About US

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy's (AIFD) mission is to advocate for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state.

AIFD is the most prominent American Muslim organization that confronts the ideologies of political Islam and openly counters the belief that the Muslim faith is inextricably rooted to the concept of the Islamic state. Founded by Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD looks to build the future of Islam through the concepts of liberty and freedom.

AIFD's mission is derived from a love for America and its founding principles in addition to a love of God and our personal faith of Islam. AIFD believes that Muslims can better practice Islam in an environment that protects the rights of an individual to practice their faith as they choose. Universal religious freedom is an absolute requirement for the free practice of all faiths. We seek to promote the ideas of modernity and help reform the ideas that remain pervasive within the theology of Islam that are incompatible with religious freedom, the U.S.Constitution, Bill of Rights, and our citizenship pledge.

While shar'iah means God's law for Muslims, the reality is that whenever it is applied by government it becomes manmade law. The reality is that governmental shar'iah will always be an undemocratic tool for theocracy or quasi-theocracy. AIFD will work to convince Muslims that governments and legal systems based in reason and the separation of mosque and state are preferable to those based in shar'iah. No matter how "democratic" (election based) a shar'iah based system is purported to be , its entire foundation is predicated on a supremacist ideology that is incompatible with the US Constitution and universal religious freedom of a genuine liberal democracy. In fact, the purest practice of Islam is one in which Muslims have complete freedom to accept or reject any of the tenants or laws of the faith.

AIFD believes that the root cause of Islamist terrorism and the greatest threat to global security is the ideology of Political Islam and a belief in the supremacy of the Islamic state.

Terrorism is but a means to an end. The underlying philosophy is what western society should fear most. Security will never come until the ideas of freedom and liberty win out over the ideas of political Islam, shar'iah and the Islamic state.

AIFD is about creating an opportunity and the space to engage the Muslim consciousness openly and directly about this conflict.

We seek to counter the narrative and the ideas of Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and its network with our own Jeffersonian Muslim ideas of the separation of mosque and state. We will seek every opportunity to educate Muslims and non-Muslims alike that we are an ideologically diverse faith community and that the Islamist platform and its advocates in all of their manifestations are not compatible with modernity and liberty.

We will seek to show Americans and the world that a plurality if not a majority of Muslims do not toe the line of political Islam.

AIFD seeks to create a 21st Century movement within the Muslim consciousness to embrace the tenets of liberty and freedom by teaching Muslim youth and young adults the ideas of gender equality, pluralism, and an unwavering preference of the secular state and - secular law over the Islamic state. Muslim children in America and across the world need to be taught that the principles of the United States Constitution are not only in line with their faith, but are the best way to protect the sanctity of their faith and all other faiths.