www.TawfikHamid.com
Biography
Dr. Tawfik Hamid, the founder of ISLAM (Islamic Society for Liberty And Modernity), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. Some twenty-five years ago, he recognized the need for a reformation in Islam based upon modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts. Such texts on Islamic jurisprudence are currently being interpreted in a violent and intolerant manner - not just by "radicals," but also by many "mainstream" organizations throughout the Islamic world.
Back in his extremist days, Dr. Hamid experienced a profound inner conflict between trying to follow what he thought was the literal interpretation of the word of God, with his own conscience, which rejected many aspects of current Islamic interpretation that seemed far from divine. For many years, he sought to seek acceptance of his views within his local Islamic community – but to no avail. However, after September 11, Dr. Hamid boldly decided to speak out through western broadcast and print media. He has appeared on shows spanning the spectrum from CNN to Fox News, and his articles and op-ed pieces have appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, and the Jerusalem Post.
Dr. Hamid is currently pursuing two important endeavors: 1) an outreach campaign to educate the public and governments on the threat Radical Islam; and 2) the development of a fresh, yet theologically valid, interpretation of classical Islamic texts. Dr. Hamid's exceptional knowledge of the jihadi mindset has led him to be a guest speaker at many private and governmental fora – both within the US and internationally. In addition, he is a part-time professor with the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (www.CICentre.com). Dr. Hamid has a medical degree in internal medicine, in addition to a Master's degree in cognitive psychology and educational techniques.
Recent aschievments:
• Launched the ISLAM web site (www.IslamforPeace.org)
• Published Inside Jihad, a powerful book that analyzes the phenomenon of Radical Islam and provides recommendations for a comprehensive solution to ensure its defeat (www.InsideJihad.com)
• Created a comics web site to expose Radical Islam and the threats of being apologetic toward it (www.MrTolerance.com)
• Conducted numerous speaking engagements including at intelligence and defense organizations, the Joint Counter-terrorism Task Force in New York City, NCTC (National Counter Terrorism Centre), The Pentagon, Pepperdine University, Koch Foundation, Legacy Foundation, Soft Power conference about terrorism in Italy (Where he met with the president, Minister of Internal affairs, and the Minster of Defense), the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Jewish Committee AJC, and numerous meetings with members of Congress.
• Wrote and published articles and Op-Ed pieces for the National Review, Foreign Policy, and the New York Daily News.
Currently:
In addition to his other work to fight Radical Islam, Dr. Hamid is working on the final stages of creating a Modern Interpretation for the Quran and a cognitive psychology-based Islamic Educational Curriculum for young Muslims. This curriculum will use integrated cognitive psychology tactics to consolidate the values of Human Rights in the mind of young Muslims prior to its infiltration by the Jihadists' teaching.
Other aspects of Dr. Hamid:
• Dr Hamid is a Medical Doctor. He passed the USMLE examination with a performance profile beyond the maximum of the scale of this exam in 9 medial subjects including immunology, understanding mechanism of disease, Internal Medicine, and others.
• He worked as a physician at different places in the world (Egypt and Saudi Arabia) and had a Masters degree in Internal Medicine (Egypt) and a Masters degree in Education (New Zealand) as well.
• He developed the Multidimensional Learning Model: a novel cognitive psychology based model for Computer Assisted Instruction (http://www.med-ed-online.org/t0000007.htm)
