Dear John,

If you look at the news most days—every story seems to describe a world full of problems that none of us can fix by ourselves. But because I’m part of the team at Atlas Network, I know I have friends who are working on real solutions to those problems in more than 100 countries.

I recently got a brief history lesson from our partners in Iraq, a place with no shortage of news coverage in recent years. Ideas Beyond Borders, or IBB, reminded me that Iraq has a rich history of embracing ideas. Back in the eighth century, Baghdad had a tower with a library that rivaled even the great library of ancient Alexandria. Thinkers from all corners of the world gathered here, making a historic high-water mark for knowledge and learning. Visitors there became scholars, learning new ideas and languages, which is very different from the place that authoritarians ruled until our own times.

This all came to an end when the Mongol invasion destroyed the library in the thirteenth century. The tower, known as the Bayt al-Hikma became a footnote in history until our partner Faisal Al Mutar decided to make history of his own. In 2018, Ideas Beyond Borders launched Bayt al-Hikma 2.0. This project employs modern technology and a team of translators, to create a resource of classically liberal ideas for people in the Middle East.

Through their efforts, Bayt al-Hikma 2.0 reaches over 250 million people with ideas about freedom. Faisal understands tyranny better than most of us, having survived the Iraqi Civil War, numerous kidnapping attempts, even as his brother did not survive.

“I founded the organization Ideas Beyond Borders in 2017 to make knowledge that authoritarians in the Middle East don’t like—which is knowledge about freedom, human prosperity, and critical thinking—available in the languages spoken there,” Faisal told us in a recent article. His organization has also done most impressive work in promoting entrepreneurship in Kurdish communities, but that’s another story.

Bayt al-Hikma 2.0 offers translations of classical liberal ideas and pro-free market perspectives for free, educating people about the benefits of a free society in spite of efforts to censor them. They use social media, podcasts, books, articles, and Wikipedia to share ideas, with readership growing by 150 million in just one year. Initially in Arabic, their success paved the way for translations in Farsi, Kurdish, and Pashto.

In recognition of their impact, IBB earned the 2023 Middle East & North Africa Liberty Award and is a 2024 Atlas Network Smart Bets participant. Just like IBB’s name says, Bayt al-Hikma 2.0 goes beyond borders, delivering 64 translated books and 33,000 articles to 22 countries, offering access to ideas that almost nobody else does. On Wikipedia, their entries have been viewed over 117 million times! 

IBB will receive at least $35,000 over the next two years through the Smart Bets program, and gives us great hope at what they can achieve with that money. It would be amazing if people like Faisal could influence an entire generation of people in the Middle East on peace and prosperity, and show the world that there’s a better way.

I love working for Atlas Network because we stand with partners around the world who bring solutions to the problems created by government overreach and corruption. You don’t have to take bad news sitting down—you can do something about it. And our partners always do. 


Vale Sloane
Director of Development
Atlas Network

P.S., If you would like to see Faisal compete, he will join nine other great partners in the Smart Bets Virtual Pitch competition in just two weeks. 3 of those finalists will go on to compete for the big prize of $50,000 at Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner in November. You can be part of those experiences if you sign up here: atlasnetwork.org/events