The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left is a 2007 book about Ed Husain's five years as an Islamist. The book has been described as "as much a memoir of personal struggle and inner growth as it is a report on a new type of extremism."Literary Review, "The Pathology of Faith" by John Gray Husain describes his book as explaining "the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam."
Synopsis The son of Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and India, living in East London, Husain describes himself as close to his family and their Bengali spiritual guide (pir) he calls 'Grandpa' as a child,Shaikh Abd al-Latif (Fultholy Saheb) (p.9)"A true Islamic voice" by Anushka Asthana The Observer, May 6, 2007 but a boffin misfit at the innercity Stepney Green boys secondary school. There he finds some belonging in studying Islam with a friend, Brother Faileek. Their text, Islam: Beliefs and Teachings, by Ghulam Sarwar -- "the first book I read about Islam in English" The Islamist, pp 20-22—tells him that, contrary to his father's teaching, 'religion and politics are one and the same in Islam'.This becomes the "one part of the book has stayed with me." (The Islamist, pp 20-22) He learns of organizations and people that are dedicated to the creation of 'truly Islamic states' -- Jamaat-e-Islami and its founder Abul Ala Maududi.
At the invitation of Faileek, Husain becomes active in the Young Muslim Organization (YMO) whose parent organization (Islamic Forum Europe) ran the big East London Mosque and was aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami. As an "isolated schoolboy" he is flattered by their attention and impressed with the "dynamism" and "discipline" of the group,at Brick Lane mosque "I was a young boy, in my father's shadow; here the place was buzzing with young, trim-bearded, English-speaking activists ... a sense of organization and discipline; everyone seemed to know their place." (p.27) "I respected them for their seniority, dynamism and commitment to Islam. They seemed like worthy role models: English-speaking, educated, and rooted in faith." (p.28) but his parents are furious, demanding that he choose between political Islam and the family. Husain runs away from home, coming back only after his father backs down.
Husain goes on to college at the Tower Hamlets College where he is elected president of the Islamic Society—the dominant student organisation on the predominantly South Asian Muslim campus."With my parents defeated, there was no stopping me. At Tower Hamlets College I became active in the college's Islamic Society, managed by members of YMO. By secret ballot I was elected president. (p.46-7) The Society studies Sayyid Qutb's Milestones,"In YMO Milestones, along with Qutb's personal commentary on the Koran, was mandatory reading." (p.49) clashes with the secular college administration over the Society's anti-gay stance, its slogan "Islam: the Final Solution", "... a series of provocative posters, all of which ended with the 'What is Islam?' punchline. The revelation came in our final poster, again plastered all across the college and even on lamp posts in the street outside: Islam: the Final Solution" "There was uproar on campus. The entire teaching community was outraged. Time and again the principal's assistant came to see us in the prayer hall ... to remind us that the college was a secular institution. For most of us the word secular had no meaning." (p.54)"In the prayer room, we suspected that the college management was dominated not only by Jews, but by homosexuals too. How else could they possibly reprimand us and condemn our imam for standing up to homosexuality?" (p.55) and its demands for a bigger prayer room. "At prayer times, the small prayer room provided by the college management so generously the previous year no longer sufficed. ... In the event, management backed down, provided us with a larger room" (p.61-2) The society organizes a successful boycott of the college discop.63-4 and a Socialist Workers Party speech."Soon the SWP even stopped selling their newspaper outside" p.64-5
In 1992, the atrocities against fellow Muslims in Bosnia disenchant Husain with YMO and its "parochial" concentration on South Asians."I was disgruntled with YMO's obsession with the Bangladeshi community, lack of intellectual vigour, and complete failure to provide an answer to the Bosnia issue." (p.76) "The YMO appeared more and more parochial. They concentrated only on maintaining complete control over East London educational events, youth activities and fundraising with a view to recruitment. ... we had to seek permission from YMO leaders if we wanted to attend meetings of other organizations." (p.77) He takes up with a rival group, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), impressed with its focus on the international Muslim ummah (community) and its 'methodology for changing the world.'"members of Hizb ut-Tahrir noticed my restlessness and asked me questions about my commitment to YMO, particularly about our 'methodology for changing the world.'" (p.76)
