The Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday apologized for wrongly labeling Maajid Nawaz an "anti-Muslim extremist," and agreed to pay $3.375 million to Nawaz and his organization, the Quilliam Foundation, to "fund their work to fight anti-Muslim bigotry and extremism," after losing in a defamation suit, Law & Crime reports.
"The Southern Poverty Law Center was wrong to include Maajid Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation in our Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists," the SPLC said in a statement. "Since we published the Field Guide, we have taken the time to do more research and have consulted with human rights advocates we respect.
"We've found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism. Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Mr. Nawaz, Quilliam, and our readers for the error, and we wish Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam all the best."
Nawaz, 40, announced he was suing last June after being listed in the SPLC's 2016 "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists."
Quilliam, founded in 2008 by Nawaz and Ed Hussain, bills itself as the "world's first counter-extremism organization" with "a full spectrum and values-based approach to counter-extremism which means promoting pluralism and inspiring change."
"This should be an instructive moment for all of us," Nawaz said. "Too much and for too long, the left, and many on the left, have been trying to shut down any debate of critique or criticism around Islam, especially by Muslims within Muslim communities."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.