Zuhdi Jasser

Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., is a former Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy, recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal, Muslim activist, commentator on Islamic affairs, and the President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Biography

Jasser was born in Wisconsin. He is a son of Syrian immigrants. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.

He served in the US Navy 11 years as a medical officer. His tours of duty included Medical Department Head aboard the USS El Paso which deployed to Somalia during Operation Restore Hope; Chief Resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital; and Staff Internist for the Office of the Attending Physician to the United States Congress.

Views on Islam

In 2003, Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), a liberal (in the sense of favoring liberty) Muslim group with the stated mission to demonstrate that Islam is compatible with democracy and American values. Jasser's political advocacy of freedom from political power by Islam and willingness to denounce the killing or other punishment of individuals for apostasy from Islam, should not be confused with a liberal view on Islamic religious pracitice. Jasser prays five times a day among other actions of devotion to the religious side of Islam. Jasser's being a liberal against the Islamist position should also not be confused with being a political liberal in the American sense, since he supported the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004.

Jasser calls political Islamism “the root cause of Islamist terrorism” and a matter on which it is “time to take sides.” He said that moderate Muslims need to recognize Israel as a state, to stand against radical Islamist groups by name, not by theory, tactic, or condemning terrorism, but by name—Hamas, Al Qaeda and other groups.

He has denounced Hizbut-Tahrir America as “a conveyor belt to terror”, and said the U.S. needs to “start to provide Muslim youth an alternative to where America is not demonized but where we change the narrative and start to promote groups that are reformist.”.

The AIFD supports Israel, saying "we feel it is necessary to make a foundational position statement regarding the state of Israel. We stand in support of the existing unqualified recognition of the state of Israel behind internationally recognized borders" although it also supports the creation of an independent Palestine, saying "we also separately stand in recognition of the need for the completion of the formation of an independent Palestinian state on the current “occupied territories” living side by side next to the established state of Israel."

In 2010 he strongly opposed the Cordoba House mosque being built near Ground Zero, saying:

For us, a mosque was always a place to pray...—not a way to make an ostentatious architectural statement. Ground Zero shouldn’t be about promoting Islam. It’s the place where war was declared on us as Americans."

He also said:

There should be transparency about who those investors are, whether that money is coming from domestic interests or not, and if it's coming from foreign interests we need to know, because I think that's a liability, and it shows that there is another agenda rather than domestic security and tranquility.

Interfaith activities

Jasser has been active in a number of interfaith efforts in Arizona including the founding of a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group in 2000 called the Children of Abraham. Jasser has also served as the Muslim representative on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Interfaith Movement since December 2001.

Media activities

He is a regular contributor on several news media outlets including Reuters, the Boston Globe and FoxNews.com.

Jasser was featured in the PBS film Islam v Islamists. He was also the narrator in the documentary The Third Jihad about the threat of radical Islamism to the West. The premise of the film presents the argument that there are two types of jihad being waged against the United States, these being violent jihad and cultural jihad. The argument for cultural jihad is that Islamic groups are using the laws and rights they are given to work against society and overthrow it. This is based on "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America". The memorandum is a seized government document that was used in the 2008 United States v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development case verdict which found Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development guilty of laundering money to known Palestinian terrorist oganization Hamas.

Medical activities

Jasser served as the President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) until June 2007, and on the Maricopa County Board of Health since 2005. In 2007, Jasser formed a statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force whose primary mission has been to inform and engage all Arizona physicians in disaster preparedness. He chairs the bioethics committee and teaches nuclear cardiology in Phoenix.

Jasser has also been an advisor on Islamic affairs to the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands. During his last visit in December 2007, he led an AIFD program on “Citizenship and Democracy” with Dutch Muslim youth, media, and political leadership. The program focused on strategies in countering the threat of political Islam to the west while engaging anti-Islamist Muslims.

Honors and awards

Jasser is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal. He was honored in October 2007 as a “Defender of the Home Front” by the Center for Security Policy. In January 2008, Jasser was presented with the 2007 Director’s Community Leadership Award by the Phoenix office of the FBI.

Publications

• Induction of stromelysin-1 and collagenase synthesis in fibrochondrocytes by tumor necrosis factor-[alpha] – Matrix Biology, 1994
• Consequences of overexpression of growth hormone in transgenic mice on liver cytochrome P450 enzymes, Biochemical Pharmacology, 1998, Vol. 55; # 9, pp. 1481–87