If you have ever wondered how Western nations such as Great Britain can cultivate home-grown radical Muslims, you should read Ed Husain’s autobiography “The Islamist.
Husain comes from a close, middle class, law-abiding Muslim family, but within five years he becomes an angry, detached, “jihadist activist.
Husain’s parents are both spiritual and observant but non-politicized. At sixteen he joins the YMO, the Youth Muslim Organization. It is the start of his confusion as he is introduced to the ideas of radical Islamic thinkers advocating the creation of an Islamic State and the philosophy that “religion and politics are one and the same in Islam.
In spite of his parents’ disapproval, his conversion is rapid and he recalls his feeling of self-righteousness.
“Now I was not a mere Muslim, like all the others I knew; I was better, superior.
Husain is keen to illustrate how easy it is for the Muslim youth of Britain to become radicalized. The literature of the most extreme ideologues such as the Pakistani Abul Ala Mawdudi and the Egyptian Sayed Qutb is widely available and considered required reading.
Congregations of Muslim activists at universities and Town Halls are tolerated as is the fiery rhetoric of preachers advocating violence to overthrow non-Islamic governments. As the author relates his personal descent into the embrace of the highly politicized organization Hizb ut Tahrir, he skilfully exposes the hypocrisy and hollowness of their principles.
Quoting passages from the Quran he refutes their violent ideology.
“Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as though he has killed the entire humanity, he quotes.
He reminds the reader of verses where Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) declares, “to you your religion, and to me mine.
But for Qutb and others this was unacceptable, he wrote, “Islam is a declaration of freedom of man from servitude to other men. Thus it strives from the beginning to abolish all other systems and governments which are based on the rule of law over man.
While Husain becomes deeply committed to Hizb ut Tahrir’s philosophy he does recognize that they bent the principles of Muslim law to their own ends: “We knew how to deny, lie, and deflect, he writes.However, like most activists, at the time he believed anything was permissible “as simple strategies of war.
Gradually though his elevated intellect does force him to question the double standards, especially with regard to women. He starts to resent the absence of spirituality in this brand of Islam.
“In my childhood I heard melodious chants glorifying God and the Prophet, but now we had done away with the prophet and melody. All that was important to us was God, an angry God. Terrified non-Muslims would pass us, not daring to look.
In spite of the “vacuum in his soul, Husain only rejects radicalism when an innocent man is killed following a confrontation with a member of the Hizb. Although he calls this incident “the trigger for my enlightenment, it was clearly just the catalyst and other factors contributed to his “awakening such as his innate intelligence that refused to accept things at face value and his father’s constant example of devout non-political spirituality.
Above all, he recognized that somewhere in his five-year journey of radical activism he had lost the essence of Islam to the extent that even prayer had become perfunctory.
The second part of “The Islamist deals with the author’s personal quest to try and understand the phenomenon of Muslim extremism that appears to be polarizing societies everywhere.
Initially as Husain embraces mainstream life and pursues a university degree and a banking career, Islamism becomes a “distant memory. It is only when he comes across tapes by the American Imam Hamza Yusef Hanson that his religious curiosity is re-ignited.
Hanson’s values are close to the Sufi philosophy that promotes hope and faith and the belief that the politicization of religion was unnecessary. At this point Husain is not fully convinced but admits to being fascinated by “this transcendent form of faith that did not advocate “indiscriminate jihad, but looked for, “knowledge, spiritual growth and divine love.
Pursuing spiritual peace of mind he decides to learn Arabic and moves to Syria and then Saudi Arabia, the home of the Prophet. But the “reality of Saudi culture proves to be a real eye-opener for Husain. He is outraged by the hypocrisy, bigotry and stringent class structure that is symptomatic of much of the country.
For the first time he fully appreciates the nature of the democratic society in which he was raised and in which every citizen has equal rights regardless of their race or color.
He is extremely critical of Wahabi culture that advocates “scriptural rigidity, bigotry, intolerance and violence and he is convinced that a culture that cannot comprehend the difference between “love and worship and that is coupled with anger-ridden radical ideology can only be destructive to Islam.
Ultimately he believes that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to be one manifestation of Wahabism.
“The Islamist is a courageous book that exposes the reality of home-grown potential terrorists cultivated as a result of negligence and ignorance on the part of British authorities.
Husain’s first-hand experience of these “legitimate organizations allow him the right to condemn their doctrine which is based on inciting violence and encouraging polarization.
He not only puts the onus on Wahabi philosophy but also on Muslims who fail to confront extremism either for fear of intimidation or simple apathy.
At the conclusion of his search for spiritual peace, Husain understands the wisdom of his father’s conviction that Islam is a “spiritual community not a “political bloc. “My son, the Prophet is not our leader, he is our master, the source of our spiritual nourishment. Leaders are for political movements, which Islam is not. The Quran is his articulation, as inspired by God, not a political document.
The IslamistBy Ed HusainPenguin BooksAvailable by order at Diwan Bookstore
