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The Muslim writer Andrew Booso "salutes" Husain for spending "so much of his time and energy" on the problem of "extremism" in the Muslim community, but criticizes Husain for showing "a serious inadequacy of knowledge regarding theology and Sacred Law as expounded by the masters through the ages."<ref>[http://thetranslators1.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/review-of-%e2%80%9cthe-islamist%e2%80%9d-ust-andrew-booso-complete/ Review of “The Islamist”] : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete&#93; « The Translators</ref> He has also been criticized by the Muslim Council of Britain for saying that "Saddam Hussein effectively invited the US army to invade Iraq by playing cat-and-mouse games with United Nations arms inspectors." <ref>[http://www.mcb.org.uk/library/article_24-05-07.php Muslim Council of Britain, ''The Islamist'', by Ed Husain, Penguin, 2007, pp 288 ]</ref>
The Muslim writer Andrew Booso "salutes" Husain for spending "so much of his time and energy" on the problem of "extremism" in the Muslim community, but criticizes Husain for showing "a serious inadequacy of knowledge regarding theology and Sacred Law as expounded by the masters through the ages."<ref>[http://thetranslators1.wordpress.com/2007/05/21/review-of-%e2%80%9cthe-islamist%e2%80%9d-ust-andrew-booso-complete/ Review of “The Islamist”] : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete&#93; « The Translators</ref> He has also been criticized by the Muslim Council of Britain for saying that "Saddam Hussein effectively invited the US army to invade Iraq by playing cat-and-mouse games with United Nations arms inspectors." <ref>[http://www.mcb.org.uk/library/article_24-05-07.php Muslim Council of Britain, ''The Islamist'', by Ed Husain, Penguin, 2007, pp 288 ]</ref>

Husain describes the Arab "psyche" as irredeemably racist, cites Gandhi as his hero, criticises the director of MI5 for "pussyfooting around" with extremists, defends the government's decision to ban Muslim cleric al-Qaradawi from Britain because he defends Palestinian martyrdom operations and attacks multiculturalism, declaring there to be too many immigrants in the country.


He has also been criticized for declining the opportunity to challenge a member of [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] live on air, on BBC's ''World Have Your Say'' programme saying that he did not want to give a platform to Islamists.<ref>[http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/are-there-some-people-we-shouldnt-invite-onto-whys/ Are there some people we shouldn't invite onto World Have Your Say?]</ref>
He has also been criticized for declining the opportunity to challenge a member of [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] live on air, on BBC's ''World Have Your Say'' programme saying that he did not want to give a platform to Islamists.<ref>[http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/are-there-some-people-we-shouldnt-invite-onto-whys/ Are there some people we shouldn't invite onto World Have Your Say?]</ref>

Revision as of 22:06, 1 April 2009

Ed Hussain
Born
Mohammed Mahbub Hussain

(1975-12-25) December 25, 1975 (age 49)
London, United Kingdom
OccupationWriter
Known forAuthor of The Islamist
SpouseFatima Hussain
Children1 daughter

Mohammed Mahbub Hussain (born 25 December, 1975), better known as Ed Husain, is the author of The Islamist, a book about Islamic fundamentalism, and an account of his five years as an Islamist activist. He was a member, or at least active in,[1] the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (Hizb ut-Tahrir's UK spokesman denies he was ever a formal member),[2] and helped created a counter-extremism organisation called the Quilliam Foundation with Majid Nawaz and Rashad Ali.

Biography

Husain was born and brought up in the East End of London, a member of a Bangladeshi family.[3] Husain's father was born in British India and his mother was born in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh),[4] around the region of Sylhet.[5] His father arrived to the United Kingdom during in 1961, and started a small Indian takeaway business in Limehouse.[6] Husain's parents followed a spiritual form of Islam based on Sufi traditions,[7] known as the movement 'Fultoli', led by Sheikh Abdul Latif Fultoli, a renowned Islamic spiritual guru from Sylhet.[8]

In his early years, Husain was brought up in Limehouse and attended a local primary school called the Sir William Borough School.[citation needed] His family later moved to Stepney Green, and he attended a predominantly Bangladeshi and Muslim secondary school called Stepney Green School.[citation needed] During his years in secondary school Husain was an outsider, he rejected the Bengali gang culture present in the school, and was sometimes oppressed by other students.[9] Husain attended the Brick Lane mosque in his early years (the mosque follows a Barelvi-Fultoli movement belonging to a Sufi order). He later drifted away from his parents teachings, and, at the age of sixteen, was encouraged by a student to attend classes at the East London Mosque, and later joined the group YMO, and, after that, the Hizb ut-Tahrir[citation needed] — an Islamic group which calls for the Caliphate, whose activities he participated in for around five years[citation needed]. Husain attended Tower Hamlets College in Poplar, and it was during his studies at Newham College of Further Education in 1995 when he decided to leave the group, and became involved, instead, with Sufism. [10] He was also associated with the Bangladeshi political party Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islamic Society of Britain.

