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The Islamist
Ed Husain's The Islamist is the shocking inside story of British Islamic fundamentalism, told by a former radical.
'When I was sixteen I became an Islamic fundamentalist. Five years later, after much emotional turmoil, I rejected fundamentalist teachings and returned to normal life and my family. As I recovered my faith and mind, I tried to put my experiences behind me, but as the events of 7/7 unfolded it became clear to me that Islamist groups pose a threat to this country that we - Muslims and non-Muslims alike - do not yet understand.'
'Why are young British Muslims becoming extremists? What are the risks of another home-grown terrorist attack on British soil? By describing my experiences inside these groups and the reasons I joined them, I hope to explain the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam. Writing candidly about life after extremism, I illustrate the depth of the problem that now grips Muslim hearts and minds and lay bare what politicians and Muslim 'community leaders' do not want you to know.'
Ed Husain was an Islamist radical for five years in his late teens and early twenties. Having rejected extremism he travelled widely in the Middle East and worked for the British Council in Syria and Saudi Arabia. Husain received wide and various acclaim for The Islamist, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for political writing and the PEN/Ackerley Prize for literary autobiography, amongst others.
'When I was sixteen I became an Islamic fundamentalist. Five years later, after much emotional turmoil, I rejected fundamentalist teachings and returned to normal life and my family. As I recovered my faith and mind, I tried to put my experiences behind me, but as the events of 7/7 unfolded it became clear to me that Islamist groups pose a threat to this country that we - Muslims and non-Muslims alike - do not yet understand.'
'Why are young British Muslims becoming extremists? What are the risks of another home-grown terrorist attack on British soil? By describing my experiences inside these groups and the reasons I joined them, I hope to explain the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam. Writing candidly about life after extremism, I illustrate the depth of the problem that now grips Muslim hearts and minds and lay bare what politicians and Muslim 'community leaders' do not want you to know.'
Ed Husain was an Islamist radical for five years in his late teens and early twenties. Having rejected extremism he travelled widely in the Middle East and worked for the British Council in Syria and Saudi Arabia. Husain received wide and various acclaim for The Islamist, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for political writing and the PEN/Ackerley Prize for literary autobiography, amongst others.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
January 27, 2023
This is a book that looks back in his own words Moham-Ed's memories of being drawn into and then becoming a radicalised Islamist, and then how he found true (spiritual) Islam and quit fundamentalism. Reading some of the negative reviews on this book is interesting. Personally I feel that this is Ed's story being shared with his personal objective to dissuade others taking the path that he took. I think it is a very important read, because he really bought into radicalised Islam, and can only tell the story he knows and see the world that he saw. I gave this book 7 out of 12 when I read it back in 2009, so even though I can remember being fascinated by this book, it apparently must have had some weaknesses, maybe as said by some of the negative reviewers, for his sweeping generalisations and attempts to over simplify really important issues; but rereading this in 2022 I can only increase by grading as Ed really gets into the nitty gritty of Islam's history that is very interesting and informative.
2022 read; 2009 read
Personally, I feel that a better way to prevent radicalisation of British Islamic youth maybe to not have withdrawn the British passport/identity of the groomed, abused, assaulted and having some of her children die, Shamima Begum, as this essentially tells our British Muslim youth that they are not really British; after all I didn't see British citizenship being withdrawn from those that committed treason, mass-murder, child-rape and/or multiple other heinous crimes? 8 out of 12, Four Stars on the re-read
2022 read; 2009 read
Personally, I feel that a better way to prevent radicalisation of British Islamic youth maybe to not have withdrawn the British passport/identity of the groomed, abused, assaulted and having some of her children die, Shamima Begum, as this essentially tells our British Muslim youth that they are not really British; after all I didn't see British citizenship being withdrawn from those that committed treason, mass-murder, child-rape and/or multiple other heinous crimes? 8 out of 12, Four Stars on the re-read
April 8, 2022
"One of the characteristics of this brand of Islam is the obsession and over emphasis that Muslims have towards a woman's sexuality. Discourse on subjects such as charity, benevolence, spirituality have all but given way to topics such as Hijab, the proper code of dressing etc."
I was looking through my books last night (I don't really reread) and looked up the reviews. Ridzwan, the author of the review I quoted from left GR in 2018, so here is his review in full.
"Muslims who insist that the Hijab is a piece of clothing that protects a woman's modesty , do yourselves a big favor. Pick up this book and read it from cover to cover.
Ed Hussein is a self-confessed former Islamist who has since reformed his ways - as how he described it. He grew up in London amongst peers and neighbors of the same religious denomination. The Islamist is a tale of how Islam has evolved within him from being subtly spiritual to being overtly political, and how he has managed to find his way back.
Islam was never political in the community that he grew up in. Like how all religions are, Islam was largely personal and spiritual. It was a relationship between a servant and his Lord. But as he grew up, he came across Saudi-sponsored foreign elements such as the Hizb who operated aggressively in East London,recruiting youngsters and converts into a fiercely puritan brand of Islam. Young Muslims were thought that only the version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is valid and accepted by God. Other Muslims, such as the Sufi from Turkey, are heretics and will be condemned to hell for eternity. To subscribe to this puritan form of worship, the Muslim must adhere to rigid interpretations on dressing, behavior and social codes. These include the acceptance of an Islamic state as the ultimate aspiration for all believing Muslims and the complete covering of a woman's head as a sign of conformity.
Laking the spiritual moors, Hussein found this ideology very appealing and took to this puritan brand of worship zealously. In his heydays, he behaved like a typical religious fascist – overly obsessed with women's sexuality and always insisting on a “proper” way of covering up, consistently calling for the establishment of an Islamic state and generally seeing Islam as a political tool upon which he projects his opinion of morality.
But a visit to the Middle East changed his perceptions dramatically, particularly his visit to Saudi Arabia. In the hermit Kingdom, he and his wife came across a vile and racist society who insisted on Arab and male supremacy & strictly literal interpretations of the scriptures.
Men in the country were also found to be overly obsessed with sex. His wife and several of her expatriate colleagues often found themselves at the receiving end of relatively large number of inappropriate behavior by Saudi men. Pornography is a widely accepted form of entertainment behind closed doors. Hussein attributed this anomaly to the overly oppressive nature of the society which consistently emphasize gender segregation, leaving no room for its men to explore sexuality in a mature and respectable manner.
His ideals of the Islamic State diminished. He came back to Britain looking for the spiritual brand of Islam that his father grew up with.
The Islamist eerily echoes the exact scenario that is playing all around the Muslim world. From Pakistan to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Islam is slowly taking the form of the puritan worship largely found in Saudi Arabia. One of the characteristics of this brand of Islam is the obsession and over emphasis that Muslims have towards a woman's sexuality. Discourse on subjects such as charity, benevolence, spirituality have all but given way to topics such as Hijab, the proper code of dressing etc.
The Islamist is a riveting read from start to end. Kudos to Hussein for stepping forward and boldly sharing his experiences"
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4th April 2022
I was looking through my books last night (I don't really reread) and looked up the reviews. Ridzwan, the author of the review I quoted from left GR in 2018, so here is his review in full.
"Muslims who insist that the Hijab is a piece of clothing that protects a woman's modesty , do yourselves a big favor. Pick up this book and read it from cover to cover.
Ed Hussein is a self-confessed former Islamist who has since reformed his ways - as how he described it. He grew up in London amongst peers and neighbors of the same religious denomination. The Islamist is a tale of how Islam has evolved within him from being subtly spiritual to being overtly political, and how he has managed to find his way back.
Islam was never political in the community that he grew up in. Like how all religions are, Islam was largely personal and spiritual. It was a relationship between a servant and his Lord. But as he grew up, he came across Saudi-sponsored foreign elements such as the Hizb who operated aggressively in East London,recruiting youngsters and converts into a fiercely puritan brand of Islam. Young Muslims were thought that only the version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is valid and accepted by God. Other Muslims, such as the Sufi from Turkey, are heretics and will be condemned to hell for eternity. To subscribe to this puritan form of worship, the Muslim must adhere to rigid interpretations on dressing, behavior and social codes. These include the acceptance of an Islamic state as the ultimate aspiration for all believing Muslims and the complete covering of a woman's head as a sign of conformity.
Laking the spiritual moors, Hussein found this ideology very appealing and took to this puritan brand of worship zealously. In his heydays, he behaved like a typical religious fascist – overly obsessed with women's sexuality and always insisting on a “proper” way of covering up, consistently calling for the establishment of an Islamic state and generally seeing Islam as a political tool upon which he projects his opinion of morality.
But a visit to the Middle East changed his perceptions dramatically, particularly his visit to Saudi Arabia. In the hermit Kingdom, he and his wife came across a vile and racist society who insisted on Arab and male supremacy & strictly literal interpretations of the scriptures.
