Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C., focusing on the prospects of liberty and human rights in Islamic thought and the Muslim world. He is the author of four acclaimed books, all of which have been translated into various languages: Islam Without Extremes, The Islamic Jesus, Reopening Muslim Minds, and Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty. He is also a widely published journalist. For eight years, he was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His articles have also appeared in many other major publications both in the West and the Muslim-majority world, including his native Turkey. In 2021, Prospect magazine of the UK listed him among “The world’s top 50 thinkers.” Besides his teaching at Boston College, he also directs the “Islam and Muslim World” course at the Foreign Service Institute.
