The American Muslim has announced that three U.S. organizations tied to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood have published a directory listing “sixty-five top experts on Islam and Muslim affairs”:
Three American Muslim organizations have published a directory listing sixty-five top experts on Islam and Muslim affairs for the use of government, media, policymakers and academia. The directory is the product of a collaboration of two Washington DC area think tanks, the Minaret of Freedom Institute (MFI) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), and a professional association, the Association of Muslims Social Scientists—North America (AMSS-NA). Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D., the president of MFI, heralded the directory (available online at http://www.islamicresourcebank.org) as “a much needed resource at a time when too many pseudo-experts with a weak knowledge of these subjects, or with special agendas, have dominated the discourse.” Dr. Ahmad noted that the experts in the directory are “both Muslims and non-Muslims with a variety of views, but who have in common the fact that they have an authentic, contextualized knowledge of their areas of expertise. The IIIT will host a gathering of the experts in Herndon, Virginia on July 24-25 at which they will discuss emerging issues and how to effectively present accurate information about their various specialties. The workshop is open to the press who can RSVP to iiit@iiit.org or contact Eisha at 703-471-1133.Dr. Ahmad said that he sponsoring organizations are seeking to meet with media editors and key people in government, universities, and policy research institutes to make them aware of the directory. “We hope this will be on ongoing project,” Dr. Ahmad said.
Although a full analysis of the directory remains to be done, most of the individuals listed in the directory are known to be are part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood or on record as supportive of the U.S. Brotherhood including individuals such as:
- Hisham Al-Talib (IIIT)
- Jamal Barzinji (IIIT)
- Robert Crane
- John Esposito (Georgetown University)
- Mohammed Nimer (Council on American Islamic Relations )
- Antony Sullivan (Minaret of Freedom)
- Sayyid Sayeed (Islamic Society of North America)
- John Voll (Georgetown University)
According to a recent Hudson Institute report, IIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by important members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge.” The Hudson report also discusses the the Association of Muslims Social Scientists which was founded as a front group for the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. The Minaret of Freedom Institute (MFI) is a lesser known part of the U.S. Brotherhood that purports to be an Islamic libertarian think-tank.