"Ed" Husain and other dividers
Sister Summayah Evans, who recently entered the Muslim blogging community, has posted this lengthy entry on the scandal of Muhammad Mahbub "Ed" Husain, the author of the book The Islamist which was published last month as a memoir of his brief encounter with Hizb-ut-Tahrir during the mid-1990s which he thinks gives him licence to attack the entire body of political Islamist activism in the UK. "Ed" crops up in today's Observer as well, complaining about "thugs" at an un-named London mosque and about all the Muslims who are saying nasty things about him.
What sticks out about his article in today's paper is the same as what I noticed in a previous media appearance: his total rejection of, and total refusal to acknowledge, all criticism. Nobody is deconstructing his writing and finding parts of it wanting in accuracy: the only opposition he acknowledges is that of enemies, calling him names, accusing him of being an agent or of being in it for the money, and making threats to him. There are a few "spiritual Muslims and scholars" cheering him on in private, he tells us, but for some reason they won't speak up - despite the fact that such people have stood up to oppose extremism for years without being afraid to give their names.
Among the issues he fails to address is that some of the details in his book are remembered differently by others who were there. For example, Yahya Birt, on Deenport today, notes that the murder he describes of a Nigerian student in Newham may not have been "Britain's first Islamist murder" at all, but rather a drug-related incident. He alleges that HT is "a sophisticated organisation: it rarely ever pulls the trigger. It raises the temperature and allows others to do the deed". Since he talks in the present tense, can he tell us of all the murders in which HT have been similarly indirectly involved since the split with Omar Bakri? I should not think so, because there have been none. He completely ignores the significance of this split, which is all too evident in the belligerent attitude of al-Muhajiroun's remnants even today and the quiet intellectual activism of HT. We may disagree with them - I certainly do - but it does not give us the right to slander them.
In his article today, he claims to have unmasked "those who, until very recently, were walking in and out of Downing Street masquerading as moderate Muslims", who "taught from the works of Syed Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi, the godfathers of al-Qaeda ideology" by night and stood at the Cenotaph with politicians and diplomats by day. Clearly this is an appeal to the non-Muslim readers, since it could not fool any Muslim. They may well be influenced by Mawdudi, but do we see them encouraging acts of terrorism in the west, or indeed anywhere? If they had been, one would expect that we would have seen far more violence than we have. Of course, it has never been any secret that many of the MCB's leaders have a Jama'at background, and this fact was "exposed" in the media before he came on the scene last month. Media and blog campaigns against politicians befriending Muslim Brotherhood affiliated scholars like Shaikh Qaradawi have been going on since at least 2005 - certainly well before the London bombings.
He has not addressed the issue of why he does not behave as he suggested to others last year, while he was writing his book. When people criticised a leader of whom he approved - Hisham Kabbani, the leader of the self-styled Islamic Supreme Council of America - he said, "must we wash our dirty linen in public?". Does he not see any contradiction, when encouraging people not to discuss the ISCA's faults on a forum as public as DeenPort, in discussing the affairs of the whole Muslim community in a published book and in the national media?
I'm not in a position to analyse "Ed" Husain's motives, but he is not the only person out there throwing mud at Muslims, in the name of "moderate" Islam, in such a way as to get noticed and praised by hostile non-Muslims. Recently Dr Irfan al-Alawi was interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network, a right-wing American TV station best known for broadcasting Pat Robertson's 700 Club programme, as part of a news feature posted on YouTube under the heading "Make way for the Monster-Mosque in Londonistan" (also see a written version here or here). Irfan al-Alawi is the "Western Europe director" of Stephen Schwartz's so-called Center for Islamic Pluralism, and is shown in the feature talking of the Tablighi Jama'at's "satanic ideology" to CBN's fundamentalist Christian viewers. Quite apart from the fact that taking men for a few days out of their normal routine for a bit of religious learning isn't perceived as "satanic" by the vast majority of Muslims, the article contains the usual exaggeration of the mosque's capacity and other scary "facts".
