Summary of MFI Activities in 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad met with American Muslim Alliance Foundation president Agha Saeed to discuss think tank coordination.

November 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was interviewed by Panjereh Weekly on "The Effect of the Elections on U.S. Foreign Policy"
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed on CKUT's Caravan radio program on the significance of the Hajj.
• Regarding the arrest of the alleged Portland Christmas Tree bomber, Dr. Ahmad observes that "Sometimes a Sting Operation Isn’t Entrapment" on our blog.

October 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad represented the Minaret of Freedom Institute at the Forum for Progressive Muslims in Berlin of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
• We promoted the development of a ”Palestinian Narrative” at a meeting of prominent Muslims in Virginia.

September 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad spoke on “Freedom of Religion and Speech: We Can, but Should We?” at Georgetown University.
• We conducted our Encounter Islam program at St. Like’s Church in Darien CT.
• We co-produced a program on “Religion and Jeffersonian Democracy” for "The Scholar’s Chair" program on CTV.
  
• Dr. Ahmad participated in a panel discussion on “Islam and Religious Freedom” at the Oxon Hill Library.
  
• Dr. Ahmad presented a talk on Islam, Science and Liberalism at American University.
• Dr. Ahmad spoke on religious freedom at the MCC annual iftar for Montgomery County Schools.

August 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad presented his paper on "Methodological Considerations Regarding Approaching the Qur'an & the Sunna in the Context of Contemporary Life" at the IIIT summer institute.
• Dr. Ahmad gave a talk on the role of Muslim think tanks at an American Muslim Alliance workshop in DC, and was interviewed by Voice of America about the workshop.
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by Voice of America’s Dora Mekour on how “Ramadan Tests US Teen Athletes.”
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by PressTV on the drone attacks in Pakistan.

July 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad participated in the the Council on Foreign Relations’ fourth annual Religion and Foreign Policy Summer Workshop in New York.
  
• Summer Intern Kevin Duewel reorganized our daily news and analysis into a separate announcement list. Sign up for direct delivery to your inbox on our home page.

June 2010

• Minaret of Freedom Institute president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was interviewed by Scott Horton for antiwar radio on Israeli apologists, Ottoman sanctuary for Jews persecuted in Europe, the land (not religious) dispute at the core of Israeli/Palestinian conflict and other issues in the wake of the Israeli attack on the freedom flotilla.
• Dr. Ahmad published a blog: “Attack on the Flotilla: Stupid, Arrogant, and Evil.”

May 2010

• Alejandro Beutel and Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad presented the paper “Religious or Policy Justification for Violence?: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Bin Ladin’s Statements” at the annual meeting of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.   
• We counseled Hussein Ezzeldin of the University of Maryland on an “Islam Awareness Year.”   
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by El Mercurio on "Expectations for the Obama-Netanyahu Meeting" Posted on our blog.
  
• T.O. Shanavas gave a brown bag lunch presentation on Evolution and Islam.   
• We met with Lt. Col. Shareda Hosein to discuss relations between the Muslim community and U.S. armed forces.    
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by Farspress on "The Crisis in Pakistan: Is There a Way Out?", posted on our blog.
  
• We were interviewed by Mounir Azzoui, a Ph.D. student from Germany on the Muslim Community in America for his dissertation.   
• We responded to an inquiry from Michelle Jeffress (Fund for American Studies) on Islamic Banking.   
• Dr. Ahmad and Alejandro Beutel attended an al-Waref conference on “Separation of Church and State” for the Muslim World.   
• We provide input for an article for Egypt on the Future of Islam in the Middle East written by a Free Market advocate.   
• Dr. Ahmad spoke at the Rumi Forum Friendship dinner on the contributions of the Rumi Forum and MFI to interfaith dialog.   
•  We met with Michael Strong (a writer and entrepreneur) and Maggate Wade (a Senegalese entreppreneur) to discuss promotion of Minaret of Freedom Institute and possible collaboration.   
• We created a video page for the website adding Mohammed Nosseir's Q&A session on "Market Reform in Egypt" and Azzam Khamisi's talk “An Example of Peacemaking Through Forgiveness in Islam” to the existing videos.   
• We initiated a twitter account (click here to sign up for minaret_freedom at twitter.com.
  
• Imran Malik opined on "Obama's First Hundred Days" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad has posted the article "Rape at Abu Ghuraib -- State of Denial" on our blog.
  
• Imran Malik has posted an article on why "More Nukes Are Counter-productive for Pakistan" on our blog.