Men in the country were also found to be overly obsessed with sex. His wife and several of her expatriate colleagues often found themselves at the receiving end of relatively large number of inappropriate behavior by Saudi men. Pornography is a widely accepted form of entertainment behind closed doors. Hussein attributed this anomaly to the overly oppressive nature of the society which consistently emphasize gender segregation, leaving no room for its men to explore sexuality in a mature and respectable manner.
His ideals of the Islamic State diminished. He came back to Britain looking for the spiritual brand of Islam that his father grew up with.
The Islamist eerily echoes the exact scenario that is playing all around the Muslim world. From Pakistan to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Islam is slowly taking the form of the puritan worship largely found in Saudi Arabia. One of the characteristics of this brand of Islam is the obsession and over emphasis that Muslims have towards a woman's sexuality. Discourse on subjects such as charity, benevolence, spirituality have all but given way to topics such as Hijab, the proper code of dressing etc.
The Islamist is a riveting read from start to end. Kudos to Hussein for stepping forward and boldly sharing his experiences"
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4th April 2022
March 23, 2014
British born, Bangladeshi family, lived in Mile End, East London; went to an all-Asian school, had no white friends. At school he gets in with Jamat-e-Islami and the Young Muslim Organisation. At this point he is 16/17 and a followed of Abdul Mawdudi. The main ideas at this point are that most of the world’s Muslims are only “partial Muslims” – they’re not taking Islam seriously. They’re keeping religion and politics completely separate but Islam is a total world view, and true Muslims don’t distinguish between the two. After a while he encounters the writings of Syed Qutb, who is more radical than Mawdudi. He joins Hizb ut-Tahrir. They are Islamists.
ISLAMISM
Ed (and others) give this term to a collection of doctrines. First, Islam is not a spiritual, personal, quietist religion, like it was for Ed’s parents and still is for a great number of Muslims. The opposite of the Islamist view is when Jesus says “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (this was when he was set a trick question by a Pharisee to get him to say something politically dangerous). But the Islamist would say that everything is God’s, so all politics should be Islamic, the state should be Islamic, all economy should be run on Islamic principles, there is no differentiation between state and church. Following from this, they reject democracy.
“How could you possibly advocate democracy?” said one activist, “Don’t you know democracy comes from the Greeks. It is kufr. Demos kratos is people’s rule. In Islam, only Allah rules. Not people. Sovereignty belongs to God, not men. How can you follow man-made law?”
These guys want to re-establish something they call the Muslim State or Caliphate. They despise the rulers of all current Muslim countries and reject the division of “Muslim lands” into different countries in the first place. All should be re-united, as it used to be in the 8th-10th centuries; and the God-given oil revenues should be equally divided (between Muslims). While Ed was taking in and passing on these ideas, on the television was the First Gulf War and the Yugoslavian civil war, where Bosnian Muslims (white, blue-eyed) were being slaughtered by Christian Serbs.
So Islamists only trust God, and the Caliphate, once established, will be run by God. Exactly how this would work in principle, I could not make out. But imagine if the Pope was in charge of the whole of the West, and all democratic government had been abolished. Something like that. (Poor Pope, by the way!) . And the next things they think is that the governments of all Muslim countries, including Iran, are hopelessly corrupt and should be wiped out. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is seen as a puppet American regime. Whatever strict Islam may be practiced there, the government itself is corrupt.
THE LIFE OF ED
As Ed wends his way through the Islamist groups it becomes quite like the scene in Life of Brian
Reg: We’re the People’s Front of Judea. Listen, the only people we hate more than the Romans, are the fucking Judean People's Front.
Judith: Splitters!
Roger: And the Judean Popular People's Front!
Loretta: And the People's Front of Judea!
Reg: What?
Loretta: The People's Front of Judea. Splitters!
Reg: We are the People's Front of Judea!
Loretta: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg: People's Front! God...
Rogers: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg: He's over there.
Yes, the splittism of the more-radical-than-thou is exactly the same in Muslim politics as it ever was in left wing politics, and probably right wing politics too. Ed sounds very much like a young socialist becoming a young communist in the 1920s, getting stoked up by big fiery speeches by big fiery guys with apocalypse on their lips and nothing but whips and scorpions to offer. Just what some young men like to hear.
It was clear from Ed’s account that a whole lot of ordinary Muslims hate the Islamists. Again, the reaction seemed to be similar to Western working class reaction to communism – it scared them; it seemed like crazy stuff. Hizb ut-Tahrir was so loathed, in fact, that its members routinely denied they were members.
When we were accused at public meetings held by other organisations of being Hizb members, our emphatic denials easily convinced our inquisitors. . Such training to deny the truth in public was a key component of Hizb halaqahs everywhere. P99
But, also like Communism, the ideas went down well with the disaffected intellectual types, and had a big impact in colleges and universities.
There is not much comedy to be found in Ed’s account, but I loved this :
The kuffar economic system should on no account be supported. Consequently, Hizb members could not insure their cars or mortgage their homes. However, many members had a penchant for fast cars, and now, without having to insure, these cars became increasingly affordable.
ED’S SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL JOURNEY
Ed was a perfect Islamist apparatchik whilst at 6th form college (16 to 18 years old). His disillusion began when he left for University. Studying the history of ideas, he found that many concepts ascribed to the “original Islamic state”, the Caliphate, by Hizb, were taken by the Abbasids from earlier non-Islamic political structures – Persia, Byzantium. And later, that many ideas on how Hizb was to operate and get its key concepts into the minds of the masses were pinched from Gramsci. But letting go of Islamism was not easy.
At first I still saw non-Muslim academics and their interpretations of history as part of a global conspiracy against Islam.
As time moved on he began to perceive that an irreligious arrogance had formed within himself and his fellow Hizb members:
establishing the Islamic state was more important than minor matters such as praying, reciting the Koran, giving to charity or being kind to our parents and our fellow Muslims.
Eventually revolted by this, and after the murder of a student by a Muslim Islamist brother, he gradually withdrew. Finally, after much soul-searching, he found Sufi Islam, which is the intense non-political mystical version. And there he stays.
9/11
As a telling example of the journey this remarkable book describes, here is what happened to Ed on the day of 9/11 in his own words :
I found it difficult to accept that an attack on the United States was an altogether negative development… despite my professed Sufi spirituality, a part of me was joyful. … Any attack on the bullyboy of the world, ardent supporter of Israel, puppet-master of Arab dictators, and exporter of McDonald’s-style globalization was certainly good news for the rest of us. Perhaps Americans would now ask themselves why they had been given a bloody nose…
That evening, at a Sufi gathering, I asked what we were doing to celebrate.
“Celebrate what?” asked Adam.
“America has been hit today. Shouldn’t Muslims be happy?”
“Seek refuge in Allah,” he said. “This is not our way. The media are already suggesting that Muslims are behind this. By Allah, I hope we are not, for this is terrible.”
“Why is it terrible?” asked a young Muslim. “The Americans kill Muslims through Israel in Palestine, have their military bases in Saudi Arabia, and support the dictators of the Arab world. If Americans are killed, we should be happy, because they kill us.”
“My brother,” said a patient, somber Adam, “the Americans are not our teachers; if they kill like barbarians, we do not respond like them. Do you think our beloved Prophet would be happy to see so many innocent people massacred in cold blood? Have you forgotten his honoring of life?”
At that moment, I thought the skies had landed on my head…. I was silent, looking down in shame at the floor
Moments of horror like that stud this narrative. Ed finally rids himself of the vicious exclusive form of political Islam, and then, as fate likes to be ironic, he winds up in Saudi Arabia – and we then get a stunning 35 page diatribe about how truly horrible that country is.
HEAD SPINNING ROUND
By the time Ed has returned to Britain and listed all the current contradictions involved in a liberal democracy tolerating fascistic jihadis your head will be spinning. So many questions, so few answers.
This book is not brilliantly written, has no literary pretensions whatsoever, can get a little tiresome at times, but it’s a very remarkable story in which so many of the most critical issues of this disastrous East-West confrontation we're still embroiled in are not just debated but viscerally lived through, and therefore this book is a 5 star ESSENTIAL READ.
ISLAMISM
Ed (and others) give this term to a collection of doctrines. First, Islam is not a spiritual, personal, quietist religion, like it was for Ed’s parents and still is for a great number of Muslims. The opposite of the Islamist view is when Jesus says “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (this was when he was set a trick question by a Pharisee to get him to say something politically dangerous). But the Islamist would say that everything is God’s, so all politics should be Islamic, the state should be Islamic, all economy should be run on Islamic principles, there is no differentiation between state and church. Following from this, they reject democracy.
“How could you possibly advocate democracy?” said one activist, “Don’t you know democracy comes from the Greeks. It is kufr. Demos kratos is people’s rule. In Islam, only Allah rules. Not people. Sovereignty belongs to God, not men. How can you follow man-made law?”
