The Cold War - A new History by John Lewis Gaddis

Islamist by Ed Husain

reviewed by Marc Schulman

The Islamist by Ed Husain is a frightening book. Husain was born in England to parents who came from India and Pakistan. His family were observant but moderate Muslims. The book chronicles the story of his transformation from a moderate Muslim into a radical "slamist". He embraced the goals of establishing an Islamic state to replace any and all of the existing states in the world. As he became ever more radical he began to believe that those who were not Muslim were inferior, and not worthy. Husain was heavily involved in College in England in a series of ever more radical Muslim groups who garnered ever larger numbers of constituants.

Husain began to question his beliefs. His first revelation occurred when when he saw that the most radical of all Islamist killing a fellow Muslim. He wondered what the talk of a future Isalmic state was all about if Muslims could kill fellow Muslims. Husain also began to question the beliefs of his fellow radicals on the status of women. Slowly Husain rejected the most radical of his beliefs while remaining a committed Muslim.

Husain embraced a more spiritual Islam Sufism. Husain beliefs were further shaken by events of 9/11. He describes the "unpopular" positions taken by some of his teachers against the bombings. The majority of radical Muslims in England supported the attacks according to Husain. Husain went on with his wife to spend time in Syria, both studying Arabic and teaching English. There he rediscovered his English identity. He was shocked when people he met in Syria happily went off to Jihad in Iraq to defend the regime of Saddam Hussein.

One of the most frightening passages in the book takes place towards the end, when Husain and his wife spend time in Saudi Arabia. He describes at length the fundementalist approach of Wahhabisism, which thanks to the oil wealth of Saudi Arabia has been spread widely. Husain goes to lunch with a couple whom he considered modern and western. When he asks them if they thought there was a connection between what is taught in Saudi Schools and 9/11 the response he gets was “ No No because the Saudis were not behind the 9/11. The plane hijackers were not Saudis men. One thousand two hundred and forty six Jews were absent from work on that day and there is proof that they the Jews were behind the killings and not the Saudis”. Just before he is to leave to return to England a number of his English students ask how they can go to England and become suicide bombers. Husain proports that these beliefs are widespread in Saudi Arabia and reflect the views that have been spread widely throughout the world by the export of Wahhabisism.

In prescient passage at the end of the book ( you can see a large excerpt below) he warns against Wahhabis Islam being preached inside American prisons and the possibility of turning run of the mill prisoners into future terrorist. The Islamist is a book that should be read!

Afterword: And What About America? by Ed Husain, Author of The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left

The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and Respected stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges. --George Washington, 1783

If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists. --George Washington, in a letter to Tench Telghman, 1784

It was my first visit to the United States. I was expecting to be stopped at the airport, harassed, interrogated and perhaps detained. Since 9/11, Muslim communities across the globe are filled with horror stories of encounters at American airports. My friend from college days, Majid Nawaz, who had spent four years as a political prisoner in Egypt, was with me. Together we had attended countless anti-American rallies in Britain, and witnessed many US flag-burning rituals. Now, in our thirties, and after a decade in the wilderness, we had changed. But would America understand us? Would we understand America?

Like good Brits, we patiently stood waiting in the long queue at Washington Dulles Airport. Suddenly, Majid's name was called from the loudspeaker, telling him to go to the front of the line. Then mine. Were we in trouble? Majid had visited the US recently, appearing as an expert witness for the Congressional Homeland Security Committee chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman. Majid had been one of Hizb ut-Tahrir's most intelligent, vociferous and articulate leaders, travelling to Pakistan, Denmark and Egypt advocating the group's ideas and setting up secret cells. The Hizb, in essence, was identical to al-Qaeda, differing only in terms of the tactics it chose to achieve the desired result: political power. Majid has been banned in several countries, and is wanted by Pakistan's ISI, their intelligence agency. But he had recently rejected extremism and, after years of study and reflection in prison, become a public advocate for liberal democracy, using scriptural evidence to support peaceful Muslims -- who represent the vast majority -- in their struggle against religious extremism. His rejection of Hizb ut-Tahrir made headlines in the British press, and the British prime minister quoted Majid in parliament. But now we were in America, and during Majid's recent trip, federal escorts had accompanied him everywhere, fearful that he might violate US security regulations and not quite sure what to make of him. Would he, would we, face the same fate again?

An immigration officer at Washington Dulles Airport, accompanied by several colleagues, took us to one side, registered our passport details and asked the desk officer to clear us for entrance. Senior officials at the US Department of Homeland Security were expecting our arrival and wanted minimum kerfuffle. The polite, courteous conduct of the officers touched us both. But my mind was on the thousands of American Muslims who had been subjected to raids and arrests. Can we forget their plight?

Outside the airport, I stood with Majid and was stupefied by the number of US flags I saw everywhere. Flying at full mast at several junctures in the car park, and then above the airport, and on cars and coaches, the stars and stripes were ubiquitous. Unlike Britain, America was proudly patriotic and unreservedly expressive of national pride.

'Their flag is almost sacred to them, isn't it?' I said to Majid.

'And extremists burn it all the time. Why did we do that, Ed? Why?' he asked, trying to come to terms with how we had been sucked into extremism.

'Why didn't anybody stop us?' I asked in response. 'We watched this happen in London, not Baghdad -- what possessed us?'

Majid and I recalled how several of our fellow activists became suicide bombers, were imprisoned, or created entire organisations that linked themselves to al-Qaeda. What started off as mere talk, as rhetoric, found expression in mass murder in several European capitals, including London and Madrid. The murder we had witnessed on our college campus a decade before the attacks on London's subway on July 7, 2005 was an unspeakable testament to the power of words. The talk of jihad, hatred and anger never remains abstract, limited to 'freedom of speech.' It yields results.

More than anything else, what worried Majid and me was the lack of awareness in the wider society of the root causes of extremism, and of the lifestyle that fosters recruitment into extremist movements. Society's demonstrated failure to grasp the urgency of the situation was also troubling, because that comprehension might precipitate policies and actions that could prevent young Muslims from becoming fanatical ideologues committed to creating a world dominated by Islamism, not Islam. To help fill this void, Majid and I started the Quilliam Foundation, the world's first think-tank committed to explaining and countering Islamist thought.

We were in America to speak at Harvard and Princeton, at an array of Washington think tanks, and to meet Muslims on both the East and West coasts. We spoke with leading personnel at several government departments, US ambassadors, academic leaders and students. And everywhere we went, we were asked a similar series of critical questions. Can America create home-grown terrorists? Will American Muslims, like British Muslims, attack their own homeland in the name of a false Islam? Britain is home to over 3,000 extremists: Can America be harbouring enemies without knowing? The 9/11 hijackers hatched their plot in Europe: Are American-born Islamists capable of a similar monstrosity?

My answers to these questions, after meeting quite a few American Muslims and consulting with American experts on these issues, are both yes and no. The above is an excerpt from the book The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left by Ed Husain. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Author Bio Ed Husain, author of The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left, 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, among others. He is a co-founder of the Quillium Foundation, Britain's first Muslim counter-extremism think tank. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Send Comments to Marc@Multied.com