Past Speaker

Zuhdi Jasser

Founder, American Islamic Forum for Democracy

M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D. is the founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, an organization he established in the wake of 9/11 to promote a Muslim-led vision of liberty and the separation of mosque and state. A first-generation American Muslim whose parents fled Syria's Baathist regime, Jasser served as a U.S. Navy physician and medical officer before entering public life. He was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and served as its vice chair. He is the author of A Battle for the Soul of Islam and a narrator of the Clarion documentary The Third Jihad.