Dr. Jasser is the Chairman of the Board and founding member of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). AIFD was formed by a small group of local Phoenix Muslim professionals in March 2003 as a startup think tank in support of the expression of Islam which is in synergy with American democracy, the U.S. Constitution, and the clear separation of religion and state. AIFD was formed on the basis that the development of this ideology at the core of the American and global Muslim consciousness is the central mission necessary in order to ultimately defeat the threat of Islamism and jihadism.
Dr. Jasser is the son of Muslim-Syrian immigrants and is a native of Wisconsin. He moved to Phoenix in 1999 after completing his active duty commitment with the United States Navy. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1988 and graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin on a U.S. Navy scholarship in 1992. He completed his specialty training in internal medicine at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1996. His tours of duty included Medical Department Head aboard the U.S.S. El Paso (‘93-’94) which deployed to Somalia (Operation Restore Hope), Chief Resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital (’96-’97), and Staff Internist for the Office of the Attending Physician to Congress in Washington, D.C (’97-’99). He received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Navy as a Lieutenant Commander in 1999. His highest military award is the Meritorious Service Medal, which he received in 1999.
He has since been in the private practice of internal medicine and nuclear cardiology in Phoenix. He is the immediate-Past President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) and also chairs the Bioethics Committee for Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
As a devout practicing Muslim, Dr. Jasser has always been very active in the study of Islam and its intersections with American culture. He has been active in multiple efforts at interfaith work during his years in the U.S. Navy and into civilian life in Phoenix. In 2000 he and a leading local Rabbi founded the Children of Abraham, an active Muslim-Jewish dialogue group in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has also served as the Muslim representative on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Interfaith Movement since December 2001.
Since 9-11, Dr. Jasser has felt that the primary responsibility for combating the ideology of terror and the overriding ideology of political Islam rests with Muslims. While the vast majority of Muslims are against terror as a means, it is a defeat of the ends of political Islam which Dr. Jasser and AIFD believe will ultimately win the global war against Islamism. Few other Muslims have yet publicly joined in this ideological battle against Islamism within Islam. Dr. Jasser’s perspective, as the son of Syrian immigrants who left the despotic oppression of Baathist Syria, is unique. His view, which he believes to be common among American Muslims, is that he is able to practice his faith more freely in the U.S. than in any so-called Muslim nations. Thus, to him and AIFD, being Muslim is not political. It is about being American. The conflict between Islamism and Americanism as a societal and governmental system is at the center of the current global conflict. Our victory relies upon an expression and practice of Islam which separates religion and politics. Dr. Jasser articulates a need for regular practicing Muslims to retake the intellectual and ideological reigns of their faith away from political clerics toward a separation of Islamism from Islam and toward a purely spiritual Islam.
Dr. Jasser participated from November 1-2, 2006 in a Diversity Dialogues conference between American Muslims and Dutch Muslims in the Netherlands, sponsored by the American Embassy and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He is one of the moderate, anti-Islamist Muslims featured in the controversial PBS film, Islam v Islamists produced by ABG Film, Inc. He recently participated in panels on Islam, Islamism, and democracy at the Hudson Institute and Tufts University.
Dr. Jasser is a frequent columnist on Islamic affairs for the Arizona Republic and a regular columnist and contributing editor for FamilySecurityMatters.org. He is a CNN Contributor appearing regularly on the Glenn Beck Show of CNN Headline News. He has also been published in the Washington Times, Beliefnet and National Review. He is a frequent national radio and television commentator and featured speaker about Islam, Islamism, and counterterrorism. His writings can be found at the website of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (www.aifdemocracy.org). Dr. Jasser and his wife and their two children reside in Scottsdale Arizona.