Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad (also known as Dean Ahmad) (born August 11, 1948) is an American scholar and the president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute, a libertarian 501(c)(3) tax-exempt Muslim think-tank. He also is president of the Islamic-American Zakat Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious and charitable organization which primarily serves poor and needy Muslims in the United States.

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad was born en route to the United States when his family left Palestine in 1948. He was raised in Pennsylvania and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree from Harvard University (1970) and a doctoral degree in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Arizona (1975). He is a Muslim.

Ahmad teaches an introductory course on Islam at Wesley Theological Seminary. He also has taught courses religion, science and freedom at the University of Maryland, College Park. and courses relating to Islam and development at Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins University, School for Advanced International Studies, and the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding.

Ahmad has written and spoken on Islam and legal and religious freedom, democracy in the Muslim world, Islamic civil society, property rights in Islam, women in Islam and female circumcision, Middle East conflicts in Palestine and Iraq, Palestinian human and property rights, terrorism and jihad, and American civil liberties.

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