Muslims for Modernity

The granddaughter of Basra’s leading Ayatollah, Al-Suwaij was one of the few women to join the failed 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein. She fled Iraq and eventually became an American citizen. Following the shock of September 11th, she left her teaching position at Yale to found the American Islamic Congress. An outspoken advocate for women’s equality and interfaith understanding, she has authored editorials in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today and appeared on NPR, BBC, Al-Jazeera, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. She testified before Congress, lectured at Harvard, and participated in interfaith events around the world. Named an “Ambassador of Peace” by the Interreligious and International Peace Council, Al-Suwaij has received Dialogue on Diversity’s Liberty Award and was recognized as the “2006 International Person of the Year” by the National Liberty Museum.

The son of Muslim-Syrian immigrants, Dr. Jasser graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin on a U.S. Navy scholarship in 1992. He practices internal medicine and nuclear cardiology in Phoenix where he previously served as President of the Arizona Medical Association. He also chairs the Bioethics Committee for Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Dr. Jasser co-founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy to articulate the freedom of thought and religious practice American Muslims enjoy.

Prior to founding the Center for Democracy and Human Rights, Dr. Alyami served as a Senior Fellow at the Saudi Institute in Washington, D.C.; directed the educational peace program for the American Friends Service Committee in San Francisco, and was a Representative for the Arab Organization for Human Rights in North America. He speaks at conferences throughout the U.S., Egypt, Sudan, Israel, and London, testifies before Congress, and has advised senior officials at the Pentagon, National Security Council, and State Department.

The founder of I.S.L.A.M., Dr. Hamid is a former member of the terrorist network Jemma Islameia, and understudy and accomplice of Ayman Al-Zawaheri. He knows the jihadist ideology first hand. Dr. Hamid's dream is to provide Muslims all over the world with a new understanding of Islam that brings peace, love and harmony to our civilization. His hope is to establish the values of tolerance in the mind of his fellow Muslims. He defines his greatest success in life as, "teaching young Muslims the meaning of true LOVE."

An active member of the governing board of Muhammadiyah, the world’s second largest Muslim organization with an estimated 30 million members, Dr. Munir previously served as Vice-Secretary of the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Council of Religious Scholars. He is a member of the faculty of Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University and currently serves as a LibForAll Foundation Fellow. Dr. Munir is the author of over 40 books and hundreds of articles published in various Indonesian magazines and newspapers.

Mr. Taylor and former Indonesian president Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid established LibForAll Foundation to promote a pluralistic and tolerant understanding of Islam, and discredit the use of terrorism worldwide. Mr. Taylor’s work with LibForAll follows a career as a global telecom executive, during which he served as CEO of USA Global Link, and was widely credited as one of the essential catalysts in the deregulation of the global telecommunications industry. An expert on Islam and the processes of Islamization in Southeast Asia, he has lived, studied and worked in the Muslim world, from Iran to Indonesia, over a period of more than four decades.

Often called “Sang Kyai Pembelajar” – the Great Religious Scholar and Teacher – by members of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Bisri strongly influences the Nahdlatul Ulama’s social and political development. Descended from a long line of charismatic religious leaders, he heads the prestigious Raudlatuth Tholibin Islamic boarding school in Rembang, Central Java. Bisri’s role in combining spirituality with artistic expression is widely admired in Indonesia, where he is regarded as a cultural icon, celebrated for his courage in defending artistic and religious freedom in the face of radical onslaughts. Bisri’s personal philosophy can be seen in the “Mata Air” (“Living Spring”) Community that he heads, whose membership is open to all who share its essential values: “Worship God; respect elders; treat those who are younger with loving kindness; open your heart to all humanity.” He is closely involved with LibForAll's Grassroots Pluralist Network project.

Popularly known as Gus Dur, Indonesia’s first democratically-elected president and long-time leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization with nearly 40 million members, he was the recipient of the 2003 Friends of the United Nations Global Tolerance Award. As both a political and religious authority for over thirty years, Gus Dur has used his position to advocate religious tolerance, pluralism and democracy. He often sends members of his Muslim organization to defend Christian churches and congregations from attack by radical Islamists. In 2007, he hosted an international Holocaust conference, publicly condemning the Holocaust denial conference in Tehran. President Wahid is co-founder of the LibForAll Foundation and uses his influence to promote a pluralistic and tolerant understanding of the Islamic Faith.