Personal Info
- Country of residence: United States
Information
Imad Eddin Ahmed (also known as Dean
Ahmed) (born August 11, 1948) is a Palestinian-American scholar and author and
the president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute, a tax-exempt libertarian
think tank. He is also the president of the Islamic Zakat Foundation of
America, a religious and charitable organization that caters primarily to poor
and needy Muslims in the United States.
his biography
Imad Eddin Ahmed was born while his
family was heading to the United States after they left Palestine in 1948. He
grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University
(1970) and a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Arizona
(1975). He is a Muslim.
Academic career
Ahmed teaches an introductory course
on Islam at Wesley Theological Seminary. He has also taught courses on
religion, science, and freedom at the University of Maryland, College Park, and
courses on Islam and development at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins
University, the School of Advanced International Studies, and the Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Ahmed wrote and spoke about Islam,
legal and religious freedom, democracy in the Islamic world, Islamic civil
society, property rights in Islam, women in Islam and female genital
mutilation, conflicts in the Middle East, especially in Palestine and Iraq,
Palestinian human rights and property rights, terrorism, jihad and American
civil liberties.
Ahmed is the author of Signs in the
Sky: A Muslim Astronomer's Perspective on Religion, Science, and Islamic Rules
of Order, co-editor of Islam and the West: A Dialogue, and co-author of Islam
and the Discovery of Freedom. In addition, Ahmed contributed to the
Encyclopedia of Libertarianism with an article on Islam. His discourse on
“Islam, Business and Business Ethics” was published in Nicholas Capaldi’s book “Entrepreneurship
and Religion: A Clash of Civilizations?” His writing has been published in
journals and periodicals such as Middle East Politics, American Muslim Journal,
Economic Affairs, and Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Ahmed also
served as a visiting lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute.
Emad El-Din Ahmed works as the
Muslim Religious Attaché at American University, the Islamic Religious Attachéat Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, the imam of the Dar Al-Zikr Mosque and an
arbitrator for the Coordinating Council of Islamic Organizations in Washington,
DC. In 1998, in his role as liaison to the Muslim Council of America, he
testified before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution,
Civil and Human Rights, and upheld the need for federal protections for
religious freedom after the Supreme Court case of Boern v. Flores to the United
States. Ahmed is also the spokesperson for the National Coalition for the
Protection of Civil Liberties, a national coalition of more than 20 Islamic and
civil organizations.
political activity
Emad El Din Ahmed has long been an
outspoken critic of the neoconservative movement's role in shaping US foreign
policy, especially in the Middle East.
In 2001, Ahmed joined a delegation
of American Muslims participating in the "First Conference on
Jerusalem" in Beirut, which was "dedicated to the liberation of
Jerusalem."
Ahmed has been a libertarian
activist since 1975, serving as president of the Libertarian Party of Maryland,
managing four political campaigns, participating in various political
activities of the Libertarian Party of Maryland and being a member of the
Association of Academics Supporting Ron Paul during his 2008 presidential
candidacy.
He has also been active in the
activities of the National Libertarian Party, serving as the party's national
secretary, chairman of its judiciary committee, chairman of its program
committee, and chairman of Michael Badnarik's Islamic Outreach Committee in his
2004 presidential campaign.
In 1988, Ahmed ran for US Senator
for the Libertarian Party, although only Republicans and Democrats were allowed
to print their names unless the candidate gathered tens of thousands of
signatures. Ahmed's court challenge to the law failed, but he received 500
votes. Later, Maryland law allowed the Libertarian Party to collect only 10,000
signatures to allow a candidate to run in the election and put his name on the
ballot.
His candidacy for the US Senate 2012
In May 2012, the Libertarian Party
of Maryland nominated Ahmed as its 2012 Senate candidate. After a successful
legal battle for eligibility, he ran against Democratic politician Ben Cardin
and Republican Dan Bongino. and independent Rob Sobhani. Ahmed's core program
issues included bringing American troops home, restoring civil liberties
endangered by the "war on terror", working to hold the federal
government fiscally accountable, and ending corporate welfare.
Ahmed was supported by former
Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's candidate for President of the
United States. Johnson wrote: “Dr. Ahmed is a strong and consistent voice
calling for individual liberty for all Americans. His decades-long record of
success as a civic activist proves that Dr. Dean Ahmed is the kind of American
Senator this nation really needs.” Ahmed Johnson also supported him.
Ahmed participated in the Wobble
Radio debate on October 24, 2012. Montgomery County Media aired his statement
regarding his candidacy. Ahmed raised $8,565 to fund his campaign. He won
32,252 votes, or 1.3 percent of the total.
from his publications
Islamic Social Thought, 1982.
Signs in the Sky: A Muslim
Astronomer's Perspective on Religion, Science, and Islamic Rules of Order,
1992.
Female Genital Mutilation: An
Islamic Perspective, 2000.
Research Handbook in Islamic Work
Ethics, 2015.
Islamic Contributions to Modern
Scientific Methods, 2012.
Islam, Business and Entrepreneurship
Ethics, 2004.
Achievements and Awards
Awards
In his capacity as past president of
the East Bethesda Citizens Association and the Montgomery County Civic Union,
Emaduddin Ahmed has been awarded the Montgomery County Civic Union's Star
Trophy for Distinguished Public Service, the Marylandians for Democracy
Champion of Democracy Award and the Ranger Award. From the Montgomery County
Civic Union. In 2012, Ahmed was one of many Arab Americans honored at the Gaithersburg
City Awards. In 1990, he received the Maryland Libertarian Party's Samuel Chase
Award, named after Maryland's representative at the signing ceremonies of the
US Declaration of Independence.
source
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