We were lucky to catch up with Imad-ad-dean Ahmad recently and have shared our conversation below.

Imad-ad-Dean, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

As a long time libertarian activist and Muslim activist,m I approached the brilliant historian Prof. Leonard Liggio of George Mason University after taking a workshop on the history of liberty from him and ,mentioned that I wished to write an article on the role of Islam in the development if liberty. I was pleasantly surprised when he demonstrated a great familiarity with the prevalence of libertarian ideas among medieval Muslim scholars. He told me that when I was ready to begin sich a project I should come to see him.

Several years later I did so and he introduced me to Alex Chaufen, the head of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a network of free market think tanks around the world. Through him I met Atilla Yayla, then the head of a free-market think tank in Turkey. He told me, given the enormous respect of America in the Muslim world, how helpful it would be if they had a sister think tank in the U.S. When I explained my desire to start such a think tank in the U.S., Atlas provided seed money to start such an organization. From there I recruited a board of directors and and list of financial supporters and initiated collaboration with like-minded organizations in the U.S. and in the Muslim world. Through conferences and our website and collaborations, our impact has been most satisfying.

Imad-ad-Dean, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We believe that the world is driven by ideas. We deal with the problems of Islamophobia and authoritarianism by providing accurate information of Islamic law, history, and current thought primarily aimed at other intellectuals and secondarily at media, policymakers, influences, and the general public. We do this though conferences, collaborations, and our websites minaret.org and blog.minaret.org.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I believe that ideas drive change in the world. Therefore, we use our website and activities to provide intellectual ammunition for intellectuals to advance liberty and free markets and to combat Islamophobia.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Sharmin Ahmad is a Bangladeshi-American writer whom I met at an Islamic weekend school where I was a teacher and her children were students. She came from a politically active family and was at the time married to a Bangladeshi entrepreneur and well-appreciated how an ignorance of the role of freedom in Islam’s glorious past contributed to the sad state of Muslim polity and economy today and was eager to join our board of directors and support our mission.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://minaret.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imadaddean.ahmad
• Twitter: https://x.com/minaret_freedom