS), Vol 7 No 1 May 2022. “This article was published…