Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a major opposing Muslim voice to the Cordoba Initiative mosque near Ground Zero, is calling for Muslims to take a stance against “political Islam.” Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy in 2003. The organization seeks to “provide an American Muslim voice” while arguing for the founding principles of freedom in the U.S. Constitution. Dr. Jasser is a recognized expert on the concept of political Islam and radical American Islamist organizations. Jasser is a former Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy and served 11 years as a medical officer. 

You have been featured in the media discussing the Cordoba Initiative mosque near Ground Zero. Why are you opposed to the mosque?

Zuhdi Jasser: Notice the name of the organization. If we were alive in the 13th century we wouldn’t understand, but today we do. Cordoba was apartheid. Non-Muslims had their own identification tags during Islam’s control over Spain. Even before the issue of the mosque came up, Feisel Rauf was one of my concerns in the Islamic community. The problems, even with his book, “What’s Right With Islam,” are his ideas. He’s actually an Islamist. People like Rauf, who are soft but believe in Islamism, give the West a sense of complacency. He is supportive of sharia law (Islamic law). Rauf says sharia is like the Declaration of Independence. I don’t know what planet he is living on. We need to separate mosque and state. He’s a very skilled apologist for Islamism. Look at how many months it took him to condemn Hamas. On Aaron Klein’s show in June he said he didn’t want to offend any side by calling Hamas a terrorist organization. To build a community center like he’s building, which is in the millions in cost, suggests foreign funding. It’s too expensive to get funding from within the United States. People in the Islamic community, or in any community, know how hard it is to raise money to do anything. As a Muslim, I am opposed to using foreign funding from Gulf States that oppress women and support theocracy. There should be transparency on the funding.

Are Americans, in large part, opposed to the Cordoba Initiative or are they wary of Islam in general?

ZJ: There is a mosque closer to Ground Zero that was destroyed on 9/11 and is being rebuilt. It is more evangelical in its beliefs. Americans don’t have a problem with that center. The Ground Zero mosque, rather, is an optical problem. It’s an enormous structure and would cast a shadow on a cemetery, on a memorial created due to the actions of radical Muslims. There are questions about those building this mosque. Politically, no matter what the purpose, it is an optical problem. This is more about a political statement than any kind of humility. The Cordoba Initiative, if they were truly moderate, would not be building huge structures like this, but investing in expanding ideas of liberty.

Most recently a pastor in Florida, who heads a very small congregation, caused a lot of controversy with his initial plans to burn the Quran. How should Muslims cope with attacks on their faith?

ZJ: The reaction to this was very un-Islamic, anti-Western and anti-American. Yes, nothing good has ever come of book burning. It’s truly an act of hate speech, but it’s protected speech. One of the biggest complaints my family had dealt with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR sent all of these announcements demanding action from the FBI. There were two press releases noting random incidents of Qurans being burnt. It seems like they were inflaming the Muslim community and making the issue bigger than it was, that they were pouring more gasoline on the fire. Do they expect government and police to go into people’s backyards? There was no attempt to approach this in a rational and calm way. It’s the time for us to stop exaggerating the situation. Even Attorney General Eric Holder compared this to Jim Crow years. It’s absurd! There is no evidence that Muslims are more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other group. Also, Islam is not an immutable thing like race. It’s an ideology that has, within it, a political movement. Concern with an ideology is not necessarily a phobia or hateful.

What does your organization set out to achieve and what are some upcoming initiatives?

ZJ: We started AIFD in 2003 because we wanted to address problems in the Muslim community. Moderate Muslims, we felt, needed to take a stance against political Islam because this is a root cause of Islamist terrorism. The Muslim Liberty Project is one of our current programs. It’s based on Jeffersonian principles of universal individual rights. The program reaches out to devout Muslims, especially the youth. We hope to educate the younger people, including college students, on U.S. constitutional principles and to refute oppressive ideas within political Islam. We have people who are more traditional and those who are liberal. The project promotes discussion. We’re also putting together a book and creating social networking connections.

Can you share with readers how your background has motivated your work today?

ZJ: My father is from Aleppo. My mother is from Damascus. There were a number of families, intellectual families, who were fighting for principles of democracy, including my grandfather who fought against Syria’s secular dictatorship. My family escaped in 1966. The United States, especially the values of this country, represented where they wanted to live. I grew up learning that all people, regardless of the faith they practice, are equal. That was the Islam I learned.

 

Reach Reporter Reut Cohen here.

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