The Islamist

Infobox Book
name = The Islamist
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Ed Husain
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
subject = Islamism
genre = Nonfiction
publisher = Penguin Books
release_date = 2007
media_type = Print
pages = 304
isbn = ISBN 0-141-03043-7
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left," is a book about Ed Husain's (full name Mohammed Mahbub Hussain) five years as an Islamic fundamentalist. Husain became an Islamist at the age of sixteen, but "rejected fundamentalist teaching and returned to normal life and my family ... after much emotional turmoil". Husain describes his his book as explaining "the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam." The book has been described "as much a memoir of personal struggle and inner growth as it is a report on a new type of extremism." [ [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_06_07.html "Literary Review", "The Pathology of Faith" by John Gray ] ] It was published in May 2007.

Context

According to one observer,

In the two years since four suicide bombings on the London transport system killed 52 innocent people and injured 700 others, many reports, essays and books on British Muslims have appeared. But none has created anything like the furore that has surrounded publication of "The Islamist" by Ed Husain ... [ [http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-651/_nr-26/i.html Ed Husain, "The Islamist," "Looking for a Different Kind of God"] ]

The publication of "The Islamist" was launched the same week the verdicts of Operation Crevice, "Britain's longest terror trial", (involving a plan by Islamic extremists to blow up several buildings) , were delivered. Less than two years earlier 52 communters had been killed and 700 injured in four coordinated bombings in London by Islamic extremists.

ynopsis

Husain fondly describes his early years at William Burrough primary school in the 1980s, where he plays with 'Jane, Lisa, Andrew, Mark, Alia, Zak' and learns about Islam from his family and his family's Bengali spiritual guide Shaikh Abd al-Latif (Fultholy Saheb) (p.9) he called 'Grandpa'. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/may/06/politics "A true Islamic voice" by Anushka Asthana ] The Observer, May 6 2007]

In the early 1990s Husain goes to Stepney Green, a boys school that was virtually all-Muslim and dominated by immigrants and gangs, and dubbed the "worst school in Britain" by the tabloid press (p.7). He has few friends and feels himself a "boffin" misfit, but finds some satisfaction in studying Islam along with a new friend Brother Falik. Their text, "," by Ghulam Sarwar, is "the first book I read about Islam in English." "The Islamist", pp 20-22]

He had been taught by his father that Islam and politics didn't mix, but Sarwar preached that 'Religion and politics are one and the same in Islam', [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/may/06/politics "A true Islamic voice" by Anushka Asthana ] The Observer, May 6 2007] and this became the "one part of the book has stayed with me." Later, Husain felt misled by Sarwar. "What I did not know at school was that Sarwar was a business management lecturer, not a scholar of religion. And he was an activist in the organisations that he mentioned [ Muslim Brotherhood and Jamat-e-Islami] . Sarwar's book was not the dispassionate educational treatise it purported to be." and that

"he was also the brains behind the separation of Muslim children from school assemblies into what we called 'Muslim assembly', managed by the Muslim Educational Trust (MET) [of which Sarwar is the Director] . What seemed like an innocuous body was, in fact, an organisation with an agenda. In my school, a Jamat-e-Islamic activist named Abdul Rabb represented the MET and awarded us trophies and medals for our performance in MET exams. Ostensibly it all seemed harmless, but the personnel all belonged to Jamat-e-Islami front organisations in Britain. Their key message was that Islam was not merely a religion but also an ideology that sought political power and was beginning to make headway."

At the invitation of Brother Falik he becomes active in the [http://www.ymouk.com/ Young Muslims Organisation] which had a large following at East London Mosque and was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami and Islamist leader Abul Ala Maududi. His family strongly opposes the political Islam of Jamaat-e-Islami. When his father makes him choose between Islam and the family, Husain runs away, finannly coming back when his father backs down and allows him to continue visiting the East London Mosque.

Later he moves on to Hizb ut-Tahrir, another Islamist group with a more intellectual and international outlook that emphasizes the need to restablish an Islamic Caliphate unifying the Muslim world, or ummah, in one unified state. After two years in HT he drops out and attends meetings of the Islamic Society of Britain, affliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Husain writes that in the mid-1990s, he became disillusioned with Islamic groups in the UK and more interested in the relatively nonpolitical Islamic scholars Hamza Yusuf and Nuh Ha Mim Keller. After a period working for HSBC, Husain moves with his wife to Damascus to study Arabic and teach English at the British Council. Still teaching for the British Council they move to Jeddah Saudi Arabia to be close to Mecca and Medina. There he becomes disillusioned by "the naked poverty" and inequality which he feels makes a mockery of his early belief in the solidarity of the ummah.

