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Ed Husain

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Ed Husain (born 25th December 1975 in London) is the pen name of the British writer Mohammed Mahbub Hussain who is the author of The Islamist, shortlisted for the 2008 Orwell Prize for political writing.[1]

Personal life, education, and career

Husain's father and mother were born in India. He grew up in the Limehouse area of London where there is a large Bengali community. Hussain attended Sir William Borough School, Stepney Green School, Tower Hamlets College and Newham College of Further Education. He later worked for HSBC and the British Council in Saudi Arabia and Syria before enrolling at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He later joined the Labour Party.

Husain studied Arabic at the University of Damascus and has completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is currently enrolled at the School’s Ph.D programme in Political Science. Husain is also a visiting fellow at the think-tank Civitas.

Husain is Deputy Director of the Quilliam Foundation[2] which 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." [3]

Husain states that he was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami, East London Mosque, Young Muslims Organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Society of Britain, in the early 1990s, when in his teens. Husain now strongly criticizes these groups. Hizb-ut-Tahrir has denied that he was a member. [4]

Views

Husain has no formal qualifications in Islamic Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Politics or Theology, subjects on which he comments freely. provides allegedly supports a liberal interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence, though critics would argue he is attempting to fuse utilitarian ethics with Islam. He has yet to cite valid juristic evidences for his views on permitting Western troops to invade Iraq, allowing lesbian relationships and permitting legislation on the basis of majority opinion.

Husain also questions traditional Islamic teaching in relation to the Islamic form of governance, the Caliphate, arguing

But 'the state' is not a rukn of the deen (as stated also by Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah and Mufti Ali Goma, who stated there are other forms of government that Muslims can accept). An individual can remain a firm believer, a mutadayyin, without the imam and the jama'ah.[5]

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.[6]

Husain is a member of the Labour Party. He supports the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and associates with pro-war groups, institutions and individuals, and of holding racist attitudes towards Arabs[7].

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.

Praise and criticism

Husain's book has been called "highly acclaimed" and received positive reviews from The Guardian [8][9], The Times [10] - which ran run two weeks’ worth of extracts[11] - and International Herald Tribune. [12] Other sources such as academics (inlcuding Andrew Boso, Yahya Birt et al), political groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir [13] the Salafimanhaj.com website [14] and the Muslim Council of Britain[15] have made strong criticism, alleging inaccuracy and flawed analysis by Husain.

The Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips has described Husain as a "brave Muslim".[16] Guardian columnist Seamus Milne has called Husain a "British neocon pinup boy". [17] The journalist Ziauddin Sardar has criticized Husain's "critical faculties", arguing his case is far more unique than Husain claims, as "young Muslims are no more likely to join Hizb ut-Tahrir than young Christians are to join the Moonies."[18] 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." [19]

Works

  • The Islamist (2007)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Shortlist 2008", The Orwell Prize
  2. ^ Quilliam Foundation
  3. ^ Quilliam Foundation, about us
  4. ^ interview broadcast by CNN on May 3 2007
  5. ^ arguing
  6. ^ Time Out London: 'Islamic extremists in the East End'
  7. ^ http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/denis_macshane/2008/04/not_always_right.html
  8. ^ We were the brothers, Saturday May 12, 2007
  9. ^ Why should we have to justify ourselves to the people who want to bomb us? Thursday May 3, 2007
  10. ^ April 21, 2007, Rediscovering a kinder, gentler Islam
  11. ^ Review of “The Islamist” : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete May 21, 2007 ]
  12. ^ Ex-radical turns to Islam of tolerance By Jane Perlez, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Published: June 1, 2007
  13. ^ "The 'Islamist' bogeyman" by Taji Mustafa, executive committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain
  14. ^ The Charade of Ed Husain, Necon, Blairite author of the Islamist
  15. ^ Review of the Islamist by Inayat Bunglawala, The Muslim Council of Britain
  16. ^ Melanie Phillips’s Diary » Another brave Muslim speaks up
  17. ^ Denial of the link with Iraq is delusional and dangerous
  18. ^ The Islamist by Ed Husain, The Independent, 1 June 2007
  19. ^ Review of “The Islamist” : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete] « The Translators
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