An Overdue Review: The Islamist
March 9, 2008
The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
Ed Husain
To Islamists and Fundamentalists, Islam is a Political Movement, the Quran a Manifesto, the Ummah a Utopia and tradition is a distracting Opiate. Adaab (noble comportment) is jettisoned for the sake of Revolution. Yes, Islamism has more in common with atheist Communism than with Gnostic religion. That Islamism—and the Islamist—is disconnected from Islam is all too clear in the memoirs of Ed Husain.
Ed relates in his book about how he was brought up a traditional Muslim; he even had a Sufi shaykh whom he looked upon as his grandfather. However, upon entering higher education, his desire to learn more about Islam led to a downward spiral that turned an open-minded, intelligent, practicing Muslim into a bigoted, violent activist.
What was unsettling for me was that the course of events that led to his radicalization seemed unavoidable. Perhaps it is a trick of the narrative format in which the book is written, but it is clear that his traditional, Sunni upbringing as well as his early education in a primary school where he mixed freely with non-Muslims, were no safeguards—at least not initially.
It is for this very reason—the notion of the inevitability of radicalization—that I believe this book is an important work. It sends a strong signal to Muslim parents as well as educators of the need to be pro-active in steering their charges away from the crooked path that leads to extremism, chauvinism, and ultimately violence and terrorism. No one is immune.
So is there no cure for this ailment? Perhaps the best course of action is prevention.
Ed Husain’s book raises many important questions. But at least there is some small comfort that people like Ed are coming to the forefront, calling a spade a spade and forcing Muslims to look within to bring about change. More must be done by the ‘silent’ majority. Why do we put up with fundamentalists who distribute their books, blare on their microphones, and lure our children with free education?
Traditional Islam, drawing upon 1400 years of scholarship, spiritual flowering and artistic elaboration is more that well equipped to deal with this aberration in Islamic history. The question is, are Traditional Muslims drawing upon their heritage effectively and saying ‘No, not anymore’ to the Islamist who claims to speak for Muslims.
Perhaps we need to reflect on the words of Martin Luther King Jr: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”
I applaud Ed’s bravery in writing this book.
May the bane of Islamism be short-lived and its chapter in world history be thin.
You might be interested in these:
- Traditional Islam: What’s In A Name
- Book Fair People & ISLAMICA
- Knowledge and Wisdom — Mini-review
- Review of The Search for Beauty in Islam
- The Anarchy of Cartoons
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