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Minaret of Freedom (Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad)
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  | Ijtihâd, explanation, from the Mission Statement
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  | independent scholarly research (ijtihâd) into policy issues of concern to Muslim countries and/or to Muslims in America; publication of scholarly and popular expositions of such research
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Mission Statement of
the Minaret of Freedom Institute "Those who, of their own free will and without any compulsion, act according to the Qur'an and the Sunnah wear the turban of freedom." -- Khwaaja-i-Jahaan Mahmuud Gawaan. The Minaret of Freedom Institute was founded in 1993 with a dual mission for educating both Muslims and non-Muslims. For non-Muslims our mission is:
• to counter distortions and misconceptions about Islamic beliefs and practice • to demonstrate the Islamic origins of modern values like the rule of law and sciences like market economics • to advance the status of Muslim peoples maligned by a hostile environment in the West and oppressed by repressive political regimes in the East
For Muslims, in fulfillment of the obligations laid upon them by the Qur'an and the Sunnah, our mission is:
• to discover and publish the politico-economic policy implications of Islamic law (shari`ah) and their consequences on the economic well-being of the community, • to expose both American and Islamic-world Muslims to free market thought • to educate Islamic religious and community leaders in economics and in the fact that liberty is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for the achievement of a good society, • to promote the establishment of free trade and justice (an essential common interest of Islam and the West)
To build upon the words of Thomas Jefferson, in fulfilling these goals we are pledged to wage unending holy struggle (jihâd) against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
We shall implement these goals through:
• independent scholarly research (ijtihâd) into policy issues of concern to Muslim countries and/or to Muslims in America; publication of scholarly and popular expositions of such research; • translation of appropriate works on the free market into the languages of the Muslim world with introductions and commentaries by Muslim scholars; • and the operation of a scholars exchange program both to allow institute associates to make presentations to academics and policy makers in Muslim countries and to permit libertarian Muslims from abroad to spend time in contact with market-oriented Muslim scholars in America and to have access to resources not available in their home countries.
The Minaret of Freedom Institute is classified as a tax-exempt entity under § 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. It relies upon voluntary contributions from private corporations, foundations, and individuals to continue its work.
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  | Islamic Views on Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Entrepreneurship: Application to Iraq, by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, May 8, 2003, an excerpt (click on triangle):
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  | If we seek to advance titled property rights and economic freedom, we would do well to note that historical experience has shown that liberty in general is best promoted when the institutions advancing it conform to the local cultural milieu. The most spectacular success story of the institution of a market economy in the twentieth century may be that of Japan. It is important that economic growth of Japan took place in a system that did not savage the indigenous culture, but built on the ideas embraced by the Japanese themselves during the Meiji Restoration. I have two themes that I wish to stress. The first is that because there already is a sophisticated Islamic legal tradition that recognizes the importance of private property, equal justice, religious tolerance, and above all that the law is above the state, there is no need to impose a foreign tradition upon the Iraqi, or any other Muslim people, in order to achieve the goals we share. The second point, is that in order for American advisers in this process of nation building to have any credibility, and therefore any hope for success, it is the property rights and economic rights of the indigenous people that must come first, before the rights of foreign investors, American or otherwise.
Entire article
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  | Islam & Trustworthy Money
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  | The Dinar: Indispensibility of Hard Money to the Islamic Monetary Regime, by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
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  | A Short History of International Currencies, by Christopher Weber
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