These guys want to re-establish something they call the Muslim State or Caliphate. They despise the rulers of all current Muslim countries and reject the division of “Muslim lands” into different countries in the first place. All should be re-united, as it used to be in the 8th-10th centuries; and the God-given oil revenues should be equally divided (between Muslims). While Ed was taking in and passing on these ideas, on the television was the First Gulf War and the Yugoslavian civil war, where Bosnian Muslims (white, blue-eyed) were being slaughtered by Christian Serbs.
So Islamists only trust God, and the Caliphate, once established, will be run by God. Exactly how this would work in principle, I could not make out. But imagine if the Pope was in charge of the whole of the West, and all democratic government had been abolished. Something like that. (Poor Pope, by the way!) . And the next things they think is that the governments of all Muslim countries, including Iran, are hopelessly corrupt and should be wiped out. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is seen as a puppet American regime. Whatever strict Islam may be practiced there, the government itself is corrupt.
THE LIFE OF ED
As Ed wends his way through the Islamist groups it becomes quite like the scene in Life of Brian
Reg: We’re the People’s Front of Judea. Listen, the only people we hate more than the Romans, are the fucking Judean People's Front.
Judith: Splitters!
Roger: And the Judean Popular People's Front!
Loretta: And the People's Front of Judea!
Reg: What?
Loretta: The People's Front of Judea. Splitters!
Reg: We are the People's Front of Judea!
Loretta: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg: People's Front! God...
Rogers: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg: He's over there.
Yes, the splittism of the more-radical-than-thou is exactly the same in Muslim politics as it ever was in left wing politics, and probably right wing politics too. Ed sounds very much like a young socialist becoming a young communist in the 1920s, getting stoked up by big fiery speeches by big fiery guys with apocalypse on their lips and nothing but whips and scorpions to offer. Just what some young men like to hear.
It was clear from Ed’s account that a whole lot of ordinary Muslims hate the Islamists. Again, the reaction seemed to be similar to Western working class reaction to communism – it scared them; it seemed like crazy stuff. Hizb ut-Tahrir was so loathed, in fact, that its members routinely denied they were members.
When we were accused at public meetings held by other organisations of being Hizb members, our emphatic denials easily convinced our inquisitors. . Such training to deny the truth in public was a key component of Hizb halaqahs everywhere. P99
But, also like Communism, the ideas went down well with the disaffected intellectual types, and had a big impact in colleges and universities.
There is not much comedy to be found in Ed’s account, but I loved this :
The kuffar economic system should on no account be supported. Consequently, Hizb members could not insure their cars or mortgage their homes. However, many members had a penchant for fast cars, and now, without having to insure, these cars became increasingly affordable.
ED’S SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL JOURNEY
Ed was a perfect Islamist apparatchik whilst at 6th form college (16 to 18 years old). His disillusion began when he left for University. Studying the history of ideas, he found that many concepts ascribed to the “original Islamic state”, the Caliphate, by Hizb, were taken by the Abbasids from earlier non-Islamic political structures – Persia, Byzantium. And later, that many ideas on how Hizb was to operate and get its key concepts into the minds of the masses were pinched from Gramsci. But letting go of Islamism was not easy.
At first I still saw non-Muslim academics and their interpretations of history as part of a global conspiracy against Islam.
As time moved on he began to perceive that an irreligious arrogance had formed within himself and his fellow Hizb members:
establishing the Islamic state was more important than minor matters such as praying, reciting the Koran, giving to charity or being kind to our parents and our fellow Muslims.
Eventually revolted by this, and after the murder of a student by a Muslim Islamist brother, he gradually withdrew. Finally, after much soul-searching, he found Sufi Islam, which is the intense non-political mystical version. And there he stays.
9/11
As a telling example of the journey this remarkable book describes, here is what happened to Ed on the day of 9/11 in his own words :
I found it difficult to accept that an attack on the United States was an altogether negative development… despite my professed Sufi spirituality, a part of me was joyful. … Any attack on the bullyboy of the world, ardent supporter of Israel, puppet-master of Arab dictators, and exporter of McDonald’s-style globalization was certainly good news for the rest of us. Perhaps Americans would now ask themselves why they had been given a bloody nose…
That evening, at a Sufi gathering, I asked what we were doing to celebrate.
“Celebrate what?” asked Adam.
“America has been hit today. Shouldn’t Muslims be happy?”
“Seek refuge in Allah,” he said. “This is not our way. The media are already suggesting that Muslims are behind this. By Allah, I hope we are not, for this is terrible.”
“Why is it terrible?” asked a young Muslim. “The Americans kill Muslims through Israel in Palestine, have their military bases in Saudi Arabia, and support the dictators of the Arab world. If Americans are killed, we should be happy, because they kill us.”
“My brother,” said a patient, somber Adam, “the Americans are not our teachers; if they kill like barbarians, we do not respond like them. Do you think our beloved Prophet would be happy to see so many innocent people massacred in cold blood? Have you forgotten his honoring of life?”
At that moment, I thought the skies had landed on my head…. I was silent, looking down in shame at the floor
Moments of horror like that stud this narrative. Ed finally rids himself of the vicious exclusive form of political Islam, and then, as fate likes to be ironic, he winds up in Saudi Arabia – and we then get a stunning 35 page diatribe about how truly horrible that country is.
HEAD SPINNING ROUND
By the time Ed has returned to Britain and listed all the current contradictions involved in a liberal democracy tolerating fascistic jihadis your head will be spinning. So many questions, so few answers.
This book is not brilliantly written, has no literary pretensions whatsoever, can get a little tiresome at times, but it’s a very remarkable story in which so many of the most critical issues of this disastrous East-West confrontation we're still embroiled in are not just debated but viscerally lived through, and therefore this book is a 5 star ESSENTIAL READ.
April 2, 2008
This a must read for muslims to wake up to fanatics who are hijacking islam. A must read for non muslims to understand the turmoil within islam and that not all muslims are terrorists.
November 2, 2011
Muslims who insist that the Hijab is a piece of clothing that protects a woman's modesty , do yourselves a big favor. Pick up this book and read it from cover to cover.
Ed Hussein is a self-confessed former Islamist who has since reformed his ways - as how he described it. He grew up in London amongst peers and neighbors of the same religious denomination. The Islamist is a tale of how Islam has evolved within him from being subtly spiritual to being overtly political, and how he has managed to find his way back.
Islam was never political in the community that he grew up in. Like how all religions are, Islam was largely personal and spiritual. It was a relationship between a servant and his Lord. But as he grew up, he came across Saudi-sponsored foreign elements such as the Hizb who operated aggressively in East London,recruiting youngsters and converts into a fiercely puritan brand of Islam. Young Muslims were thought that only the version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is valid and accepted by God. Other Muslims, such as the Sufi from Turkey, are heretics and will be condemned to hell for eternity. To subscribe to this puritan form of worship, the Muslim must adhere to rigid interpretations on dressing, behavior and social codes. These include the acceptance of an Islamic state as the ultimate aspiration for all believing Muslims and the complete covering of a woman's head as a sign of conformity.
Laking the spiritual moors, Hussein found this ideology very appealing and took to this puritan brand of worship zealously. In his heydays, he behaved like a typical religious fascist – overly obsessed with women's sexuality and always insisting on a “proper” way of covering up, consistently calling for the establishment of an Islamic state and generally seeing Islam as a political tool upon which he projects his opinion of morality.
But a visit to the Middle East changed his perceptions dramatically, particularly his visit to Saudi Arabia. In the hermit Kingdom, he and his wife came across a vile and racist society who insisted on Arab and male supremacy & strictly literal interpretations of the scriptures.
Men in the country were also found to be overly obsessed with sex. His wife and several of her expatriate colleagues often found themselves at the receiving end of relatively large number of inappropriate behavior by Saudi men. Pornography is a widely accepted form of entertainment behind closed doors. Hussein attributed this anomaly to the overly oppressive nature of the society which consistently emphasize gender segregation, leaving no room for its men to explore sexuality in a mature and respectable manner.
His ideals of the Islamic State diminished. He came back to Britain looking for the spiritual brand of Islam that his father grew up with.
The Islamist eerily echoes the exact scenario that is playing all around the Muslim world. From Pakistan to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Islam is slowly taking the form of the puritan worship largely found in Saudi Arabia. One of the characteristics of this brand of Islam is the obsession and over emphasis that Muslims have towards a woman's sexuality. Discourse on subjects such as charity, benevolence, spirituality have all but given way to topics such as Hijab, the proper code of dressing etc.
The Islamist is a riveting read from start to end. Kudos to Hussein for stepping forward and boldly sharing his experiences.
Ed Hussein is a self-confessed former Islamist who has since reformed his ways - as how he described it. He grew up in London amongst peers and neighbors of the same religious denomination. The Islamist is a tale of how Islam has evolved within him from being subtly spiritual to being overtly political, and how he has managed to find his way back.
