Moderate Islam Gets a Washington Address

March 25, 2005

The Center for Islamic Pluralism (CIP), a Washington-based platform for moderate Muslims in North America, announces its opening today.

CIP's aims are to:

• Promote moderate Islam in the U.S. and globally;
• Educate the American public, media, and government about moderate Islam;
• Oppose the influence of militant Islam in the United States and abroad.
• Promote authentic and constructive interfaith dialogue between Muslims and adherents of other faiths.

Details on the CIP website can be found at www.islamicpluralism.org.

We define "moderate Islam" in the American context as an Islam that finds its proper and equal place as one of many among  the religions represented in America, with rights neither greater nor lesser than any other. Moderate Islam recognizes its own history, the need to evolve, and the urgency for an intellectual revival, especially with regard to non-Muslims, women, and political governance. The CIP emphasizes pluralism to signal that it believes not in the tolerance of non-Muslims, but in their true acceptance.

The executive director of the Center, Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, notes that "Many Americans wonder about Islamic claims to be a 'religion of peace.' This statement is credible only to the degree that Muslims work to make their faith truly one of pluralism. Unless there is an Islam as American as the faiths practiced by Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists, there will be no Islam in America. Thus do we see CIP's role as critical."

The founders of the Center for Islamic Pluralism are (affiliations for identification only):

• Kemal Silay, CIP president: professor of Ottoman and modern Turkish culture at Indiana University.
• Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, CIP executive director: author of The Two Faces of Islam (Doubleday), and associate of the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Sarajevo.
• Nawab Agha: chairman, American Muslim Congress.
• Zuhdi Jasser: chairman, American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
• Ahmed Subhy Mansour: former professor, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, author of Penalty of Apostasy: A Study of Islamic Law.
• Salim Mansur: professor of political science, University of Western Ontario, and columnist, Toronto Sun.
• Khaleel Mohammed, assistant professor of religious studies at San Diego State University.
• Tashbih Sayyed: publisher, Muslim World Today.

The CIP is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity. Contributions are deductible under section 170 of the Code.  It is qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers, and gifts under section 2055, 2106, or 2622 of the code. 

Please direct inquiries to schwartz(at)islamicpluralism.org. Or call Stephen Suleyman Schwartz at 1.202.232.1750. Fax toll-free to 1.866.792.9439.