About AML
The American Muslim League (AML) is a patriotic Muslim civic organization working to strengthen the voice of mainstream American Muslims in public life. AML conducts research and polling, advances constructive policy engagement, and builds relationships with policymakers, civic leaders, and interfaith partners.
Mission & Values
The American Muslim League champions a patriotic American Muslim identity grounded in gratitude for the liberties and opportunities the United States provides. We seek to strengthen a mainstream Muslim civic voice that embraces America as a unique beacon of liberty and opportunity.
AML aims to prevent American Muslim identity from being defined primarily around foreign conflicts, sectarian divisions, victimhood grievances, or ideological rigidity. Instead, we promote an approach to civic life rooted in America’s founding principles of individual liberty, free speech, private enterprise, and constitutional government.
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, AML is committed to national renewal and to helping restore the spirit of an indivisible republic with liberty and justice for all. Our values emphasize loyalty, gratitude, responsibility, contribution, civility, cooperation, equality, dignity, accountability, and individuality.
Founding Board of Directors
Zainab Al - Suwaij
Founder & Executive Director
Zainab Al-Suwaij serves as AML’s Executive Director and brings more than twenty years of experience in civic leadership and counter-extremism advocacy. A survivor of the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein, she has briefed the White House, testified to Congress, spoken at the Republican National Convention, been profiled in national media outlets like The Washington Post, trained campus leaders, and worked extensively to build healthy Muslim representation in the United States. Al-Suwaij co-founded the American Islamic Congress and its Project Nur campus initiative, led an acclaimed anti-violence community intervention initiative in Iraq, and nurtured civil rights activists across the Middle East and North Africa. Al-Suwaij’s writing has appeared in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The granddaughter of a prominent Shi’a cleric, she serves on the board of Freedom House and has been honored with awards from the Interreligious and International Peace Council and the National Liberty Museum.
Abdul Rahman Al-Jubouri
Abdul Rahman Al-Jubouri is an American citizen with extensive experience developing independent civil society institutions. For 12 years, he served as the National Endowment for Democracy’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to serving as Country Director for the National Democratic Institute. In these roles, Al-Jubouri supervised the establishment and support for hundreds of civil society organizations. A former senior fellow at the Regional Studies Center at the American University of Iraq, he has provided consultation to Congress and U.S. government agencies. Al-Jubouri is frequently interviewed as an expert on international news stations and currently heads the Academy for Political Development and Good Governance.
Nabaa Abdulokwha
Nabaa Abdulokhwa is DDS candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine and serves as a leader within the American Student Dental Association. An immigrant to America from the cradle of civilization in Babylon, she has a deep appreciation for both her native homeland’s ancient heritage and her adopted homeland’s foundational values of liberty. Abdulokhwa cherishes the Fourth of July as a holiday that represents freedom, unity, and the unique opportunities America has provided her. She co-founded the American Muslim League to help promote how core Muslim values align with the ideals of American society.
Advisors
Dr. Diana Negroponte
Dr. Diana Negroponte is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she teaches international conflict management and resolution. An author and former member of the Brookings Institution and U.S. Institute of Peace, she also serves on the boards of several policy and civic organizations.
Dalia Al-Aqidi
Dalia Al-Aqidi is a journalist and former Washington correspondent for Al-Arabiya and anchor and White House correspondent for Alhurra. During her journalism career, she interviewed President Jimmy Carter, First Lady Barbara Bush, and other international leaders. A refugee who later became an American citizen, Al-Aqidi has also been a candidate for Congress in Minnesota.
Dr. Tom Palmer
Dr. Tom Palmer is executive vice president for international programs at Atlas Network and holds its George M. Yeager Chair for Advancing Liberty. A senior fellow at the Cato Institute, he earned his doctorate in politics from Oxford University. Palmer has authored and co-authored numerous works and has worked with civil-society organizations and grassroots leaders around the world.
Faisal Al-Mutar
Faisal Al-Mutar is founder and president of Ideas Beyond Borders, a U.S. nonprofit supporting access to knowledge and opportunity across the Middle East. He has led initiatives translating scientific and intellectual works into Arabic and supporting regional innovators. Al-Mutar is also a Senior Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.