Islam was never political in the community that he grew up in. Like how all religions are, Islam was largely personal and spiritual. It was a relationship between a servant and his Lord. But as he grew up, he came across Saudi-sponsored foreign elements such as the Hizb who operated aggressively in East London,recruiting youngsters and converts into a fiercely puritan brand of Islam. Young Muslims were thought that only the version of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is valid and accepted by God. Other Muslims, such as the Sufi from Turkey, are heretics and will be condemned to hell for eternity. To subscribe to this puritan form of worship, the Muslim must adhere to rigid interpretations on dressing, behavior and social codes. These include the acceptance of an Islamic state as the ultimate aspiration for all believing Muslims and the complete covering of a woman's head as a sign of conformity.
Laking the spiritual moors, Hussein found this ideology very appealing and took to this puritan brand of worship zealously. In his heydays, he behaved like a typical religious fascist – overly obsessed with women's sexuality and always insisting on a “proper” way of covering up, consistently calling for the establishment of an Islamic state and generally seeing Islam as a political tool upon which he projects his opinion of morality.
But a visit to the Middle East changed his perceptions dramatically, particularly his visit to Saudi Arabia. In the hermit Kingdom, he and his wife came across a vile and racist society who insisted on Arab and male supremacy & strictly literal interpretations of the scriptures.
Men in the country were also found to be overly obsessed with sex. His wife and several of her expatriate colleagues often found themselves at the receiving end of relatively large number of inappropriate behavior by Saudi men. Pornography is a widely accepted form of entertainment behind closed doors. Hussein attributed this anomaly to the overly oppressive nature of the society which consistently emphasize gender segregation, leaving no room for its men to explore sexuality in a mature and respectable manner.
His ideals of the Islamic State diminished. He came back to Britain looking for the spiritual brand of Islam that his father grew up with.
The Islamist eerily echoes the exact scenario that is playing all around the Muslim world. From Pakistan to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Islam is slowly taking the form of the puritan worship largely found in Saudi Arabia. One of the characteristics of this brand of Islam is the obsession and over emphasis that Muslims have towards a woman's sexuality. Discourse on subjects such as charity, benevolence, spirituality have all but given way to topics such as Hijab, the proper code of dressing etc.
The Islamist is a riveting read from start to end. Kudos to Hussein for stepping forward and boldly sharing his experiences.
March 19, 2009
This is an excellent book for anyone confused about the rise of Islamism, or radical Islam. As we follow the journey taken by the author from moderate but uninvolved Muslim to Muslim anarchist to thoughtful Muslim in a post-9/11 world, we see some of the different threads of political and religious beliefs that have led to the various factions in the Arab world today. This is not an exhaustive study by any means, but it comes across as well-informed and heartfelt.
The author, Ed Husain, is a British Muslim and he has a lot to say about the Islamic community in Britain and how it has evolved into the forms that it takes today. He also describes his experiences in Syria and Saudi Arabia where he went to learn Arabic and to teach English through the British Council. He writes about the concept of "jihad": its original significance and its distortion among modern Islamic fanatics. And he shares his personal faith-walk.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history and the modern face of Islam.
The author, Ed Husain, is a British Muslim and he has a lot to say about the Islamic community in Britain and how it has evolved into the forms that it takes today. He also describes his experiences in Syria and Saudi Arabia where he went to learn Arabic and to teach English through the British Council. He writes about the concept of "jihad": its original significance and its distortion among modern Islamic fanatics. And he shares his personal faith-walk.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history and the modern face of Islam.
February 18, 2021
We've all made stupid mistakes while young. Whose of Ed Husain, young Londoner coming from a Muslim family who had immigrated from Bangladesh, was to have joined radical Islam. Here's a stupid youthful journey, then, but upon which, following 7/7, he made himself his duty to retell so as to better make understand how young people, seemingly perfectly integrated and coming from families where Islam is everything but used as a political tool, can be seduced by such hateful trends.
He delves back upon his own evolution -the passionate journey of a young man who didn't even speak Arabic, but whose passions and youthful ardour would be manipulated by fanatics. Beyond his experience, of course very personal on many aspects (e.g. his family background, as his grandfather was a highly respected imam back in Bangladesh) we are given to see here how some scandalous European policies had terrible consequences, especially upon Muslim populations themselves. In fact, going from radical groups to radical groups, some illegal in the Arabic world but whose leaders found asylum upon our soils (despite being violently anti-Westerners!) he describes the Kafkaesque situation of lslam in Europe.
Of course, such fanatics are clearly described here like nothing more than a bunch of hot-headed yet confused extremists, far from being united in their cause, and whose understanding of Islam is appallingly poor. Nevertheless, Ed Husain shows how such looneys managed to take advantage of a Western world completely ignorant of Islam so as to pass themselves off as the representative of the Muslim world, infiltrating thus from Mosques to universities. Far more than the meandering of a lost teenager going through an identity crisis, we discover here a violent underworld, hateful, opportunist and hypocrite yet which was dangerously gangrening our landscapes.
Getting back to his family, the discovery of different imams, historical studies, and, a trip to Arabic countries (Syria, Saudi Arabia) helped opening his eyes upon such dangerous mumbo jumbo. Ed Husain's odyssey, though, remains insightful for anyone wishing to understand the psyche of such groups, and how they managed to hijack a whole part of our youths. Fascinating!
He delves back upon his own evolution -the passionate journey of a young man who didn't even speak Arabic, but whose passions and youthful ardour would be manipulated by fanatics. Beyond his experience, of course very personal on many aspects (e.g. his family background, as his grandfather was a highly respected imam back in Bangladesh) we are given to see here how some scandalous European policies had terrible consequences, especially upon Muslim populations themselves. In fact, going from radical groups to radical groups, some illegal in the Arabic world but whose leaders found asylum upon our soils (despite being violently anti-Westerners!) he describes the Kafkaesque situation of lslam in Europe.
Of course, such fanatics are clearly described here like nothing more than a bunch of hot-headed yet confused extremists, far from being united in their cause, and whose understanding of Islam is appallingly poor. Nevertheless, Ed Husain shows how such looneys managed to take advantage of a Western world completely ignorant of Islam so as to pass themselves off as the representative of the Muslim world, infiltrating thus from Mosques to universities. Far more than the meandering of a lost teenager going through an identity crisis, we discover here a violent underworld, hateful, opportunist and hypocrite yet which was dangerously gangrening our landscapes.
Getting back to his family, the discovery of different imams, historical studies, and, a trip to Arabic countries (Syria, Saudi Arabia) helped opening his eyes upon such dangerous mumbo jumbo. Ed Husain's odyssey, though, remains insightful for anyone wishing to understand the psyche of such groups, and how they managed to hijack a whole part of our youths. Fascinating!
May 30, 2013
Ed is a young Muslim living in London. Ed tries different flavours of Islam, becomes a radical Islamist and later changes his mind. This book is Ed's memoir and it's 288 pages were written in 2007.
This book is easy to understand as it is clear and well written. Although it is a memoir, your reading experience and enjoyment is the same as from reading a regular novel. This is a story of growing up, rebelling against your parents and society, plus finding your place in the world.
Ed does not preach at the reader, he just tells his story and let's you form your own opinion of Islam. I am an Atheist and I thoroughly enjoyed his book. You do not need to be a religious scholar of any religion to understand and enjoy this book. Apart from being a wonderful story, it enlightens the reader about the HUGE differences between Muslims. This book made me laugh when Ed details the infighting between different mosques and Muslim groups.
There is a good timescale to this memoir as Ed grows up and lives through the Twin Towers terrorist attacks of 2001 and the London bombings of 2005. He has to reconcile his faith each time after both terrorist attacks committed by fellow Muslims.
This book gives a much needed transparency to a very closed world lived by Muslims among us in Britain today. This story really enlightens the reader by showing the huge breadth in the interpretation and worship within Islam.
I have found nothing wrong with this lovely book, it is very good and I vote it the top score of 5 stars.
This book is easy to understand as it is clear and well written. Although it is a memoir, your reading experience and enjoyment is the same as from reading a regular novel. This is a story of growing up, rebelling against your parents and society, plus finding your place in the world.
Ed does not preach at the reader, he just tells his story and let's you form your own opinion of Islam. I am an Atheist and I thoroughly enjoyed his book. You do not need to be a religious scholar of any religion to understand and enjoy this book. Apart from being a wonderful story, it enlightens the reader about the HUGE differences between Muslims. This book made me laugh when Ed details the infighting between different mosques and Muslim groups.
There is a good timescale to this memoir as Ed grows up and lives through the Twin Towers terrorist attacks of 2001 and the London bombings of 2005. He has to reconcile his faith each time after both terrorist attacks committed by fellow Muslims.
This book gives a much needed transparency to a very closed world lived by Muslims among us in Britain today. This story really enlightens the reader by showing the huge breadth in the interpretation and worship within Islam.
I have found nothing wrong with this lovely book, it is very good and I vote it the top score of 5 stars.