Along with YMO and HT, other groups -- Islamic Forum Europe, Dawatul Islam, the Wahhabi JIMAS, Hizb ut-tahrir—are all actively preaching in 1990s London that Islam is not just a religion but a complete code of behavior, politics, economics, etc. Not all agree, however, on the exact details of the complete code, or at least who should be in charge, and factional infighting results. In the 1980s, Husain writes, police were called to break up fights between Islamic Forum Europe and Dawatul Islam at East London Mosque."There were accusations of embezzlement which in 1990 resulted in High Court injunctions against the then imam of the mosque, Abu Syed, and other key Jamat-e-Islami figures. Several organizers at the mosque were imprisoned following violent clashes. (p.25, see also p.279) Husain is forced from the Islamic Society presidency by YMO in an acrimonious shouting match, and later forcibly evicted from a mosque while aggressively preaching HT's "concepts". He laments, "I had committed myself to Islamism because I wanted to be a better Muslim, ... not in order to divide Muslims. ... Where was all the brotherhood we spoke about?" (p.109). He also wonders if "a fellow Islamist, was prepared to fight us in a mosque, what were Islamists capable of doing when in power?" (p.128) Hizb ut-tahri disrupts Muslim events it can't control"We attended and tried to control everybody's events. If we failed, we ensured that there was sufficient heckling to effect maximum disruption. There was nothing Muslim about our conduct." (p.121-2) and in debate would "deny, lie, and deflect" to out-argue its opponents "In political discussions our Muslim opponents were never able to defeat us. We knew how to deny, lie, and deflect." (p.101) in aggressive style -- "never defend, always offend"."There was an inbuilt culture of aggressive argumentation, dogged debate, and inherent ability to cause offence that helped us thrive. We were taught 'Never defend, always offend.'" (p.100)
Looking back, Husain also complains of feeling Islamists often misrepresented themselves or important facts. Ghulam Sarwar, was not a scholar of religion but a business management lecturer, and never mentioned in his book his activism in the organization -- Jamaat-e-Islami—he praised."... he was an activist in the organisations that he mentioned [ Muslim Brotherhood and Jamat-e-Islami. Sarwar's book was not the dispassionate educational treatise it purported to be". ... the [MET] personnel all belonged to Jamat-e-Islami front organisations in Britain. (p.21-2) YMOIn essence, I was running an Islamist front organization operating on campus to recruit for the wider Islamist movement and maintain a strong Islamist presence. With the help of my members I was successful on both counts.(p.46-7)Habibur Rahman, the head of YMO "goes to great lengths" to meet him at East London Mosque for a 2 hour meeting. "... Habibur Rahman's purpose had now become clear: I was to use the Islamic Society as a recruiting agency for the YMO." (p.57-8) and especially HT use front organisations to hide their activity.Circa 2005 "Soon afterwards a plethora of events was organized by student union societies with names such as the 'Open Mind' or 'Thought Society' on various London campuses. These were, of course, front organizations, and from Muslim friends I learnt that other equally innocuous cover names were deployed at other British universities. I attended several such events where prominent members of the Hizb had been smuggled in under names assumed for the occasion. They were sometimes introduced as media figures from Channel 4, Sky News or the BBC, but never as members of the Hizb. The Hizb game of charades continues." (p.275) After the London 7/7 bombings Husain has lunch with an unnamed "president of a leading Islamist organization in Britain" who in public condemns terrorism, but with Husain lets "slip that he considered that he saw nothing wrong in the destruction of the kuffar (unbelievers), or prayers that call for that destruction.""the president of a leading Islamist organization in Britain, a man known for his public condemnation of terrorism. Unaware that I was no longer an Islamist sympathizer ... he let slip that he considered that he saw nothing wrong in the destruction of the kuffar, or prayers that call for that destruction."(p.282) Husain also feels politics are crowding out his "relationship with God", and sees the same in other activists."On a personal level, my relationship with God had deteriorated. ... as I had become more active in the Hizb, my inner consciousness of God had hit an all-time low. (p.146) "We sermonized about the need for Muslims to return to Islam, but many of the shabab [activists] did not know how to pray. I witnessed at least four new converts to Islam at different university campuses, convinced of the superiority of the 'Islamic political ideology' ... but lacking basic knowledge of worship." (p.146)
In his college history studies Husain learns that the idea of a pure Islamic state, is 'not the continuation of a political entity set up by the Prophet, maintained by the caliphs down the ages (however debatable)', but (according to Husain) borne out of an 'alien', Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. HT founder Taqiuddin al-Nabhani's vision of a state to re-established Islamic caliphate was 'not innovatory Muslim thinking but wholly derived (according to Husain) from European political thought' of Hegel, Rousseau, Antonio Gramsci, and others.page=162|quote=I also discovered that many of the criticisms of democracy I had heard in the Hizb were not new and original, but based on writings of Rousseau and others. Rousseau called for God to legislate, because man is incapable of legislation.