1. 
   Summary and Introduction

The International Quranic Center (IQC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to articulating a vision of Islam that is inclusive and peaceful and based upon an historically accurate reading of the Quran.  IQC is applying for funding from potential donors to enlarge its Internet presence specifically by adding video and audio materials. These new materials require the purchasing of expensive equipment and new technical support. In addition we seek to enhance the dialogue between the moderate Muslim community and other religious communities by strengthening our English language web presence.

In 2006 we established the “Ahl Al Quran” website (www.ahl-alquran.com), which has become a prominent voice in the international debate about the future of Islam. We have more than 100,000 visitors every month.  The website connects a worldwide network of Muslim reformers who are dedicated to fighting terrorism ideologically by analyzing their literature and showing their contradictions with the letter and spirit of the Quran. Moderate Muslim scholars from around the globe use the website as a platform to interact, discuss, deliberate and create coalitions of enlightened Islamists. The website is currently administered and managed on voluntary basis. Even with only volunteer staff, the website’s developers and editors have managed consistently to update the website and provide new information and articles to our growing number of visitors.

Through the expansion of the Ahl Al Quran website, the IQC aims to support Muslim moderates in their struggle against extremist Muslim groups’ monopoly over the Internet and thereby encourage democracy throughout Islam.  IQC and Ahl Al Quaran provide the leading moderate Muslim voice and image on the Internet.  If potential donors could help amplify our voice and image in the international Islamic community, it will help prevent terrorism culture and extremist interpretation of Islam from growing in the Middle East and globally.

The Ahl Al Quaran website is directly connected to local activities in a number of Arab states.  For example, in Egypt local leaders of the Quranic movement rely on our website as an important source of international information and detailed theological guidance in responding to the claims of the Muslim Brotherhood and local Wahabists.  Local responses in Algeria and Canada help galvanize interest and spread advocacy among Muslims in their countries. Ahl Al Quaran is a unique international utility providing intellectual and social network support to the local leadership of moderate Muslims in countries throughout the Arab world

1. General Background

Currently, the majority of Muslims have little choice but to get their information from Al Jazeera  and other media institutions that promote conservative (and at times, extremist) values and worldviews and that maintain a hostile stance against the West. This is not only taking place through satellite television but also through the Internet. According to Alexa.com (the world’s largest ranking website engine) the Al Jazeera website is the most read website across the Muslim world, and is among the first 500 websites throughout the world generally. Furthermore, the conservative IslamOnline, which is managed by Wahabist Sheikh Qaradawi and which remains closely linked to Al Jazeera, is among the top 800 sites.  Both websites provide constant support for conservative to extremist worldviews, by ideologically supporting Jihadist crusades in Iraq and elsewhere.

While these websites are well-equipped and well-funded, Ahl Al Quran suffers from severe lack of resources. Our website has attracted thousands of daily visitors and registered users already, but we need to add new material to reach out to a broader population of Internet surfers around the Muslim world in both Arabic and English. In today’s fast pace internet world, websites can no longer rely on texts and images alone, but rather require high-tech audio and video elements as well. The International Quranic Center Board of Directors and website committee decided that it is time forAhl Al Quran website to become more competitive in this Internet age. The current website relies completely on volunteer work by the Center’s founder and his associates. This model of wholly volunteer service cannot maintain our expansive program without outside funding. Therefore, the Center is turning to potential donors to ask for funding for the first time since it started its operations in 2006.

1. Project Philosophy

The websites regular volunteers are scholars, researchers, and advocates who aim to confront terrorism by promoting peaceful reform of Muslim countries and societies by going back to the authentic source of Islam—the Quran. The Quranic people believe that reform will flow from the objective understanding of the Quran, according to its original terminology.  Through such careful reading, one can judge the past and present actions of Muslims in relation to the word of God alone.  The Quranic people are not a political party or a religious sect, but rather a group of educated open-minded individuals who share the simple but profound and powerful beliefs outlined above. 