February 6, 2012
Part memoir and part debate on the causes and rise of radical Islam in Great Britain, Ed Husain’s The Islamist is revealed to be essential reading. His erudition and honesty form the backbone to this compelling and stimulating story of his involvement with Islamic fundamentalists in London mosques as a teenager to his complete indoctrination until one moment of violence leads to the unravelling of everything he thought he held dear. Had this just been the narrative of those events I doubt this book would hold such potent power, but because Ed Husain is knowledgeable about both the true nature of Islam and how different Islamic groups seek to co-opt the faith for their ideological ends, he is able to engage with the deeper political, religious and social questions in a persuasive manner.
The tectonic shifts that occurred within the Muslim world following the September 11 attacks overshadow much debate about radicalised Islam, but Ed Husain’s focus is British Islam and his discussion of the 7/7 attacks and the role fundamentalist groups operating without impunity in British city centres and their connections to Saudi Wahhabi sects makes for some of the most stimulating political debate on the issue that I have read in a long time. He presents his information at a personal level, and though much of what he states might be unproven (the way the Hizb ut-Tahrir operates conceals member affiliations easily), his arguments make sense; and besides, much of what Husain has to say appears to be common sense.
For those readers with little understanding of the Muslim faith, and especially for those who understand Islam only through the actions of a radicalised few, The Islamist will prove especially provocative. We hear only of these radicals wishing to establish a Muslim state – a caliphate – and the implication of this is that all Muslims must therefore be alike in their faith. Ed Husain skilfully deconstructs this, by highlighting numerous different Islamic sects – radicalised, sufi, moderate – and the ways in which the observance of their faith alters drastically, even within the Arab world (Syria is vastly different to Saudi Arabia), and through these discussions is able to reveal how the extremism of Saudi Wahhabism is insidiously infiltrating Britain. He ends with a challenge to British leaders to excise this cancerous form of Islam from British society, for the danger it poses is extreme: we are breeding the next generation of disillusioned but dedicated extremists.
The Islamist should be required reading for everyone, and especially for those engaged in Islamic education and British politics. It is an important book for it is the beginning of a debate that cannot be ignored and that, with the rise of fundamentalism across the globe, will be important and relevant for the next decade or two.
The tectonic shifts that occurred within the Muslim world following the September 11 attacks overshadow much debate about radicalised Islam, but Ed Husain’s focus is British Islam and his discussion of the 7/7 attacks and the role fundamentalist groups operating without impunity in British city centres and their connections to Saudi Wahhabi sects makes for some of the most stimulating political debate on the issue that I have read in a long time. He presents his information at a personal level, and though much of what he states might be unproven (the way the Hizb ut-Tahrir operates conceals member affiliations easily), his arguments make sense; and besides, much of what Husain has to say appears to be common sense.
For those readers with little understanding of the Muslim faith, and especially for those who understand Islam only through the actions of a radicalised few, The Islamist will prove especially provocative. We hear only of these radicals wishing to establish a Muslim state – a caliphate – and the implication of this is that all Muslims must therefore be alike in their faith. Ed Husain skilfully deconstructs this, by highlighting numerous different Islamic sects – radicalised, sufi, moderate – and the ways in which the observance of their faith alters drastically, even within the Arab world (Syria is vastly different to Saudi Arabia), and through these discussions is able to reveal how the extremism of Saudi Wahhabism is insidiously infiltrating Britain. He ends with a challenge to British leaders to excise this cancerous form of Islam from British society, for the danger it poses is extreme: we are breeding the next generation of disillusioned but dedicated extremists.
The Islamist should be required reading for everyone, and especially for those engaged in Islamic education and British politics. It is an important book for it is the beginning of a debate that cannot be ignored and that, with the rise of fundamentalism across the globe, will be important and relevant for the next decade or two.
May 24, 2024
An insightful and humane book about the dangers of extremist ideology. Ed Husain focuses on Islamic extremism but his book offers lessons into the extremist mind more generally, no matter religion or ideology.
Husain writes beautifully about the humane, spiritual qualities of traditional Islam as contrasted with the cold, brutalising political ideology of *Islamism.* It is a crucially important thing to make this distinction between Islam as a faith and Islamism as a political ideology because Husain superbly demonstrates over 300 pages that the latter often has very little to do with the former. Political Islamism often consists of a crude, anti-intellectual and ahistorical form of religious literalism mixed with the political tactics of Gramsci and a bastardised version of Hegelian teleology. When combined with the violent impulses of Wahhabism it produces an incredibly incendiary mix. This is basically Husain’s thesis and it is very convincing.
Husain writes that we have to help intellectuals, moderates and reformers within the Muslim world win the battle of ideas against extremists who operate a formidable propaganda machine which is global in reach. He’s absolutely right. In the West we have been too insular and arrogant in neglecting to pay attention to the great debates roiling other cultures different to our own.
We are too quick to resort to infantilising Orientalism, writing off vast sections of the world as hopeless “lost causes.” The Western right often does this in a pig-headed, racist and ignorant way. The Western left is no better with their infantilising cultural relativism which often employs racially condescending tropes in an unknowing way - who are we to judge or critique other cultures victimised by Western imperialism etc etc. Brutal ultra-reactionary movements like Hizb ut-Tahrir, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, ISIS will be treated as the inevitable byproduct of Western imperialism, as though Muslims have no agency and must instinctively resort to violence as a response to historical injustices.
We in the West have to change our entire approach to the Arab and Muslim world. We need to get interested in the great debates that animate other cultures and we need to recognise their agency. Contrary to what some on the Western left think, the West is not the sole actor with historical agency in the world or the sole embodiment of reaction and violence and evil. Every group and nation and culture will produce people who fight for justice and people who fight to impose violent reaction. We need to stand on the side of those Muslims fighting against those who wish to impose violent reaction on their communities.
Husain writes beautifully about the humane, spiritual qualities of traditional Islam as contrasted with the cold, brutalising political ideology of *Islamism.* It is a crucially important thing to make this distinction between Islam as a faith and Islamism as a political ideology because Husain superbly demonstrates over 300 pages that the latter often has very little to do with the former. Political Islamism often consists of a crude, anti-intellectual and ahistorical form of religious literalism mixed with the political tactics of Gramsci and a bastardised version of Hegelian teleology. When combined with the violent impulses of Wahhabism it produces an incredibly incendiary mix. This is basically Husain’s thesis and it is very convincing.
Husain writes that we have to help intellectuals, moderates and reformers within the Muslim world win the battle of ideas against extremists who operate a formidable propaganda machine which is global in reach. He’s absolutely right. In the West we have been too insular and arrogant in neglecting to pay attention to the great debates roiling other cultures different to our own.
We are too quick to resort to infantilising Orientalism, writing off vast sections of the world as hopeless “lost causes.” The Western right often does this in a pig-headed, racist and ignorant way. The Western left is no better with their infantilising cultural relativism which often employs racially condescending tropes in an unknowing way - who are we to judge or critique other cultures victimised by Western imperialism etc etc. Brutal ultra-reactionary movements like Hizb ut-Tahrir, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, ISIS will be treated as the inevitable byproduct of Western imperialism, as though Muslims have no agency and must instinctively resort to violence as a response to historical injustices.
We in the West have to change our entire approach to the Arab and Muslim world. We need to get interested in the great debates that animate other cultures and we need to recognise their agency. Contrary to what some on the Western left think, the West is not the sole actor with historical agency in the world or the sole embodiment of reaction and violence and evil. Every group and nation and culture will produce people who fight for justice and people who fight to impose violent reaction. We need to stand on the side of those Muslims fighting against those who wish to impose violent reaction on their communities.
December 14, 2011
Don't waste your time on this book, i've never read something so simplistic in my life. Right from the start the author feels no need to explain *why* political islam (or a single one of their varied offshoot ideologies) is bad, but merely assumed the reader is already afraid of it and proceeded to back up these fears with a series of anecdotes of his teens. In case you put it down for a while and forget your fear, each chapter conveniently starts with a scary out-of-context quote by a famous Islamist figure.
He can wax lyrical for pages and pages on the virtues of such superficial things as a turban, perfume or muslim skullcap as following the example of the prophet, and yet still feels no need to explain in the slightest some of the sweeping statements on different branches of faith. He never really explains why celebrating the prophet's (pbuh) birthday is essential, but uses it to guage whether someone is tolerant in their beliefs or not.
I saw this book and decided to read it partially to understand the author, who I admit I am no fan of, and partially on the off-chance that i might learn something. I didn't, and instead just feel extremely patronised. This book wasn't written for me, it was written for the readers of the Daily Mail, and does a pretty good job stoking their fears of creeping sharia in a way that will drive a wedge between them and young british muslims (which is precisely the terrible thing he's warning about). You'll also be hard-pressed to find a bigger mis-representation of today's UK muslim community, as characters who I've only managed to come across once or twice in my entire life make up the entire cast.
Oh, and my favourite quote of the book? "The racist reality of the Arab psyche would never accept black and white people as equal." Enough said.
