WORDE President
Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi serves as legal counsel and consultant to a wide range of clients and for whom she travels extensively to learn about the methodology, ideology, infrastructure, and recruiting techniques of Islamist extremist movements. She earned her JD from the University of Southern California, her B.A. in History from UCLA, and a degree in Islamic doctrine from the As-Sunnah Foundation.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, JD, serves as legal counsel and consultant to a wide range of clients for whom she travels extensively to build community resilience against the ideology, infrastructure, and recruitment tactics of Islamist extremist movements.
As President of the World Organization for Resource Development and Education (WORDE), Dr. Mirahmadi developed one of the first Muslim-led initiatives to address the evolving threat of homegrown radicalization. Her innovative research explores ways Muslim communities can create bottom-up strategies to tackle the dangerous ideology underlying the movement and forge greater cooperation between the community and the US Government.
An authority in the field for almost two decades, Dr. Mirahmadi has briefed numerous policymakers both in the US and abroad, and has presented at conferences organized by the US Department of Defense, US Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the National Fusion Center, and the Director of National Intelligence. She currently serves on the LAPD’s Community Police Advisory Board, and the Director of National Intelligence’s Heritage Council.
Across the world, in Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Dr. Mirahmadi provides counsel on how to strengthen Muslim communities against violent extremism. She recently hosted a high level delegation, including a Federal Minister of Pakistan, to inform US policymakers about the potential role of traditional-cultural Muslim networks in countering radicalism in Pakistan and beyond. Given her expertise, she received a political appointment in 2004 to the US Embassy of Afghanistan as Senior Advisor for Civil Society Infrastructure.
Establishing relationships with other Muslim organizations and communities is important to Dr. Mirahmadi’s work. In the UK, her consultations with British Muslim NGOs culminated in a gala event, “Spirituality in Action,” with HRH Prince of Wales. In addition, as the Co-Chair of the first ever all female Islamic Law Council, she works with other influential Muslim women to re-examine the current standing of Islamic jurisprudence on a wide variety of issues.
Dr Mirahmadi is the author of the monographs “A Community-Based Approach to Countering Radicalization: A Partnership for America,” and “Traditional Muslim Networks: Pakistan’s Untapped Resource in the Fight against Terrorism.” Her articles include “After Osama bin Laden’s Death, Time for a New Poster Child for Islam” and “How to Fight Jihad in America” in the Christian Science Monitor; “The Global Village of Terrorism,” “How Obama Can Split the Taliban,” and “Picking and Choosing Enemies in Afghanistan” in the Huffington Post; “A Lebanon Freedom Foundation” in the NY Sun; and “The Sunni Disposition” and “Jihadi Tomb Raiders” in the National Review Online. She is also a contributor to the books Islam and Civil Society, (Ingram Publications); The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular, (Palgrave Publications); and the forthcoming multi-faith compilation of essays on tolerance, The Children of Abraham.
Dr. Mirahmadi earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California (USC), her B.A. in History from UCLA, and her degree in Islamic doctrine from the As-Sunnah Foundation.
ARTICLES
“Countering Violent Extremism,” DOD Publication, September 2011 (Read Dr. Mirahmadi’s contribution on p. 94)
“After Osama bin Laden’s Death, Time for a New Poster Child for Islam,” Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2011
“Five Myths about Islam and Muslims,” Perspectives, April 2011
“Rep. Peter King’s Muslim Hearings: A Key Moment in an Angry Conversation,” Hedieh Mirahmadi Featured in Washington Post, March 10, 2011
By Washington Post Staff Writers David A. Fahrenthold and Michelle Boorstein
“How to Fight Jihad in America,” Christian Science Monitor, December 16, 2010
“Preventing Radicalism,” Azizah Magazine , June 2010
“Picking and Choosing Enemies in Afghanistan,” The Huffington Post, April 22, 20009
“How Obama Can Split the Taliban: Ideology Matters in Building a Sustainable Afghanistan,” The Huffington Post, March 26, 2009
“The Cedar Revolution in Ferment,” American Enterprise Institute, March 25, 2005
“A Lebanon Freedom Foundation,” The New York Sun, March 18, 2005
“Sunni Disposition: These Moderates Should Be Our Friends,” National Review, May 7, 2004
“Jihadi Tomb Raiders: They’re not Islam,” National Review, December 13, 2002
MONOGRAPHS
“A Community Based Approach to Countering Radicalization,” WORDE Report, December 2010
“Traditional Muslim Networks: Pakistan’s Untapped Resource in the Fight Against Terrorism,” WORDE Report, May 2010
BOOKS
Abraham’s Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict, contributing author, Yale University Press (forthcoming). Read Dr. Mirahmadi’s chapter entitled “Religious Liberty in Islam.”
The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular, co-author Hedieh Mirahmadi, MacMillan, March 2010. Read Dr. Mirahmadi’s chapter entitled “Navigating Islam in America.”
Islam and Civil Society, edited by Hedieh Mirahmadi, WORDE, 2005. Download the ebook version.
Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition, edited by Hedieh Mirahmadi, ISCA, 2004.
AUDIO
“Islamic Radicalism”
October 18, 2011, Dennis Prager Radio Show
How Should the U.S. Respond to the Prospect of Islamist Governments?
March 25, 2011, Hudson Institute, Washington, DC
Home-based Terrorism:’ Politics and Reality
December 15, 2009, To the Point, KCRW, Public Radio International
VISUAL
Partnership-Building with American Muslims to Counter Domestic Radicalization
December 16, 2010, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC
Launching of new book The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular
March 3, 2010, Hudson Institute, Washington, DC
Conversation with America
WORDE President Hedieh Mirahmadi and Specialist Zeyno Baran talk with Congresswoman Sue Myrick about curbing Islamist extremism in the US.
January 12, 2010, Washington, DC
United Colors of Sufis: “Shaping the Future of What it Means to be a Muslim in a non-Muslim Majority Country”
January 2009, London, England