The Quranic philosophy is committed to interfaith dialogue so that all of the religions of the world can understand Islam and Islam can be part of the world community of those committed to peaceful and inclusive views of religious belief. We advocate freedom of expression, belief, and respect for the inalienable rights of individuals and minorities, which is central to the fund’s counter terrorism objectives of preventing terrorism.  

1. Project Objectives

1. To enlarge the Ahl Al Quran website’s technical capacity and substantive programming. 
2. To reach out to a broader audience of Internet users literate in Arabic and in English

1. Project Accomplishments to Date

With only small private donations and contributions from the founder and the board of directors of IQC (less than $20,000 in total),  the Ahl Al Quran website has managed to achieve most of its objectives since it was established. For two years the organization’s board, founder, and the founder’s associates have been contributing substantial time on a voluntary basis.  The voluntary nature of the organization is going to continue since it is important to ensure the credibility of the website in the Muslim world by involving large numbers of leaders to communicate through it.

Even given the wholly voluntary nature of IQC’s leaders to date, the website has successfully created a large global network of Islamic reformers.  The website now has more than two hundred regular contributors to the website.

Currently, the website has more than five thousands articles. These contributors write in both Arabic and English. They also volunteer to translate materials between the English and the Arabic. The website also has sections for news, polls, discussions, comments, articles, books, and fatwas.  All articles include brief messages and opinion pieces on currently debated issues in the Muslim world. We regularly produce articles opposing terrorism and fanaticism and articles promoting tolerance, human rights, and democracy.

The website also has more than two thousand registered users who comment on the articles posted on the website and engage in lively discussions on daily basis. Right now the website has more than thirty thousand comments in the website. In addition, the website has a monthly newsletter that is currently distributed to more than twenty thousand subscribers around the globe. The result is that there is currently more than one hundred thousands visitors who read the website every month. The website is particularly well read in the Middle East, including countries like Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Kuwait. It was just blocked in Saudi Arabia, the center of Wahhabism, after being one of the most viewed website there.

1. Proposed Activities to Enhance the Website

The Center’s board and founder want to build on this success story and reach out to a wider audience of readers inside the US and across the Muslim world. The Center is hoping to attract more than five thousand users monthly during the New Year. In order to achieve this goal, the Center needs to increase the capacity and the outreach of the website by implementing several crucial activities, including establishing an online video/audio library in the website and an internet radio station to allow realtime interaction.

The Center will also implement a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan to attract new media internet users.

Our Internet enhancement strategy will incorporate the following steps:

1) What else is out there: The Center would like to collect materials from other progressive Muslims, such as   video and audio published on other websites, including video sharing websites like You Tube and others. Then these materials will be examined by the website committee and published according to the websites’ terms of use. It will also share the news with similar websites and invite them to share their materials with their users.

2) Produce new materials: IQC would like to purchase equipment (hardware and software) to develop audio and video programming for the website. The Center will also contract video and Internet experts to design and administrate the Center’s video and audio library during the first year.

3) Promote the website and new materials: In the first three months, the Center will produce videos promoting the work of IQC to incorporate in its online newsletter. The newsletter will then be sent out on a weekly basis rather than a monthly basis to reach more users.

4) Edit systematically and enrich materials on the sight in both Arabic and English.

5) Establish a rating mechanism for produced materials, and consistently collect comments from website users to collect regular feedback.

6) Convening four focus groups meetings in London, Washington DC, one country at the Gulf States, and the Horn of Africa regions to assemble focus groups of twenty young Muslim leaders each to review the website and guide the improvement and present extension of the program social networking role.

6) Offer free access to information by maintaining open and free access to the public and allowing free reproduction as long as the material is properly cited to the IQC. The center will contract Arabic and English copy editors to maintain clarity of all prose and to assure relevant copyright laws and terms of use are met.

7) Continue volunteer participation. The materials produced by the organization will continue to be written without compensation.

