Summary of MFI Activities in 2004

December 2004      

• MFI board member Sharmin Ahmad represented the Minaret of Freedom Institute at the U.N. Conference on Islamophobia.
  
• MFI President Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was interviewed by Religious News Service about the Muslim holiday of Isra' and Mi`raj.
  
• Dr. Ahmad conducted a discussion of Maria Rosa Menocal's book, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Muslim Spain at a meeting of the "Abraham and Aristotle: All Their Children" discussion group in Arlington, VA
• Dr. Ahmad gave an introduction to Islam to Middle East Orientation Course at Hurlburt Field in Florida.

November 2004     

• MFI President Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad participated in a panel discussion on Separation of School and State as a Civil Liberty at the 2004 SepCon conference.
  
• Dr. Ahmad conducted a discussion on Ibn Tufayl's Alive, the Son of Awake at a meeting of the "Abraham and Aristotle: All Their Children" discussion group in Arlington, VA.

October 2004     

• MFI President Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was interviewed by Voice of America's Kimberly Russell on Muslim Voters in America.
• The Minaret of Freedom annual dinner was held at the Four Points Sheraton in Bethesda, MD. Featured guest Prof. David Cole of Georgetown University spoke on the subject of the struggle for civil liberties in America. Libertarian Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik and surrogates for independent candidate Ralph Nader and Green candidate David Cobb made brief comments on Prof. Cole's talk on the Patriot Act and other assaults on the civil liberties of Americans.
• Dr. Ahmad and MFI Vice President Aly Abuzakouk participated in the Middle Eastern NGO Summit on Peace and Prosperity at the Dept. of State and US-AID.
• Dr. Ahmad gave a luncheon address at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies on Implications of the Islamist Movement in Turkey on the Prospects for Reform in the Muslim World.
• Dr. Ahmad gave an introduction to Islam to Middle East Orientation Course at Fort Stewart, Georgia..
  

September 2004     

• The Minaret of Freedom Institute shared a booth at the Islamic Society of North America convention with the Islamic-American Zakat Foundation and American Muslims for Jerusalem.
  
• Dr. Ahmad directed part one of a discussion of Ibn Tufayl's Awake, the Son of Alive at the forum on the Children of Aristotle and Abraham.
  

August 2004      

• MFI President Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was interviewed by Kaukab Smith on Muslim Voters in America.
  
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by the Voice of America on Muslim voting in the United States.
  
• Irene Bachchnyan of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty interviewed Dr. Ahmad the controversy over movies about the Crusades.

July 2004      

• Dr. Ahmad delivered a popular address on "Prophet Muhammad in History" as part of Islamic History Day at the Muslims Community Center in Silver Spring, MD.
  
• Dr. Ahmad's review of David Cole's Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism was published in  the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences.
• Dr. Ahmad's review of Bat Ye'or's Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide was published in  the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences.
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by the Kaukab J. Smith of Capital News Service on Muslim Voters in a story published in numerous outlets including the Washington Post and WTOPnews.
  
• Dr. Ahmad gave introductions to Islam to Middle East Orientation Course at Hurlburt Field in Florida and in Syracuse New York.
  

June 2004

• Dr. Ahmad delivered a plenary address on "Islam, Commerce and Business Ethics" at the International Ecumenical Conference on The Ethics of Commerce at Loyola University in New Orleans, organized by the Loyola Institute for Ethics and Spirituality.

May 2004

• MFI President Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad delivered a paper titled "The Challenge of Institutional Governance in Islam: Justice, Democracy, and Shariah" at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy Fifth Annual Conference.
• Dr. Ahmad conducted a discussion on Al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers at a meeting of the "Abraham and Aristotle: All Their Children" discussion group in Arlington, VA.
• Dr. Ahmad addressed the question "Should Muslims Vote" at the 1st annual Malcolm X Conference held at the University of the District of Columbia by the Peace and Justice Foundation.
  

April 2004

• Dr Ahmad gave a lecture on how free trade can improve peaceful relations among people of different cultures and religions at a seminar on free trade sponsored by the Istituto Bruno Leoni in Milan, Italy. A lengthy article "Vive Il Capitalismo" based on an interview with Dr. Ahmad appeared in the newspaper Quotidiano Libero on April 18 (p. 8).
  
• MFI Secretary Sharmin Ahmad celebrated the American release of her new book: The Rainbow in the Heart.
  
• Dr. Ahmad conducted a discussion of Al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers at a meeting of the "Abraham and Aristotle: All Their Children" discussion group in Arlington, VA.
• Dr. Ahmad provided a critical commentary of Harun Yahya's DVD on the cosmological refutation of materialist philosophy at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
  

March 2004

• Dr. Ahmad gave a lecture on "Empire or Freedom: You Can't Have Both" to the New Jersey Libertarian Party convention in Galloway, NJ. 
• Sharmin Ahmad represented the Minaret of Freedom Institute at he United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Conference in New York. She is pictured at right with Islamic-American Zakat Foundation representative  Queen Noor of Jordan (left) and Ann Marie Nguyen of the U.N. Commission on Women staff.
  
• Dr. Ahmad gave a guest lecture to Dr. Akbar Ahmad's class on the "Clash/Dialogue of civilizations" at American University.
  
• Dr. Ahmad participated in a briefing session to University of Pennsylvania students preparing to attend mock Arab League and U.N. sessions as the Palestinian delegation.
  
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by the Islamic Broadcasting Network on Muslims and Civil Liberties.

February 2004

• Dr. Ahmad moderated a United Associates for Studies and Research roundtable discussion  with Ed Miller, an Orthodox Jew working on a book to be a common narrative of Jews and Muslims on the "Views of Abraham."
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by Carlo Lottieri on "Islam and Freedom" for Italy's Il Domenicale magazine. 
• Dr. Ahmad participated in an interview regarding the "Paintball 11" (a.k.a the "Virginia Jihad Network" that was covered by WPFW-AM in Washington, DC.
  
• Several members of the International Property Rights Working Group met with Pete Smith of the House International Affairs Committee on property rights of women in Iraq. Dr. Ahmad noted that Islamic law has historically protected the rights of women so long as woman were included in its interpretation. Subsequently the Iraqis agreed to an interim constitution which includes Islamic law as a  source of legislation and which guarantees adequate representation of women in the legislature to be elected.
  
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by the Islamic Broadcasting Network on Muslims and Civil Liberties.
  

January 2004

• Dr, Ahmad spoke on "Speaking Truth to Your Brothers" at the Conference on Muslim Unity sponsored buy the Peace and Justice Foundation at UDC.
  
• Dr. Ahmad's paper on “Conflict Within the Islamic Civilization:
  The Challenge of Disentangling Culture from Religion” has been accepted for publication in Global Dialogue.
  
• Dr. Ahmad's paper on “Common Civilizational Values as Perceived by an American Muslim” has been accepted for inclusion in Akbar Ahmad and Brian Forst’s forthcoming book From Clash of Civilizations to Dialogue: Visions of Public Figures of the World.
• Several members of the International Property Rights Working Group met with aids on Capitol Hill for briefings on the property rights of women in Iraq. Dr. Ahmad emphasized that Muslim women are often denied their rights given under Muslim law, and that it is important for women to participate in the process of codifying law as they did in the earliest years of Islam, when more than 10% of the hadith transmitters were women.
  
• Dr. Ahmad's review of Bat Ye'or' "Islam and Dhimmitude" has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of  Islamic Social Sciences.