M. Zuhdi Jasser is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander. He is the President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona. AIFD, founded in 2003, seeks to address the central ideological conflict in the war on terror. Dr. Jasser believes that it is essential for devotional Muslims to lead the ideological war against militant Islamism by separating the spiritual from the political in Islam. This Muslim led effort seeks to establish the synergy of Americanism and our Constitutional democracy with a pluralistic Islam.

Dr. Jasser is a respected physician currently in private practice in Phoenix Arizona specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology. His highest military award is the Meritorious Service Medal. He recently served as the President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) until June 2007. As ArMA President in early 2007, Dr. Jasser formed and now chairs a statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force whose primary mission has been to inform and engage all Arizona physicians in disaster preparedness. Dr. Jasser chairs the bioethics committee and teaches nuclear cardiology in a major Phoenix hospital. He 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.

Dr. Jasser was featured in the controversial PBS film, Islam v Islamists produced by ABG Films, Inc. This film was initially banned from distribution on PBS stations as originally intended in the Crossroads program but was then aired in a limited distribution to some affiliates. It received national acclaim in its release on the Fox News Channel in October 2007.

Dr. Jasser has also been an advisor on Islamic affairs to the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands. He initially participated in the Diversity Dialogues conference of November 2006 between American Muslims and Dutch Muslims. He then returned in December 2007 to continue the dialogue with Dutch leadership on ideological strategies in countering the threat of political Islam to the west while engaging anti-Islamist Muslims.

Dr. Jasser was honored in October 2007 as a “Defender of the Home Front” at the annual Keeper of the Flame Dinner of the Center for Security Policy. He was also one of five moderate Muslims who met with Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the “Contest of Ideas with the Muslim World” at the Hudson Institute on December 5, 2007. In January 2008, Dr. Jasser was presented with the 2007 Director’s Community Leadership Award by the Phoenix office of the FBI.

Dr. Jasser was also recently featured in The Third Jihad, produced by PublicScope Films. Dr. Jasser narrates this documentary about the threat of radical Islamism to the West which was recently released and will be shown and featured internationally in 2009.

Dr. Jasser is a regular columnist and contributing editor for FamilySecurityMatters.org and a frequent columnist on Islamic affairs for the Arizona Republic. He appears frequently on the Fox News Channel and has been a CNN Contributor when appearing regularly on the Glenn Beck Show of CNN Headline News. Dr. Jasser has been published in the National Review, Middle East Quarterly, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times, and Beliefnet. He is a frequent national radio and television commentator and featured speaker about Islam, Islamism, moderate Muslims, and counterterrorism. His writings can be found at the website of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (www.aifdemocracy.org).

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