1. Project Timeline

The IQC will implement the first two components of the activities listed above in thefirst three months. Then production and publishing of new materials will happen regularly on a monthly basis over the following nine months. Monthly website analysis will be conducted through Google and Alexa.com to monitor traffic on the website. Feedback and evaluation will be conducted on a quarterly basis

1. Evaluation

We will evaluation the website enhancement project through:

1) Number of new users and writers who constantly use the website

2) Number of visits and page hits made to the website

3) Constant update of materials to the website

4) Number of subscribers to the weekly bulletin

5) Rankings and comments made on the produced materials

6) Quality and quantity of citations  by other websites

1. Organization Background

 As mentioned before, the International Quranic Center (IQC) is a nonprofit organization committed to articulating a vision of Islam as an inclusive and peaceful religion. The founder of the Center, Dr. Mansour, is an internationally respected and distinguished scholar of the Quran with expertise in Islamic history, culture, theology and politics.  His interpretation of Islam offers a fact-based understanding of the letter and spirit of the Quran and its systematic application in a manner that enhances the values of democracy and religious tolerance.  IQC is governed by an interfaith board of directors including Muslims, Christians and Jews.  The chairman of the Board of Directors is Jewish, the president is a Muslim, and the vice president is Christian.

Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, President:

Dr. Mansour is former assistant professor at Al Azhar University in Egypt. He is a Muslim scholar, human rights activist and political refugee in the U.S. He was formerly a visiting fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School. He is the president of the International Quranic Center; and one of the leaders of the worldwide Quranist movement.

Irving Spitzberg, Esq., Chair:   

Mr. Spitzberg is the President Emeritus of The Knowledge Company and an immigration lawyer.  During his academic career he was a professor of political philosophy and policy studies and dean at various universities and colleges.  He later was the General Secretary of the American Association of University Professors and founder of the Council for Liberal Learning of the Association of American Colleges. 

Camel Haleem, Vice Chair:

Mr. Haleem is the President of Wilmette Real Estate and Management Company, LLC. He is also the founder and the Chairman of Copts Assembly Association.  

Sherif Mansour, Vice President

Sherif Mansour is currently the Senior Program Officer for MENA at Freedom House, an international nonprofit organization working on promoting democracy and human rights worldwide. He worked for the Cairo based Ibn Khaldun Center and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington DC.

Current Volunteer Operating Staff:

Ahmed Mansour    (President)                       Sherif Mansour           (Vice-President)

Amir Mansour       (Website Administrator)  Mohamed Mansour    (Website Editor)

Hossam Mansour   (Program Assistant)

Othman Mohamed      (Canada)                     Ibrahim Dadi               (Algeria)

Abdellatif Mohamed   (Egypt)

1. Budget:

1. Supplies and video equipments
   1. Office Supplies                                                                               $500
   2. Laptop and Monitor                                                                        $2000
   3. Speakers, monitors, cables                                                             $1000
   4. Digital Camera                                                                               $7500
   5. Lightening Kit                                                                                $3500
   6. Video Tape Stock                                                                           $1500
   7. Video Deck                                                                                     $2000

-----------------------------------

Sub Total:               $18.000

1. Communication and postage
   1. Telephone and internet ($ 200per month)                                      $2,400

-----------------------------------

Sub Total:               $2.400

1. Contractual /Consultant Service

                                                Amount           Percent            Unit     #            Total

1. Arabic copy Editor     $3,500             %50                 1          12      $42,000
2. English copy Editor    $3,500             %100               1          12      $42,000
3. Accountant                  $3,000             %30                 1          12      $11,400
4. Website Tech. Sup’rt $5,000             %50                 1          12      $30,000
5. Digital Video Expert $5.000              %50                 1          12      $30,000
6. Website Annual Hosting and Domain Fees               1          12      $3,500
7. Email Campaigns:      $200                                                    12      $2,400

-----------------------------------

Sub Total:               $161.300

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Grand Total                                                                               $181, 700