The American Muslims for Constructive Engagement (AMCE) launched yesterday its Book Digest project during a special event at IIIT headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. The Book Digest project or Books-In-Brief, is a series that is meant to provide summaries of recently published books that deal with issues of significance to policy makers, opinion leaders and the American public at large.

Dr. Iqbal Unus, Director of the Book Digest project, described it as “… a pioneering effort that will fill a knowledge gap for senior policy makers and their staff by providing summaries of recently published books on issues of concern to them, books that they may not have the time to read in their entirety.”

Dr. Sulayman Nyang, Professor of African and African American History at Howard University hailed the project and described it as “.. a timely response that will further the cause of constructive engagement with the policy making community on issues of  domestic and global concern.”

Four book summaries were released yesterday as part of the initial stage of the project that would include another six books to be released within the next three months. The released titles are:

1) Who Speaks for Islam: By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed
2) The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State: by Noah Feldman
3) The Post American World: by Fareed Zakaria
4) What Is Right with Islam Is What Is Right for America: By Imam Feisal Rauf

The Books-In-Brief are not reviews, but summaries that are professionally written and that are faithful to the original text. They cover the book’s main ideas and prepare the interested reader for a perusal of the original work.

The Book digest project is funded through a generous grant from the Kingdom Foundation. Dr. Abubaker al Shingieti, President of AMCE expressed gratitude to Kingdom Foundation and its Executive Director Muna Abu Sulayman, for the grant. He also thanked IIIT for the valuable administrative and technical support it provided to the project.

Dr. Jamal Barzinji, Vice President of IIIT, described the project as consistent with IIIT objective of promoting serious debate and informed analyses through supporting and circulating quality publications that help shape our understanding of human relations and global issues.

About AMCE:

The American Muslims for Constructive Engagement (AMCE) evolved out of a series of conferences and meetings co-sponsored principally by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). The primary objective of AMCE is to help engage the American Muslim community with the US government on issues of national interest.

For further information on the AMCE and the Book Digest project, please contact Dr. Abubaker al Shingieti at: amce@amceweb.net or call 7034711 1133 Ext 101.