He can wax lyrical for pages and pages on the virtues of such superficial things as a turban, perfume or muslim skullcap as following the example of the prophet, and yet still feels no need to explain in the slightest some of the sweeping statements on different branches of faith. He never really explains why celebrating the prophet's (pbuh) birthday is essential, but uses it to guage whether someone is tolerant in their beliefs or not.
I saw this book and decided to read it partially to understand the author, who I admit I am no fan of, and partially on the off-chance that i might learn something. I didn't, and instead just feel extremely patronised. This book wasn't written for me, it was written for the readers of the Daily Mail, and does a pretty good job stoking their fears of creeping sharia in a way that will drive a wedge between them and young british muslims (which is precisely the terrible thing he's warning about). You'll also be hard-pressed to find a bigger mis-representation of today's UK muslim community, as characters who I've only managed to come across once or twice in my entire life make up the entire cast.
Oh, and my favourite quote of the book? "The racist reality of the Arab psyche would never accept black and white people as equal." Enough said.
December 30, 2009
I was wary of this one with its sensation and confessional title, but once I started it I kept reading until I finished it in a day. Set in England, Turkey, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, this is a fast-paced easy-to-read page turner, one that is probably a good place to start learning about Muslim terrorists. It turns out our protagonist and memoir-writer, Ed Husain (nee Muhammed Husain) was born into and raised in a Sufi family and as a boy took lessons from a Sufi master. Sufis are the meditative, mystical, poetic devotional (and musical) Muslims. Somehow in college Husain became attracted to and joined a number of radical Islamist groups including Jam'at-i Islam, and ultimately the extremely notorious Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group that seeks to violently overthrown governments and revive a global caliphate -- and not in a noble pattern such as the Prophet Muhammad and Hazreti 'Ali. Husain awoke from this fanatical sleep-walk after a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir murdered an innocent African Christian and when he met the love of his life, Faye. Their honeymoon in Turkey and their teaching and study in Syria further attune them to the reality of the beauty of Muslim societies, traditions, and culture. Husain writes revealingly of their experiences in Saudi Arabia and exposes the extraordinary hypocrisy and indifference to poverty of the society. Yes, Husain documents abjectly poor immigrant groups in the world's richest-per-capita country. This book is beautifully written, but also in places chilling and exciting. This is the first book on Muslim terrorism I've read that also reveals the beauty of Islam, especially as one finds it (as Husain rediscvered for himself) in the Sufi tradition. As an article in TIME magazine suggested a year ago, one of the best ways for us to defeat terrorism is to find out why people leave terrorist groups. Here's one man's account of why he left terrorist groups.
October 4, 2024
As I get to return more to London and remember the Brexit results and live its consequences, as I have to reaffirm more and more my identity as a Latina woman, as a brown Spaniard, as half of a mixed-race, mixed-nationality, mixed-culture couple, as someone with a Muslim name... this book was very timely.
I landed in London the 6th of July of 2005, it was a hard summer.
I have studied Arabic and Islam and Arab culture. Not to the level of the author, but enough to confuse people when I explain my name was given for the Catholic meaning of it, but I know about the Prophet's daughter, the 5 pillars of Islam, and how to introduce myself in Arabic.
I learnt a lot, I remembered a bit, and I was very surprised by the journey of Ed Husain.
And I think, up to a point, I understand my mother's worries when I started going out, and I was going to the immigrant neighbourhoods and areas with a Colombian friend.
Radicalism can happen at home. It happens at home more often than not. First and second generations, we are neither from here nor from there. It's a cliché, but it's true.
I am only glad Ed Husain noticed the error of his ways and decided to learn from his experience.
We can all learn from it, hopefully.
I landed in London the 6th of July of 2005, it was a hard summer.
I have studied Arabic and Islam and Arab culture. Not to the level of the author, but enough to confuse people when I explain my name was given for the Catholic meaning of it, but I know about the Prophet's daughter, the 5 pillars of Islam, and how to introduce myself in Arabic.
I learnt a lot, I remembered a bit, and I was very surprised by the journey of Ed Husain.
And I think, up to a point, I understand my mother's worries when I started going out, and I was going to the immigrant neighbourhoods and areas with a Colombian friend.
Radicalism can happen at home. It happens at home more often than not. First and second generations, we are neither from here nor from there. It's a cliché, but it's true.
I am only glad Ed Husain noticed the error of his ways and decided to learn from his experience.
We can all learn from it, hopefully.
April 18, 2013
Very well written book indeed. Ed has done a very good job in sticking to the plot, as he goes through his very interesting journey across the British Islamic scene, in an Islamic lite version. I must admit, so much focus on Islam in Britain has always been a mystery for a first generation immigrant like me coming from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. His learning of Islamic values was largely done by different types of schools or rather organisations prevalent in the British culture which I enjoyed thoroughly as the narrative style was almost infantile, absolutely right for any non-Muslim audience as well as ignorant Pakistani Muslims like me.
There are inconsistencies though, as Ed has remained pretty divisive throughout the book, first against the West, than after his conversion to 'moderate' version of Islam towards Islamic countries. He has also quoted parallels citing prophetic events from the life of Prophet Mohammad. Trouble is that he has failed to answer why Islamic fundamentalism is still so powerful in the Islamic countries? I think clues are found when we consider prophetic events cited by extremist groups like the Taliban, who for instance, are drawing analogies for every action with the Prophetic Sunnah (life history) and his companions (Salaf). For example they claim cutting necks of their enemies as fair game as the companions did with swords
1400 years ago! So for me the central question is how to change the interpretation of Islam, especially in a Muslim majority culture because without changing these outdated interpretation there seems to be little hope of Muslim delivery.
Ed's opinion on the Syrian culture also seems far from true, as he considered almost all Syrians very fond of Asad, fondness which at least now seems pretty allusive with the Syrian revolution in full swing. Again Ed's conclusions are not very insightful as he chooses to portray a Syria which seems pretty far fetched at this moment but still very palatable in his lite style.
I would rate this book much better than Maajid Nawaz's attempt of self-glorification in his very similar book called Radical. Ed in contrast has done justice to his transition from radicalism to moderation, complimenting his wife and love as the chief reasons which is very believable.
Ed has all the making of a great scholar one day, as he continues on his academic and physical journeys through life, as long as he somehow gets rid of his divisive style first.
There are inconsistencies though, as Ed has remained pretty divisive throughout the book, first against the West, than after his conversion to 'moderate' version of Islam towards Islamic countries. He has also quoted parallels citing prophetic events from the life of Prophet Mohammad. Trouble is that he has failed to answer why Islamic fundamentalism is still so powerful in the Islamic countries? I think clues are found when we consider prophetic events cited by extremist groups like the Taliban, who for instance, are drawing analogies for every action with the Prophetic Sunnah (life history) and his companions (Salaf). For example they claim cutting necks of their enemies as fair game as the companions did with swords
1400 years ago! So for me the central question is how to change the interpretation of Islam, especially in a Muslim majority culture because without changing these outdated interpretation there seems to be little hope of Muslim delivery.
Ed's opinion on the Syrian culture also seems far from true, as he considered almost all Syrians very fond of Asad, fondness which at least now seems pretty allusive with the Syrian revolution in full swing. Again Ed's conclusions are not very insightful as he chooses to portray a Syria which seems pretty far fetched at this moment but still very palatable in his lite style.
I would rate this book much better than Maajid Nawaz's attempt of self-glorification in his very similar book called Radical. Ed in contrast has done justice to his transition from radicalism to moderation, complimenting his wife and love as the chief reasons which is very believable.
Ed has all the making of a great scholar one day, as he continues on his academic and physical journeys through life, as long as he somehow gets rid of his divisive style first.
July 31, 2016
Ed merupakan generasi kedua imigran dari Bangladesh yang membesar di kota London. Sewaktu kecil, dia dididik dengan ajaran Islam tradisional. Keluarganya melibatkan diri dengan perkumpulan kerohanian yang diketuai oleh seorang sheikh dari India yang setahun sekali melawat Britain bagi membimbing pengikutnya.
Memasuki kolej, Ed Husain mula berkenalan dengan gerakan belia yang lebih terbuka menerusi pembacaan terhadap Mawdudi diikuti Syed Qutb dan akhirnya Hizbut Tahrir menerusi tulisan Nabhani. Kita boleh anggap tulisan Nabhani ditangga pertama dalam skala radikalisme, manakala Qutb ditangga kedua dan Mawdudi ditangga terakhir. Oleh itu, jelaslah disini, bermula dengan pandangan yang ringan terhadap gerakan Islam menerusi Mawdudi, Ed Hussain kemudian disogokkan dengan bacaan yang bersifat radikal, ideologi negara Islam, sarana terhadap jihad sehinggalah yang mengajak untuk mengkafirkan bukan Islam dan aksi ganas demi matlamat 'suci' - iaitu mendirikan khilafah Islam.
