Zuhdi Jasser

Biography

Born on November 17, 1967, Jasser is the son of Syrians who immigrated to the United States in the 1960s, owing to repression in their homeland. He was raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, until the age of 6. The family then moved to Neenah, Wisconsin, where he was raised in the Sunni branch of Islam. His father was a cardiologist, and his mother is a pharmacist.

He attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, earning his bachelor of science in 1988; then he attended the Medical College of Wisconsin on a U.S. Navy scholarship, receiving his M.D. in 1992. He served in the Navy for 11 years, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal and attaining the rank of lieutenant commander by the time of his honorable discharge in 1999. His tours of duty included staff internist for the U.S. Congress, medical department head aboard the USS El Paso, and chief resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He moved to Arizona after his discharge from the Navy, taking over part of his father’s medical practice.

In the wake of the attacks of 9/11, Jasser and a group of American Muslims formed the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) as “an organization that systematically looked at and engaged political Islam in all of its manifestations as the problem in order to reform our faith and stop terrorism, which was only a symptom.” Jasser frequently writes and talks about the issue of political Islam. James Woolsey former head of the CIA and Seth Liebsohn, author and radio show host describe him as “the kind of man our government should listen to.” Jasser utilizes his commentating, speaking engagements, and media appearances “to press Muslim leaders to aggressively oppose a ‘culture of separatism.’”

On March 10, 2011, Jasser appeared as a witness at the first in a series of hearings conducted by the United States House Committee on Homeland Security on “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and the Community’s Response." Jasser’s testimony focused on how the polarization of American views of the Muslim community are an obstacle to reform within the faith, stating:

I sit before you a proud, devout, American Muslim whose country is polarized on its perceptions of Muslims and the radicalization that occurs within our communities. One camp refuses to believe any Muslim could be radicalized living in blind multiculturalism, apologetics, and denial, and the other camp believes all devout Muslims and the faith of Islam are radicalized. Between these two polarities is a reasoned, pragmatic approach focused on solutions that recognizes the beauty of one of the world's great religions, while also acknowledging the existence within of a dangerous internal theo-political domestic and global ideology that must be confronted—Islamism. I hope that these hearings are the beginning of a rational national conversation about those solutions.

During his testimony he said that American Muslim organizations had been “circling the wagons” and have too frequently cautioned Muslims against speaking to law enforcement without a lawyer present. He also said that political Islam was based on the idea that the government should be run under Islamic law, which he said violated the American concept of separation of church and state.

On June 24, 2011, Jasser appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution to testify in favor of H.R. 963, the “See Something, Say Something” Act.

Jasser’s medical practice is in Phoenix, Arizona, and he resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife and three children, who are being raised as Muslims.

Views on Islam

Jasser describes himself as a devout Muslim who believes that “America in fact provides the best atmosphere for Muslims to practice our faith.” He does not claim to be a formal expert in Koranic Arabic, or in sharia (Islamic jurisprudence), but he “see[s] Islam (consistent with ‘Ijtihad,’ the tradition of critical interpretation of Islamic scripture) as applicable in the modern world and subject to logic and reason.” After attending Phoenix-area mosques for several years, he became disappointed that politics was being discussed from the mosque pulpits and was especially concerned about sermons that criticized U.S. government policies and portrayed Muslims as victims.

Jasser began criticizing American Muslim organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Imams Federation, the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America, Muslim Students’ Association, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, because he sees them as Islamist, meaning they support a mixing of Islam and politics. He has been especially critical of CAIR, a Muslim American civil rights group that, according to Jasser, is focused on “victimology” and does not adequately condemn the goals of the terrorist groups. A CAIR official has responded, “[W]ith these people, nothing we would do would satisfy them” and going so far as to claim that Zuhdi is “a mere sock puppet for Islam haters.”

Jasser has also engaged in interfaith activities, serving on the board of the Arizona Interfaith Movement; helping to found an Arizona-based organization called The Children of Abraham, a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group in 2000, and a chapter of Seeds of Peace in 2003.

Jasser has said that he and his family have helped build a number of small mosques in different cities using locally raised funds, and at times encountering, but always overcoming local opposition. In 2010 Jasser strongly opposed the building of the Park51 project, a 13-story Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site, which is also known as Ground Zero. He said he was concerned that the funding of the $100 million project might be coming from foreign Islamist sources, and also said: “Ground Zero is purely about being American. It can never be about being Muslim.” After President Obama defended the constitutional right of Muslims in America to build a mosque and community center on private property, but not the wisdom of its location, Jasser criticized Obama for “engaging in passive–aggressive meddling” and for telling “the more than 70 percent of Americans who oppose the mosque that they were either wrong or confused.”

Jasser believes acts of Islamic terrorism are rooted in the ideology of political Islam or Islamism. He has said that Islamists believe that the “Islamic state and its shar’iah law is superior to our constitutional republic.” He believes the U.S. needs a “coordinated existential strategy” to combat the ideology, and that this has been dangerously lacking, with the result that the number of home-grown terrorists is increasing. He has expressed the opinion that the 2009 Christmas Day attempted airplane bombing, the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, and the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt have not prodded the United States into the appropriate action, but rather have resulted in politically correct denial by U.S. government authorities, and inaction by most American Muslims. He believes that even the Bush administration took inadequate measures against Islamism in America. He says the U.S. needs to provide alternatives for Muslim youth and promote reformist groups. In his television appearances, Jasser has claimed that 3 to 5 percent of U.S. Muslims are militant and 30 to 40 percent do not believe in separation of mosque and state. He also states that he believes many Western Muslim imams are too timid in their response to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seemingly both criticizing but also sympathizing with its goal of a caliphate stating "Clearly, the majority of the mosques in the United States are led by imams who are Islamists — who believe that in Muslim-majority countries that the state should be identified as an Islamic state."