All my talk of ummah seemed so juvenile now. .... Racism was an integral part of Saudi society. My students often used the word “nigger” to describe black people. Even dark-skinned Arabs were considered inferior to their lighter-skinned cousins. I was living in the world’s most avowedly Muslim country, yet I found it anything but. I was appalled by the imposition of Wahhabism in the public realm, something I had implicitly sought as an Islamist. [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1685726.ece "How a British jihadi saw the light"] timesonline, April 21, 2007 ]

Also disillusioning was the lack of chaste behavior and respect for women

In supermarkets I only had to be away from Faye [his wife] for five minutes and Saudi men would hiss or whisper obscenities as they walked past. ....
We had heard stories of the abduction of women from taxis by sex-deprived Saudi youths. At a Saudi friend’s wedding at a luxurious hotel in Jeddah, women dared not step out of their hotel rooms and walk to the banqueting hall for fear of abduction by the bodyguards of a Saudi prince who also happened to be staying there. ....
Why had the veil and segregation not prevented such behaviour? [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1685726.ece "How a British jihadi saw the light"] timesonline, April 21, 2007 ]

Husain returns to London after the July 7 bombings.

Husain criticises Islamism and argues that the desire for the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate is borne out of an alien, Wahhabi or extremist interpretation of Islam. The idea of a pure Islamic state, is 'not the continuation of a political entity set up by the Prophet, maintained by the caliphs down the ages (however debatable)'. The ideas of HT founder Nabhani, 'were not innovatory Muslim thinking but wholly derived from European political thought,' including the anti-liberal democrat Rousseau. [ [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_06_07.html "Literary Review", "The Pathology of Faith" by John Gray ] ]

Husain writes in "The Islamist" of his former association with Inayat Bunglawala, Dhiren BarotFact|date=August 2007 and Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Husain finally severs his links with Islamism by "rediscovering what he describes as 'classical, traditional Islam', which includes Sufi mysticism." [ [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_06_07.html "Literary Review", "The Pathology of Faith" by John Gray ] ]

According to observers, "The Islamist" highlights the "paradoxes of political Islam: a movement that is avowedly anti-secular, anti-modern and anti-Western, it has been profoundly shaped by modern Western secular ideologies." [ [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_06_07.html "Literary Review", "The Pathology of Faith" by John Gray ] ]

Reception

The book has been "much-praised," [ [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/riazat_butt/2007/05/there_is_much_excitement_about.html How Mohammed became Ed ] ] although the praise has not been unanimous.

Positive

The Sunday Times described the book as "insightful and gripping". [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1702333.ece The Sunday Times, April 29, 2007, Confessions of a former fanatic] ]

Martin Amis wrote that "Ed Husain has written a persuasive and stimulating book." [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/biography/article1746959.ece The Times, May 5, 2007, Martin Amis reviews The Islamist] ]

"The Times" columnist David Aaronovitch argued that "Husain's account is not sensationalist, tending more to understatement than to hyperbole." [ [http://timesonline.typepad.com/david_aaronovitch/2007/05/the_bishop_and_.html May 08, 2007, David Aaronovitch , The bishop and the Islamist: a cautionary tale] ]

Anushka Asthana of The Observer wrote, "This captivating, and terrifyingly honest, book is his attempt to make amends for some of the wrongs he committed. In a wake-up call to monocultural Britain, it takes you into the mind of young fundamentalists, exposing places in which the old notion of being British is defunct." [ [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2073191,00.html A true Islamic voice, Anushka Asthana, May 6, 2007] ]

The "Daily Mail" columnist and author of "Londonistan", Melanie Phillips says Husain "should be applauded for his courage" and displayed "intellectual honesty and guts". [ [http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1505 April 24, 2007, Another brave Muslim speaks up] ]

According to John Gray of the London School of Economics, "The Islamist" is first and foremost a riveting personal narrative, but it also carries a powerful and—for some—unfashionable message. Particularly among the new army of evangelical atheists, there will be those who see his story as another proof of the evils of faith schools and of religion in general. Yet Husain did not finally sever his links with Islamism by becoming a militant atheist and converting to an Enlightenment faith in humanity—as secular fundamentalists urge. He did so by rediscovering what he describes as 'classical, traditional Islam', which includes Sufi mysticism" [ [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_06_07.html John Gray, The Pathology of Faith] ]

Neutral

*Brian Whitaker, who was Middle East editor of The Guardian for seven years, concludes his review by writing that, "The tricky question is what, in the hothouse of youthful politics—whether at Oxford, in Liverpool or east London—leads some to violence while others, like Ed Husain, end up writing books about it. Ed doesn't seem to have an answer, and I doubt that anyone else really knows either." [ [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2007/05/bank_of_fundamentalism.html Bank of fundamentalism] ]