April 2010

• Dr. Ahmad and Imran Malik posted a summary of Ahmad Moussalli’s talk  on"The Role of Wahabis in Salafi Thought" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad’s interview on The Evening Edition in January discussing the comments President Obama directed to the Muslim world was posted to our website.   
• Dr. Ahmad posted the article ’"Why Cant We Have A Public Debate About Aid to Israel" on our blog.
• Imran Malik posted an analysis of the recent "Elections in Turkey" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad and Imran Malik  posted the article "Marriage of Minors in Saudi Arabia: Is Betrothal Obsolete?" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad Moussalli spoke on "The Role of Wahabis in Salafi Thought" at a brown bag lunch   
• Dr. Ahmad introduced Dr. Norman Finkelstein, who is speaking on "Palestine and Israel: Roots of Conflict and Prospects for Peace" at University of Maryland   
• Dr. Ahmad spoke at UMBC on April 6 on "Science in the Heavens."   
• Dr. Ahmad's talk on religion and science at the Metanexus Institute has been posted online  
• Dr. Ahmad spoke on Arab-American accomplishments at the Arab Heritage Month program at the Executive Office Building in Montgomery County, Maryland.    
• Azzam Khamisi spoke on “An Example of Peacemaking Through Forgiveness in Islam” for our brown bag lunch series.   
• Dr. Ahmad participated in a panel discussion of "Community-Based Approaches of Engaging Muslims in the U.S." meeting with Muslim visitors from Indonesia and the Philippines at the Prince Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding   
• Dr. Ahmad represented MFI at the Heritage Resource Bank in Los Angeles.   
• Dr. Ahmad represented MFI at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation liberty workshop in Los Angeles, meeting with representatives of free-market think tanks from Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, and Turkey.

March 2010

• MFI president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad appeared on an episode of EBRU-TV's World Affairs on the "Financial Crisis."
• MFI program assistant Imran Malik attended "Pakistani-American Community Advocacy Day on the Hill."
• MFI junior fellow Alejandro Beutel testified in favor of SB256 (against domestic spying) in Annapolis.
• Dr. Ahmad appeared on an episode of EBRU-TV's World Affairs on the "Financial Crisis."Azim Noordin Khamisa spoke on "An Example of Peace Through Forgiveness in Islam" at a brown bag lunch.
• Dr. Ahmad's article "Thinking Through a U.S. Strategy Towards Gaza" was published on The American Muslim.
• Hatem Bazian's article Encourage Nonviolence Through Accountability was posted on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad's talk on the Qur'an and Science presented at the IIIT Summer Seminar was posted on our website.
• Ashrah Nubani gave a brown bag lunch presentation on the Sami al-Arian case

February 2010

• MFI president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad gave a presentation about the Middle Eastern community to Montgomery County employees in Rockville, MD.
• Attorney Ashraf W. Nubani gave a brown bag lunch presentation on the latest developments in the trials of Sami Al-Arian and their implications for the civil liberties of Muslims in America.
• Dr. Ahmad posted his answers in an interview for the El Mercurio newspaper in Santiago Chile, "The Ross Appointment"on our blog.
• Imran Malik has answered the question "Are men and women considered equal in Islam?" on the Q&A section of our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad posted his summary of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding's panel discussion on "Obama in the Middle East" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad was a panelist  on an episode of World Affairs (available online) entitled "Harmony of Civilizations"
• Kasia Rada has posted an article on "Freedom of Expression in Egypt, the Fountainhead of Reform" about arrest and release of Muslim and secular bloggers in Egypt on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad has posted his answers to questions from PressTV on "Why No Success in the Egyptian Mediated Negotiations?" on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad's answers to El Mercurio on the appointment of Dennis Ross, available on our blog.
• Imran Malik has posted the article on "The Cost of Israeli Friendship" on our blog.

January 2010

• MFI president Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad provided commentary at a Q&A session on the "The Power of Nightmares"(the BBC expose on the neoconservatives and al-Qaida) at the Holiday Park Multi-Service Senior Center.
• Scott Horton interviewed Dr. Ahmad for antiwar.com radio for a libertarian perspective of the Palestinian/Israeli dispute.
• Dr. Ahmad appeared on The Evening Edition, a radio discussion in Kingston, Jamaica tonight to discuss the comments President Obama directed to the Muslim world.
• We participated in a meeting at the International Institute of Islamic Thought with German Muslims comparing mosque state relations.
• Dr. Ahmad gave a presentation at a panel discussion on "Natural Law; Source of Convergence between Science and Religion" at the University of Maryland.
• We assisted a researcher at Harvard in obtaining resources on art museum collaboration with the Muslim community.
• Dr. Ahmad gave a presentation on the situation in Gaza at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation's "International Thursday" event.
  
• We published a guest editorial on “War on Gaza: Old Questions in Need of New Answers” by Omar Sha’ban of PalThink for Strategic Studies on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad gave lecture on "The Islamic Rules of Order" at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, MD.
  
• Dr. Ahmad posted a commentary on "Al-Arian to Be Tried Yet Again" and a report on Bahrain Noted for Outstanding Fiscal Freedom on our blog.
• Dr. Ahmad was interviewed by Javier Méndez Araya, journalist in El Mercurio newspaper in Santiago Chile on the "Gaza Aftermath: The Return of Netanyahu?" available on our blog.
• Imran Malik and Dr. Ahmad have posted the article Internet Wars on our blog.