Husain now strongly criticizes these groups, although Hizb-ut-Tahrir categorically denied that he had ever been a member.[11] A few years later, he created an organisation together with Maajid Nawaz and Rashad Ali called the Quilliam Foundation, the first counter-extremism organisation to be formed by former radical Islamists. The aim of this organisation is to confront groups which promote what is alleged to be dangerous and extremist interpretations of Islam, and in particular to confront Hizb ut-Tahrir.[12] The Quilliam Foundation describes itself as "a specialist think tank and campaign group that believes that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, our Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations."[13] He is also a visiting fellow at the think-tank Civitas.[14]

Husain has worked for HSBC and the British Council in Saudi Arabia and Syria, and also studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. He later joined the Labour Party. Husain has also studied Arabic at the University of Damascus and is currently on a PhD programme in Political Science at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Husain has been married to Fatima 'Faye' since 2000 and together they have a daughter, Camilla.[15]

Views

Husain's views have been very controversial. Whilst Husain claims to support a liberal interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence his critics allege his views are heretical, neoconservative and mirror those of the British government.

He claims he follows scholars such as Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah.

In an interview[1] in the New York Times, Husain said,

In traditional circles, Muslim women are not allowed to marry non-Muslim men...But in a pluralistic world in 2007, where non-Muslim men and Muslim women are marrying, you can't say, 'You can’t do that.'

Husain also questions Islamic teaching in relation to the Caliphate, arguing

But 'the state' is not a rukn (pillar) of the deen (religion). An individual can remain a firm believer, a mutadayyin, without the imam and the jama'ah.[16]

Husain has also explained that he believes Muslim society is in need of change. In an interview with Time Out, he said:

As I left extremism I realised that if you are born here and grow up here, then you belong here. The Islam that was preached 2,000 years ago isn’t going to work here in modern London. Muslims need to alter their lifestyles to a Western lifestyle. To criticise is not Islamaphobic. It's about opposing certain ideas.[17]

Husain describes the Arab "psyche" as irredeemably racist, cites Gandhi as his hero, criticises the director of MI5 for "pussyfooting around" with extremists, defends the government's decision to ban Muslim cleric al-Qaradawi from Britain because he defends Palestinian martyrdom operations and attacks multiculturalism, declaring there to be too many immigrants in the country.

Further information: Quilliam Foundation

Husain is a member of the Labour Party.

Further information: Quilliam Foundation

The Islamist

Main article: The Islamist

In The Islamist, Husain describes how he became an Islamic fundamentalist at the age of 16. He explains that,

Five years later, after much emotional turmoil, I rejected fundamentalist teachings and returned to normal life and my family.

Husain says that his book explains

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 was shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize for political writing.[18]

Praise and criticism

Husain's book has proven controversial and received mixed reviews. It has received positive reviews from The Guardian,[19][20] The Times[21]—which ran run two weeks’ worth of extracts[22]—and the International Herald Tribune.[23] Other sources such as the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir,[24] the Salafimanhaj.com website,[25] and the Muslim Council of Britain[26] have made strong criticism, alleging inaccuracy and flawed analysis by Husain. The text has been supported by former Islamists such as Maajid Nawaz and others, however.

The Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips has described Husain as a "brave Muslim".[27] Guardian columnist Seamus Milne has called Husain a "British neocon pinup boy". [28] Another Guardian contributor, Denis MacShane, calls him and the new Quilliam Foundation "precisely the kind of witness to truth about evil that the left should embrace, not reject".[29]

The journalist Ziauddin Sardar has called Husain's "critical faculties ... conspicuously absent", arguing that his case is far more atypical than Husain claims, as "young Muslims are no more likely to join Hizb ut-Tahrir than young Christians are to join the Moonies." Sardar "suspects" Husain "wants everyone" in Muslim organisations "locked up, leaving the terrain open for his brand of neocons to run amok."[30]

The Muslim writer Andrew Booso "salutes" Husain for spending "so much of his time and energy" on the problem of "extremism" in the Muslim community, but criticizes Husain for showing "a serious inadequacy of knowledge regarding theology and Sacred Law as expounded by the masters through the ages."[31] He has also been criticized by the Muslim Council of Britain for saying that "Saddam Hussein effectively invited the US army to invade Iraq by playing cat-and-mouse games with United Nations arms inspectors." [32]

Husain describes the Arab "psyche" as irredeemably racist, cites Gandhi as his hero, criticises the director of MI5 for "pussyfooting around" with extremists, defends the government's decision to ban Muslim cleric al-Qaradawi from Britain because he defends Palestinian martyrdom operations and attacks multiculturalism, declaring there to be too many immigrants in the country.

He has also been criticized for declining the opportunity to challenge a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir live on air, on BBC's World Have Your Say programme saying that he did not want to give a platform to Islamists.[33]

Works

See also

References

  1. ^ a b A Journey to, and From, the Heart of Radical Islam in Britain
  2. ^ * Taji Mustafa Spokesman of Hizb Tahrir UK on CNN stated Ed Husain had never been a member (whereas Majid Nawaz (Ed's colleague) is acknowledged as an ex-member) - Ed's response was he "studied" with them for two years: MUSTAFA: Ed Husain was never a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. We need to have our facts very clear. AMANPOUR: So you're denying that? MUSTAFA: That Ed Husain was a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir? Absolutely. http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/04/cnr.02.html
  3. ^ A. N. Wilson (09 September 2008) The Great Surrender: How Britain has given in to the religious fanatics intent on destroying our way of life Mail Online. Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  4. ^ Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging in a Changing World. Facing History and Ourselves. 1988. p. 65. ISBN 9780979844034.
  5. ^ Irfan Yusuf (27 July 2007) The Islamist On Line Opinion (Australia). Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
  6. ^ Ann McFerran (10 August 2008) Best of Times, Worst of Times: Ed Husain Times Online. Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  7. ^ Dominic Casciani (24 May 2007) Inside the jihadi worldview BBC News (BBC). Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  8. ^ Piers Paul Read (07 April 2008) How I Found Allah and Quit the Jihad The American Conservative. Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  9. ^ Madeleine Bunting (12 May 2007) We were the brothers Guardian. Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  10. ^ Rebecca Taylor (01 May 2007) Islamic extremists in the East End Time Out London. Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  11. ^ Interview broadcast by CNN on May 3, 2007
  12. ^ Mark White (22 April 2008) New Islamic Group To Combat Extremism Sky News (BSkyB). Retrieved on 15 February 2009.
  13. ^ Quilliam Foundation, about us
  14. ^ Westminster Journal
  15. ^ http://www.epicindia.com/magazine/Books/book-review-the-islamist-why-i-joined-radical-islam-in-britain-what-i-saw-inside-and-why-i-left-by-ed-husain
  16. ^ arguing
  17. ^ Time Out London: 'Islamic extremists in the East End'
  18. ^ "Shortlist 2008", The Orwell Prize
  19. ^ We were the brothers, Saturday May 12, 2007
  20. ^ Why should we have to justify ourselves to the people who want to bomb us? Thursday May 3, 2007
  21. ^ April 21, 2007, Rediscovering a kinder, gentler Islam
  22. ^ Review of “The Islamist” : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete May 21, 2007]
  23. ^ Ex-radical turns to Islam of tolerance By Jane Perlez, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Published: June 1, 2007
  24. ^ "The 'Islamist' bogeyman" by Taji Mustafa, executive committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain
  25. ^ The Charade of Ed Husain, Necon, Blairite author of the Islamist
  26. ^ Review of the Islamist by Inayat Bunglawala, The Muslim Council of Britain
  27. ^ Melanie Phillips’s Diary » Another brave Muslim speaks up
  28. ^ Denial of the link with Iraq is delusional and dangerous
  29. ^ [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/denis_macshane/2008/04/not_always_right.html Not always right | Comment is free
  30. ^ The Islamist by Ed Husain, The Independent, 1 June 2007
  31. ^ Review of “The Islamist” : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete] « The Translators
  32. ^ Muslim Council of Britain, The Islamist, by Ed Husain, Penguin, 2007, pp 288
  33. ^ Are there some people we shouldn't invite onto World Have Your Say?
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