Critical

In contrast to praise he received from mainstream reviewers, Islamists and some leftists have been highly critical of the book:

*In "The Independent", Ziauddin Sardar, complains of what he sees as Husain's "reductive extremist" activity, first embracing "the extremist cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad, and ... the atrocious Hizb ut-Tahir", and then going in the opposite direction blaming multiculturalism "for the radicalisation of Muslim youth". He goes on to dismiss Husain's book, saying "The Islamist" seems to have been drafted by a Whitehall mandarin as a PR job for the Blair government." [ [http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article2600334.ece Reviewed by Ziauddin Sardar, 1 June 2007 ] ]

*Writing in "The Guardian", Madeleine Bunting, [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,2078103,00.html argues] that "Husain's book will be used in many debates—the future of multiculturalism, whether infringements of civil liberties are necessary to combat terrorism, what parts of Islamist histories from Asia and the Middle East a British Muslim community needs to jettison. One suspects the naivety which took him into Hizb-ut Tahrir has blinded him as to how his story will be used to buttress positions hostile to many things he holds dear—his own faith and racial tolerance, for example. A glance at the blog response to a Husain piece in the "Telegraph" reveals how rightwing racism and anti-Islamic sentiment are feasting on his testimony."

*A commentary page piece in the "Guardian" by Riazat Butt accused Husain of having been a peripheral character whose association with Islamic groups in Britain occurred over a decade ago. "He is happy to reinforce stereotypes and justifies this by saying he knows what inspires terrorists—the likely inference being that his book is an educational tool. But Husain was not a terrorist and his account is dated and misleading. The groups he mentions, and their "modus operandi", are more fluid and sophisticated now. Husain provides no new answers and no fresh information. The activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir and their ilk have been well documented already. I have to ask why, when his experiences are firmly based in the 1990s, this book is being published now and is being greeted with an adulation that is both embarrassing and unwarranted." [ [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/riazat_butt/2007/05/there_is_much_excitement_about.html How Mohammed became Ed] ] .

*In his blog [ [http://www.yahyabirt.com/?p=71 The Islamist: A Review] ] , Islamic researcher Yahya Birt criticises other reviews of the book in the mainstream press noting that they were "quick to draw sweeping and general conclusions about today’s situation, even though the heart of this book is really about the early Nineties." Birt goes on to say that "While this personal memoir is a must-read, offering with authority and nuance an insider’s view of the context that shaped the period, it is not a definitive analysis." He opposes Husain's stance on banning Hizb ut-Tahrir, and feels that Husain has mischaracterised the positive work of the East London Mosque.

*Another blog by Muslim writer Andrew Booso [ [http://thetranslators1.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/review-of-%e2%80%9cthe-islamist%e2%80%9d-ust-andrew-booso-complete/ review] ] , claims that Husain "shows a serious inadequacy of knowledge regarding theology and Sacred Law as expounded by the masters through the ages." Booso is critical of Husain's criticism of Islamism and challenges Husain's assertion that the Caliphate is associated with an extremist interpretation of Islam. Booso argues that the divine obligation of the Caliphate is a "standard, orthodox belief expounded and endorsed by the jurists throughout time."

*Yet another Islamic activist blogger asserts that Ed Husain’s appearance has been orchestrated by pro-war groups and individuals within the media connected to the government and New Labour. [ [http://traditionalislamism.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/ed-mahbub-husains-family-pir/ ‘Ed’ Husain’s family Pir « WELCOME TO TRADITIONAL ISLAMISM ] ]

References

External links

* The Islamist - " [http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141030432,00.html Penguin Books]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2073365,00.html Review of the Islamist by The Guardian]
* [http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_freevideo/~3/113795673/index.html CNN Interview with Ed Husain (Video)]
* [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/04/cnr.02.html CNN Interview Transcript]
* [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/taji_mustafa/2007/05/the_islamist_bogeyman.html "The 'Islamist' bogeyman" by Taji Mustafa, executive committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain]
* [http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article2600334.ece Review of the Islamist by Ziauddin Sardar, The Independent]
* [http://theislamicist.wordpress.com/ 'The Islamicist' A satirical take on Ed Husain's book]
* [http://www.mcb.org.uk/library/article_24-05-07.php Review of the Islamist by Inayat Bunglawala, The Muslim Council of Britain]
* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1685726.ece April 21, 2007 How a British jihadi saw the light]

ee also

*Ed Husain
*Islamism
*Extremism
*East London Mosque