American Muslim Community Engagement

In March of 2006 and 2007, ICRD, in partnership with the International Institute for Islamic Thought and the Institute for Defense Analyses (the Pentagon's leading think tank) convened major conferences to explore how the U.S. government and the American Muslim community could begin working together for the common good.

More specifically, a cross-section of 30 American Muslim leaders was brought together with a like number of U.S. security officials and foreign policy practitioners. 

The immediate goals of these conferences were to jointly examine how the American Muslim community can:

1. serve as a bridge between the United States and Muslim countries overseas,

2. help inform U.S. public diplomacy and foreign policy with a Muslim perspective, and

3. assume a leadership role in the further intellectual and spiritual development of Islam.

The third objective is every bit as important as the other two and seeks to capitalize on the fact that the American Muslim community enjoys greater freedom of thought than other Muslim communities around the world and that it bridges modernity and the contemporary practice of Islam on a daily basis.

The American Muslim community should constitute one of this country's first lines of defense in the global contest with militant Islam. Not only have we failed to recognize this community as the strategic asset that it is, but we have unwittingly been alienating it over time. The above conferences have been helpful in turning this around and are already bearing important fruit.  The first conference and its findings were the subject of a televised panel discussion on the American Muslim community that was broadcast by Al-Arabiya to an audience of 33 million Arabs in the Middle East and Persian Gulf regions.  More recently, the doors have been opening wider to Muslim input at the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.

Enhancing the Capacity of Military Chaplains

To enhance the conflict prevention capabilities of the U.S. sea-service commands, ICRD led an effort in 2001 to train all Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard chaplains in religion and statecraft. Similar training on faith-based diplomacy has been provided for chaplains of the other military services, as well as a cross-section of chaplains from other countries. In addition, ICRD has conducted two major conferences on understanding Islam for the U.S. Air Force.