Namun, melihat kecelaruan dalam Hizbi, Ed memutuskan untuk mengundurkan diri dari pergerakan 'Islam'. Dia membetulkan kembali matlamat perjuangannya, mula menumpukan pada pelajaran, membina kerjaya dan berkahwin. Dalam masa yang sama dia mendekatkan diri dengan Islam dengan betul dari tokoh seperti Sheikh Hamza Yusuf dan Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad. Ed dan isterinya, Feya memilih Syria untuk belajar bahasa Arab bagi memahami Qur'an dengan betul kemudian ke Arab Saudi. Perbezaan persekitaran Eropah dengan Syria dan Arab Saudi semakin memahamkan dia akan erti negara Islam yang sebenar. Islam tradisional, gelagat Wahabi di Arab Saudi dan pandangan-pandangan silap akibat dari kefahaman gerakan Islam (menerusi Mawdudi, Qutb dan Nabhani) telah membawa dia keluar ke jalan yang lebih baik.
Memasuki kolej, Ed Husain mula berkenalan dengan gerakan belia yang lebih terbuka menerusi pembacaan terhadap Mawdudi diikuti Syed Qutb dan akhirnya Hizbut Tahrir menerusi tulisan Nabhani. Kita boleh anggap tulisan Nabhani ditangga pertama dalam skala radikalisme, manakala Qutb ditangga kedua dan Mawdudi ditangga terakhir. Oleh itu, jelaslah disini, bermula dengan pandangan yang ringan terhadap gerakan Islam menerusi Mawdudi, Ed Hussain kemudian disogokkan dengan bacaan yang bersifat radikal, ideologi negara Islam, sarana terhadap jihad sehinggalah yang mengajak untuk mengkafirkan bukan Islam dan aksi ganas demi matlamat 'suci' - iaitu mendirikan khilafah Islam.
Namun, melihat kecelaruan dalam Hizbi, Ed memutuskan untuk mengundurkan diri dari pergerakan 'Islam'. Dia membetulkan kembali matlamat perjuangannya, mula menumpukan pada pelajaran, membina kerjaya dan berkahwin. Dalam masa yang sama dia mendekatkan diri dengan Islam dengan betul dari tokoh seperti Sheikh Hamza Yusuf dan Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad. Ed dan isterinya, Feya memilih Syria untuk belajar bahasa Arab bagi memahami Qur'an dengan betul kemudian ke Arab Saudi. Perbezaan persekitaran Eropah dengan Syria dan Arab Saudi semakin memahamkan dia akan erti negara Islam yang sebenar. Islam tradisional, gelagat Wahabi di Arab Saudi dan pandangan-pandangan silap akibat dari kefahaman gerakan Islam (menerusi Mawdudi, Qutb dan Nabhani) telah membawa dia keluar ke jalan yang lebih baik.
Read
August 2, 2011This is a challenging and extremely important book. The author got swept up into a world of religious fundamentalism in the segregated streets of East London and was blindly stoking the fires of religious separatism and hatred until the reality of the Islamist agenda he was promoting was challenge in the death of an "outsider". The authors world was turned upside down as he began to challenge his own assumptions and those of the people he had been associating with. Finding his spiritual self empty he began to question Islamism and began a voyage of rediscovery during which he returned to the route of his religion and found that much that he thought he knew was wrong and found a freer and happier Sufi Islam built on a love of others and an embracing of difference. What emerges is a new and happier warmer human being free of beards, bombs and burkas but still Muslim and happy. This voyage of rediscovery is one that many religious fundamentalists of all persuasions would do well to take if only as a test of their blind "faith". You are left with the sad conclusion that the author is one of the few who has escaped from an intolerant Saudi Wahbbiest form of Islam built on hate and intolerance which still holds many prisoner and continues to recruit new drones to its unholy church, This book should be read by everyone. It is a good window into an alien world to those who have not grown up in a religious environment and a challenge to those who have. The author also has an important message to those in power, although I'm sure they will not be paying attention and have their own cynical reasons for not doing so.
March 26, 2017
There is a lot to say about this book. I read it for work as the author was supposed to visit us and speak to us about his work and the book. He had an emergency, so he could not make it, but the co-director of the organization that he runs, the Quilliam Foundation, was there and we had a fairly long discussion with him.
Basically, the book is about a young Muslim teenager growing up in the UK who was tempted and lured into the "Islamist" movement there--first through the Jamaat Islami groups and then through Hizb ul Tahrir. In a period of five years he goes from being fairly practicing to an "Islamist", and then, jaded with that movement, turns to Sufism at the end.
I dislike the way that Islamism is portrayed here--in a very monolithic manner. There are a variety of Islamic and/or Muslim political movements that have varying means and ends and unfortunately the author puts them all in one category.
The issue of radicalization in the UK is fascinating. The author and his co-director both left Hizb ul Tahrir very recently and are getting a lot of flak for their new work in the UK as being "stooges of the UK government" and "neo-cons."
I would recommend this book, but one must read it with an understanding of the context in the UK.
Basically, the book is about a young Muslim teenager growing up in the UK who was tempted and lured into the "Islamist" movement there--first through the Jamaat Islami groups and then through Hizb ul Tahrir. In a period of five years he goes from being fairly practicing to an "Islamist", and then, jaded with that movement, turns to Sufism at the end.
I dislike the way that Islamism is portrayed here--in a very monolithic manner. There are a variety of Islamic and/or Muslim political movements that have varying means and ends and unfortunately the author puts them all in one category.
The issue of radicalization in the UK is fascinating. The author and his co-director both left Hizb ul Tahrir very recently and are getting a lot of flak for their new work in the UK as being "stooges of the UK government" and "neo-cons."
I would recommend this book, but one must read it with an understanding of the context in the UK.
July 30, 2015
on Sunday, July 27, 2008 I wrote about this book:
Finished this book yesterday.
it was definitely not an easy read, by far. Lots of Islam names and Islam groups. Wow they fight amongst themselves so much, so much rivalry. I liked the beginning, the middle I did start to get a bit bored but I did not want to give up so I tried and kept reading. Glad I did cause it teached me a lot.
How scary it is to know so many muslims are living next to us and think we are so far below them and that there are quite a lot of them who hate us even.
Even more scary is that because of our freedom we let them get away with a lot. Look at the situation in England. I know it will be the same here.
I did underline passages, not with pen, which were remarkable or interest me. Now I want to read another book to give me even more insight. Thinking of Eurabia or While Europe slept.
Thanks for sharing. 7.5
Finished this book yesterday.
it was definitely not an easy read, by far. Lots of Islam names and Islam groups. Wow they fight amongst themselves so much, so much rivalry. I liked the beginning, the middle I did start to get a bit bored but I did not want to give up so I tried and kept reading. Glad I did cause it teached me a lot.
How scary it is to know so many muslims are living next to us and think we are so far below them and that there are quite a lot of them who hate us even.
Even more scary is that because of our freedom we let them get away with a lot. Look at the situation in England. I know it will be the same here.
I did underline passages, not with pen, which were remarkable or interest me. Now I want to read another book to give me even more insight. Thinking of Eurabia or While Europe slept.
Thanks for sharing. 7.5
January 2, 2008
For anyone wondering how a British born Muslim can become a radical fundamentalist - this is the story. Very insightful, but a little bit scary to grasp just how easily 2nd & 3rd generation Muslims can become part of a terrorist movement and just how little the British government have done about it.
August 18, 2017
I am rating this five stars because I am extremely impressed by the author's honest narrative. The journey this man went through is one of self-discovery and spiritual discovery. The story of how he finds beauty and spirituality within Islam is very moving. I applaud the author for making this journey and writing such a book where he is often critical of his own actions. It takes a lot to admit one's own faults and it is needless to say that Britain today needs many more Ed Husains to show Muslims and non-Muslims what spiritual Islam truly is. I am moved by this book to seek a deeper understanding of this religion away from the hysteria created by the media.
March 16, 2025
Absolutely astounding book, gives an insight into something I realise I didn’t properly understand. In a post-9/11 climate, should be required reading for everyone.
August 18, 2011
This book was recommended to me when it first came out, and I was studying religion at university. It describes one man's story of growing up in East London, becoming religiously aware, becoming involved in Islamist fundamentalists against the wishes of his family and his eventual change of heart after about 5 or 6 years and then how he found his own spirituality and expression of Islam.
It was a real eye opener for me. I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household and attended a fairly fundamentalist church with frequent visits to a Brethren church with a friend from school. I recognised much of the sysmtoms of a lost teenager looking for a firm base in which to find themself. Fundamentalist christiantity had lots of appeal to me as a teenager, so I understood totally where Husain was coming from. I see it only as a difference in birth that he experienced Islam in the way that I expereineced christianity.
However, where our paths differ is the politicisation of religion. Husain's group became more and more politic and further from the spiritual basis of the muslim faith as he became more involved. He was an ardent leafletter and proselytiser. He was well respected in his group(s). He moved from one group to another that appeared to him to have 'more Islam'. And so his journey continued.
