American Islamic Forum for Democracy

American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) a right-wing lobby group, founded in 2003 by M. Zuhdi Jasser.

AIFD claims to battle "Islamo-facsism" and to be "a leading voice for liberty-minded Muslims in America in the war on terror." In the "members" section on its website, it lists only one individual -- its founder, Zuhdi Jasser, who is also "one of the founding members" of CIP, by his own account. The emergence of groups such as AIFD, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in January 2006, has Pipes' broad endorsement. ""I see the emergence of these new groups as vital to present an alternative view to Muslims," he said.

The group seems to have no support at all beyond right wing publications such as National Review Online, or the New York Sun. AIFD's raison d'etre seems to be the targetting of mainstream Muslim organizations, such as CAIR. In his critique of CAIR, Zuhdi Jasser writes:


 * We need to create organizations — high-profile, well-funded national organizations and think tanks — which are not afraid to identify al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah by name, and by their mission as the enemies of America.

The conflation of al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah is interesting, as two of them have nothing to do with the United States; their adversary is only Israel.

Key Associations

 * Daniel Pipes
 * Center for Islamic Pluralism

Contact
1301 E. McDowell Road, Suite 202, Phoenix, Arizona 85006, USA Phone: 602-254-1840 Website: http://www.aifdemocracy.org

Related Articles

 * M. Zuhdi Jasser, "Why Do They CAIR about Jack Bauer?", National Review Online, January 29, 2007.