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Introduction to CSID

The Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID) is a non-profit organization, based in Washington DC, dedicated to studying Islamic and democratic political thought and merging them into a modern Islamic democratic discourse.

The organization was founded in March 1999 by a diverse group of academicians, professionals, and activists--both Muslim and non-Muslim--from around the USA who agree on the need for the study of and dissemination of reliable information on this complex topic.

CSID's day-to-day operations are run by the following individuals:

There is no narrow ideological or sectarian litmus test for involvement in CSID--the organization has no agenda other than the production and dissemination of rigorous research into Islam and democracy--but its members are united in the conviction that this subject has been widely misunderstood both in the West and the Muslim world, and that this fact has caused much fitnah (discord) among Muslims and continues to hamper attempts at cross-cultural dialogue today.

Our mission is two-fold:

  • On the one hand, we work to produce scholarship that clarifies to what extent such Western principles are halal (permissable) from an Islamic standpoint (i.e., based on the Quran, the sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhamad (saw), and other essential components of the Islamic tradition) in the hope that this will spread knowledge in the Muslim community and better equip it to deal with today's challenges.
     
  • At the same time, CSID strives to improve the mainstream American community and policymakers' understanding of Islam's approach towards invididual freedom, civil rights, and political pluralism by producing scholarship that counters widely held prejudices and misconceptions.

CSID strives to raise the consciousness of Muslim and non-Muslim alike in this vital matter.

 

  
 


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Last update: 2004-05-18 | webmaster@islam-democracy.org

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