33 Facts About Zuhdi Jasser

Mohamed Zuhdi Jasser is an American religious and political commentator and physician specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology in Phoenix, Arizona.

In 2003, with a group of American Muslims, Zuhdi Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona, and in 2004 he was one of the founders of the Center for Islamic Pluralism.

In March 2012, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Zuhdi Jasser to serve a two-year term on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Zuhdi Jasser's grandfather, Zuhdi Jasser, who owned a vegetable oil company in Syria was a devout Muslim with an admiration of the West.

Zuhdi Jasser's father, Mohamed Kais Jasser, is a cardiologist who studied medicine at the University of London and Syria in the early 1960s, he was an active critic through his newspaper columns, which led to his migration with his pharmacist wife in 1963 from Beirut, Lebanon to the United States.

Zuhdi Jasser was raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, until the age of 6.

Zuhdi Jasser served in the Navy for 11 years, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal and attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander by the time of his honorable discharge in 1999.

Zuhdi Jasser moved to Arizona after his discharge from the Navy, taking over part of his father's medical practice.

Zuhdi Jasser frequently writes and talks about the issue of political Islam.

Zuhdi Jasser utilizes his commentating, speaking engagements, and media appearances "to press Muslim leaders to aggressively oppose a 'culture of separatism".

On March 10,2011, Zuhdi Jasser appeared as a witness at the first in a series of hearings conducted by the United States House Committee on Homeland Security on "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and the Community's Response".

Zuhdi Jasser's testimony focused on how the polarization of American views of the Muslim community are an obstacle to reform within the faith.

Zuhdi Jasser said that political Islam was based on the idea that the government should be run under Islamic law, which he said violated the American concept of separation of church and state.

In 2024, Zuhdi Jasser ran for US Representative in Congress as a Republican in Arizona's 4th congressional district against incumbent Democratic congressman Greg Stanton, losing to Kelly Cooper.

Zuhdi Jasser describes himself as a devout Muslim who believes that "America in fact provides the best atmosphere for Muslims to practice our faith".

Zuhdi Jasser has been especially critical of CAIR, a Muslim American civil rights group that, according to Jasser, is focused on "victimology" and does not adequately condemn the goals of the terrorist groups.

Zuhdi Jasser has engaged in interfaith activities, serving on the board of the Arizona Interfaith Movement; helping to found an Arizona-based organization called The Children of Abraham, a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group in 2000, and a chapter of Seeds of Peace in 2003.

Zuhdi Jasser has said that he and his family have helped build a number of small mosques in different cities using locally raised funds, and at times encountering, but always overcoming local opposition.

Zuhdi Jasser believes acts of Islamic terrorism are rooted in the ideology of political Islam or Islamism.

Zuhdi Jasser has expressed the opinion that the 2009 Christmas Day attempted airplane bombing, the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, and the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt have not prodded the United States into the appropriate action, but rather have resulted in politically correct denial by US government authorities, and inaction by most American Muslims.

Zuhdi Jasser believes that even the Bush administration took inadequate measures against Islamism in America.

Zuhdi Jasser says the US needs to provide alternatives for Muslim youth and promote reformist groups.

Peter King's controversial homegrown Islamic terrorism hearings in 2011, Zuhdi Jasser has stated that Muslims are "long overdue for an ideological counter-jihad," claiming that Muslim American leaders, including imams, are contributing to radicalization.

Zuhdi Jasser has been described as a part of the counter-jihad movement, having supported Frank Gaffney's work, although he has fallen out with some other members of the movement, whom he has labeled "alt-jihadists".

Zuhdi Jasser is an outspoken supporter of Israel and believes that Muslim organizations and leaders need to be held to a litmus test to see whether they recognize Israel as a state.

Zuhdi Jasser appeared in the PBS film Islam v Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center, which PBS suppressed after pressure from Muslim organizations.

Zuhdi Jasser appeared in the 2010 Newt Gingrich film, America At Risk: The War With No Name, a production of Citizens United.

Zuhdi Jasser appeared in the Fox News documentary Fox Reporting: A Question of Honor, which examines the killing of Noor Al-Maleki in Peoria, Arizona, by her father, Falah Al-Maleki, and his subsequent trial.

Zuhdi Jasser has supported statewide bans on Shariah law in American courts and has helped bolster conservative warnings that American Muslims seek to replace the Constitution with a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Zuhdi Jasser has frequently been in conflict with a number of Muslim advocacy organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Council, and Islamic Circle of North America, claiming that they are Islamist, are focused on "victimology" and do not adequately condemn the goals of terrorist groups.

An article in the media watchdog group Media Matters for America criticized Zuhdi Jasser's alleged lack of credentials and his "right-wing rhetoric".

Zuhdi Jasser has been on the Maricopa County board of health since 2005.

Zuhdi Jasser was honored in October 2007 by Center for Security Policy as a "Defender of the Home Front" for his anti-Islamist activism.