What was remarkable to me was how widespread political preaching was, and how easy to be taken in by apparently 'intellectual' debate. This is something I have little experienceof, apart from the odd quip that some of my own former leaders were slightly to the right of Genghis Khan (but that is my adult reaction!).
It must have been a difficult process to shed the fundamentalist attitudes that Husain had heard throughout his formative teenage years; I imagine it was difficult to tell his parents - and still more to be believed - that he no longer shared these groups beliefs. He describes how he became attracted to Sufism and learning more about muslim scholarship as he found his new faith in Allah.
A brave work, and one I struggled with at times - keeping up with political moevements I'm not conversant with had me lost a few times, but I felt that this book gave lots of details about the history of these groups as well as a final view of Islam that was peace loving, Allah-centered, humble and deeply moving. I for one am really happy that Husain was able to find that faith, explore it fully and continue to grow in his faith.
It was a real eye opener for me. I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household and attended a fairly fundamentalist church with frequent visits to a Brethren church with a friend from school. I recognised much of the sysmtoms of a lost teenager looking for a firm base in which to find themself. Fundamentalist christiantity had lots of appeal to me as a teenager, so I understood totally where Husain was coming from. I see it only as a difference in birth that he experienced Islam in the way that I expereineced christianity.
However, where our paths differ is the politicisation of religion. Husain's group became more and more politic and further from the spiritual basis of the muslim faith as he became more involved. He was an ardent leafletter and proselytiser. He was well respected in his group(s). He moved from one group to another that appeared to him to have 'more Islam'. And so his journey continued.
What was remarkable to me was how widespread political preaching was, and how easy to be taken in by apparently 'intellectual' debate. This is something I have little experienceof, apart from the odd quip that some of my own former leaders were slightly to the right of Genghis Khan (but that is my adult reaction!).
It must have been a difficult process to shed the fundamentalist attitudes that Husain had heard throughout his formative teenage years; I imagine it was difficult to tell his parents - and still more to be believed - that he no longer shared these groups beliefs. He describes how he became attracted to Sufism and learning more about muslim scholarship as he found his new faith in Allah.
A brave work, and one I struggled with at times - keeping up with political moevements I'm not conversant with had me lost a few times, but I felt that this book gave lots of details about the history of these groups as well as a final view of Islam that was peace loving, Allah-centered, humble and deeply moving. I for one am really happy that Husain was able to find that faith, explore it fully and continue to grow in his faith.
June 22, 2010
I sometimes find it necessary to rate books in halves; this one gets a 2.5 and not the 2 I gave above.
This was a book in which I kept oscillating between agreeing and disagreeing with the author up to the last page. I understand and respect his earnest effort in trying to highlight the growing extremist trend in Muslim youth but his vitriolic narration against anything Saudi didn't sit well with me. When he can ask questions such as "Do all 'white Christians' think the same way?" in protest against the anti-Western sentiments that unfortunately some Muslims harbor, why does he continually associate the word 'Saudi' with everything negative? And then to actually title a chapter "Saudi Arabia: Where Is Islam?" was in my opinion taking things too far. I believe in healthy criticism but not in an all-out attack against a diverse population whose make-up is similar to that of any other Muslim community around the world; there are literalist extremists and moderates in any Muslim community you choose to analyze (or for that matter in any other religion too) and no, you can't pin extremism on so-called "Wahabism" either every time. And just because he met a few like minded people during his stay in Jeddah, doesn't mean he can speak on behalf of the "7-million strong immigrant workforce" in saying that they loathe living in this country. I know, because I don't.
The one thing that continually surprised me was the audacity of some of these immigrant or British Muslims to think that it is their right or duty to Islamize Britain! The Prophet (pbuh) expected and called for Muslims living in non-Muslim regions to abide by the rules of the land and live in harmony with those people. So this call for Islamizing Britain doesn't have any basis in Islam as the author so aptly pointed out.
An interesting memoir but as in all memoirs, I don't take the narration to be the absolute truth but rather to be the author's point of view on the subject raised and dealt with in the pages. It also got a bit too repetitive for my taste at times.
This was a book in which I kept oscillating between agreeing and disagreeing with the author up to the last page. I understand and respect his earnest effort in trying to highlight the growing extremist trend in Muslim youth but his vitriolic narration against anything Saudi didn't sit well with me. When he can ask questions such as "Do all 'white Christians' think the same way?" in protest against the anti-Western sentiments that unfortunately some Muslims harbor, why does he continually associate the word 'Saudi' with everything negative? And then to actually title a chapter "Saudi Arabia: Where Is Islam?" was in my opinion taking things too far. I believe in healthy criticism but not in an all-out attack against a diverse population whose make-up is similar to that of any other Muslim community around the world; there are literalist extremists and moderates in any Muslim community you choose to analyze (or for that matter in any other religion too) and no, you can't pin extremism on so-called "Wahabism" either every time. And just because he met a few like minded people during his stay in Jeddah, doesn't mean he can speak on behalf of the "7-million strong immigrant workforce" in saying that they loathe living in this country. I know, because I don't.
The one thing that continually surprised me was the audacity of some of these immigrant or British Muslims to think that it is their right or duty to Islamize Britain! The Prophet (pbuh) expected and called for Muslims living in non-Muslim regions to abide by the rules of the land and live in harmony with those people. So this call for Islamizing Britain doesn't have any basis in Islam as the author so aptly pointed out.
An interesting memoir but as in all memoirs, I don't take the narration to be the absolute truth but rather to be the author's point of view on the subject raised and dealt with in the pages. It also got a bit too repetitive for my taste at times.
February 12, 2016
The first half of this book was not bad, but not great either. Sometimes I was getting bored. But the second half was interesting as hell. You can learn so much from it. At least I did. I wish there were more people like Ed, more people who would find their way out of Islamists groups.
The Islamist from Ed Husain and The Radical from Maajid Nawaz are books which anyone especially nowdays when Europe (mainly people in Eastern and Central Europe) is affraid of refugees should read. People are affraid of things which they do not know, do not understand. And these books are books which would help them understand what is Islam, what is Islamism, what is Jihadism. That the majority of Muslims are not terrorists, the Muslim women have their rights etc.
Islam is the antidote to extremism, to Islamism. It’s important to remember that ordinary Muslims have been the greatest victims of Islamist terror, and that their desire to put an end to the threat is perhaps greater than ours. We must recapture Islam from Islamists, neutralise radical theologies, and empower pluralist Muslims. This is our first line of defence against terrorism.
The Islamist from Ed Husain and The Radical from Maajid Nawaz are books which anyone especially nowdays when Europe (mainly people in Eastern and Central Europe) is affraid of refugees should read. People are affraid of things which they do not know, do not understand. And these books are books which would help them understand what is Islam, what is Islamism, what is Jihadism. That the majority of Muslims are not terrorists, the Muslim women have their rights etc.
Islam is the antidote to extremism, to Islamism. It’s important to remember that ordinary Muslims have been the greatest victims of Islamist terror, and that their desire to put an end to the threat is perhaps greater than ours. We must recapture Islam from Islamists, neutralise radical theologies, and empower pluralist Muslims. This is our first line of defence against terrorism.
September 8, 2011
A good look into Islamism and what that means. I was not sure what fundamental Islam was before I read this book and now I feel I have a reasonable understanding. Though the book is written from an author who is British by birth and raising, it has relevance to Islamism anywhere. The book is not a very well written book, which is why I gave it 4 stars, the content is 5 stars. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about fundamental Islam.
August 20, 2016
this book was great , it is written by ed husain and was published in 2007.
i read it in 2 sittings,
i really loved it,
ed husain tells his story about how he joined radical islam in england and what he saw and why he left,
he talks about islamic scholars such as sayyid qutab.
this book was very well written.
ed husain left radical islam , before that he was an islamsit.
this book was great and taught me a lot .
well done ed husain!.
i read it in 2 sittings,
i really loved it,
ed husain tells his story about how he joined radical islam in england and what he saw and why he left,
he talks about islamic scholars such as sayyid qutab.
this book was very well written.
ed husain left radical islam , before that he was an islamsit.
this book was great and taught me a lot .
well done ed husain!.
November 28, 2008
Ed started off as a passionate Muslim, but soon became an Islamist, essentially an fundamentalist activist wanting states to be taken over by an Islamic political system. This book follows his journey in and trying to find his way out. Interesting, but hard to get through at times.
March 20, 2013
I didn't love this book, but I did learn quite a bit. I was most intrigued by the author's experiences and observations in post-9/11 Syria and Saudia Arabia -- and his rather frightening assessment of America's vulnerability to home-grown terrorism. A worthwhile read.
September 23, 2008
Everybody should read this book to understand extremism in British muslims. As a muslim i found this book to be extremely eye opening.
September 23, 2013
Highly Informative.
"A young boy's company determines his destiny." - Eastern proverb
"A young boy's company determines his destiny." - Eastern proverb
Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews