Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, the Valleys highest profile Muslim working toward Islamic moderation and public trust in his faith, recently was recognized by the Center for Security Policy, a 20-year-old Washington think tank dealing with security. Jasser, who speaks out regularly against radical Islam, is founder and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, based in Phoenix.
On Oct. 17, he received a Defender of the Homefront Award, along with five others. At the same ceremony at a Washington, D.C., hotel, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., received the annual Keepers of the Flame award, first given in 1990. Among previous winners are Jon Kyl, Ronald Reagan, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Newt Gingrich, Gen. Peter Pace and Russian chess star and politico Garry Kasparov. Awards honored those who have rendered invaluable service to the nation in the ward for the Free World.
One web site says Jasser believes that it is the responsibility of Muslims in
America and worldwide to lead the global effort to combat Islamism and the ideologies which feed the terrorism committed by Muslims in the name of Islam.
Jasser, a specialist in internal medicine who is active in Valley interfaith programs, was a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander. He argues it is essential for devotional Muslims to lead the ideological war against militant Islamism by separating spiritual Islam from political Islam. This Muslim-led effort seeks to establish the synergy of Americanism and our constitutional democracy with a pluralistic Islam.
In 2000, he founded a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group called Children of Abraham. Until June, he was president of the Arizona Medical Association and is chairman of the bioethics committee of a Valley hospital where he teaches nuclear medicine.
Jasser frequently speaks in national media about Islam, Islamism, moderate Muslims and counterterrorism. His commentaries have appeared in Valley and national publications as well as FamilySecurityMatters.org and the website of American Islamic Forum for Democracy (www.aifdemocracy.org). He has carried on an ongoing public debate with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) over a range of issues, including Muslim complaints of victimization in the U.S. CAIR has been criticized as an apologist for militant Islamic organizations and failing to speak out forcefully against terrorism and other actions.