Views on Israel

Jasser is an outspoken supporter of Israel and believes that Muslim organizations and leaders need to be held to a litmus test to see whether they recognize Israel as a state. He specifically condemns groups such as Hamas and Al Qaeda and governments such as the Saudi and Syrian dictatorships. “If they don’t ... then you have to wonder where their allegiances are,” said Jasser.

American Islamic Forum for Democracy

Jasser and a group of American Muslims founded the nonprofit American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) in 2003 with the goal of demonstrating the compatibility of Islam with democracy and American values. Jasser is the group’s president and chief spokesman. The AIFD supports separation of religion and state, religious pluralism, equality of the sexes, the unconditional recognition of Israel, and the creation of an independent Palestine “on the current ‘occupied territories.’” The organization rejects terrorism and any justification for it.

Documentaries

Jasser is a contributor in four documentaries. He was featured in the PBS film Islam v Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center, which PBS banned from the air after pressure from Muslim organizations.

He was the main narrator in the Clarion Fund film, The Third Jihad, which opens with Jasser stating, “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them.” Third Jihad’s promotional materials state that “radical Islamists driven by a religiously motivated rejection of western values cultures and religion are engaging in a multifaceted strategy to overcome the western world.” The film has stirred controversy, with the New Republic stating the producer of the film has ties to the Israeli settlement movement. Although Jasser has said he does not agree with everything in the film, he supports the overall message.

Jasser also appeared in the 2010 Newt Gingrich film, America At Risk: The War With No Name, a production of Citizens United. The film’s promotional materials state that “we are long overdue for a serious global strategy in fighting terrorism and the ideology behind it. We must have the courage to tell the truth and to act on that truth.” It has been described as “anti-Obama” by The Nation.

Jasser is also featured in the Fox News Channel documentary Fox Reporting: A Question of Honor, which examines the killing of Noor Al-Maleki in Peoria, Arizona, by her father, Falah Al-Maleki, and his subsequent trial.

Reception

According to the Washington Post, “In some ways, Zuhdi Jasser doesn’t match the profile of the typical Muslim American. He’s an active Republican who has supported the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is an advocate for Israel and says his faith harbors ‘an insidious supremacism.’”

According to the progressive magazine Mother Jones, “Jasser has lately become the right’s go-to guy when it comes to providing cover for policies or positions that many Muslim Americans contend are discriminatory. When controversy over the so-called Ground Zero mosque erupted, Jasser, a frequent guest on Fox News, accused the builders of trying to ‘diminish what happened’ on September 11, 2001. He has supported statewide bans on Shariah law in American courts and has helped bolster conservative warnings that American Muslims seek to replace the Constitution with a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Many American Muslim groups, meanwhile, view Jasser as a reliable apologist for Republicans and anti-Muslim figures—one with little grassroots support in the American Muslim community.”

Jasser has frequently been in conflict with a number of Muslim advocacy organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Council, and Islamic Circle of North America, claiming that they are Islamist, are focused on “victimology” and do not adequately condemn the goals of terrorist groups. These organizations in turn protested his March 2012 appointment to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The editorial board of the “The Arizona Republic” responded to these protests by describing them as “ad hominem attacks that are made up out of whole cloth, falsely accusing him and Muslim members of his American Islamic Forum for Democracy of being non-practicing Muslims, at best, and Islam-haters at worst.” The Republic editorial board further stated that “[Jasser’s] presence there affirms exactly what his strident opponents fear most—that there indeed is a diversity of voices, of points of view, among Muslims.”

An article in the media watchdog group Media Matters for America criticized Jasser’s alleged lack of credentials and his “right-wing rhetoric.”

Jasser has also been a target of criticism from several well-known right-wing critics of Islam, such as blogger Pamela Geller, who asserted that Jasser’s reform-minded approach to Islam is not true Islam itself, and that Jasser himself does not have any real following among American Muslims [1]. Jasser referred to Geller's allegations as "absolutely false", and responded to Geller's claims in an article which he wrote for American Thinker[2].

Professional activities, honors, and awards

Jasser practices internal medicine and nuclear cardiology in Phoenix. He has been on the Maricopa County board of health since 2005. He is a member of the Clarion Fund’s advisory board, a New York–based nonprofit organization that produces and distributes documentaries on the threats of Radical Islam. In 2011 the group released the film Iranium that explores the Iranian nuclear program as it pertains to threats against the West, and Islamic fundamentalism in Iran.

In 2007 he formed a statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force for physicians. He chairs a bioethics committee and teaches nuclear cardiology in Phoenix.

He was honored in October 2007 by Center for Security Policy as a “Defender of the Home Front” for his anti-Islamist activism. In January 2008 he was presented with the 2007 Director’s Community Leadership Award by the Phoenix office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.