People defending al-Alawi point to his role in bringing to the public's attention the Saudis' destruction of the architectural heritage of the Hijaz, and Mecca and Madinah in particular, but his attacks on fellow Muslims, and his association with Stephen Schwartz who is distinguished for denouncing Shaikh Hamza Yusuf over and over again like a stuck record, detract from this to a huge degree. It is a known fact that his opinion of the TJ is not shared by the shuyookh of the Bani Alawi with whom Irfan al-Alawi is associated. I have personally heard Habib Ali Jifri speak highly of the TJ. However, while I'm sure we all agree that protecting our heritage from the Saudi régime's depredations is important, Shaikh Hamza's and his colleagues' work has been to protect Muslims rather than bricks and mortar. The fact is that, through their work, it has been made easier in the west to be a mainstream Muslim and that an English-speaking Muslim culture has been established which follows the four madhhabs and accepts the authority of the traditional scholars rather than sectarians. I do not see what good motive anyone would have for speaking ill of such a person in the courts of those who hate Islam and the Muslims.
Comments
so is the suggestion that there is nothing valid in his book? a lot resonated with me - i was at university in the mid-90s in Britain, and had some run ins with the HuT.
Posted by: sonia | June 11, 2007 12:05 PM
Yeah, I was at Uni in the early 90s, when my Islam Soc was dominated by Wahhabis. Their crimes were many - whacky literalism, anti-Semitism, Westophobia, etc ad naseum - but their main crime was being 18-21, and in that respect, they frequently sounded no different from any other bunch of anarcho lefty student rebel twerps. I was a bit older, but touched bases with them for a while, then belatedly grew up - I strongly suspect most of the brothers did, too. Growing up required me to admit to being very stupid at times, a character flaw it seems "Ed" has yet to confront in himself!
Posted by: Yunus Yakoub Islam | June 11, 2007 10:58 PM
Ed Hussain and Irfan al-Alwai - two cheeks of the same backside as George Galloway would say!
Posted by: Ahmed | June 12, 2007 6:53 PM
Link
Posted by: AbdulHaq al-Ashanti | June 13, 2007 10:55 AM
From Rejection to Extremism
During the late 1990’s when large swathes of Muslim youth where rediscovering their faith and shedding the notion of complete subservience to material, personal and worldly propensities, there were several well-intended groups who had a weak , defective or non-existent understanding of the fundamentals of this faith such as Tawhid (Pure Monotheism), Ibadat (Acts of worship), Uloom ul Deen (Study of Islam), Islamic Tarbiyah (Islamic education), Tazkiyah (Self-purification) , Khuluqul Muslim (Muslim character building), etc. One such grouping, though fairly active in Dawah, prematurely introduced, over zealously force-fed and indoctrinated young, excitable and emotional minds with issues of a global nature for which they where not prepared. Many discerning, moderate and committed brothers and sisters who had been working for the cause of Islam since when these people where yet twinkles in their fathers eyes, persistently advised and admonished them against this intolerant methodology of stirring hatred, dissention and fitna in their respective communities. Due to a lack of and under-developed Islamic character the usual reaction from them was demeaning sneers and disrespectful verbal and physical assaults, some of which were even caught on camera. They knew it all, they were the ones who carried the ‘truth’…as predicted all this emotional attachment, hype and confusion led to many from amongst them discarding the faith completely once the group disintegrated into splinters and opposing factions.
Astonishingly today, we are seeing the re-emergence of ex-members of this very group, who have left the organisation, after spending many years propagating and dispensing its radical, obtuse, one-topic message, which has no doubt contributed to our current state of insecurity and national scrutiny, only to now renege and vault across the ideological expanse to the opposite mystical, folk, superstitous, pacifist, culturally convoluted and appeasement extreme, which is today in favour. They are found challenging and disputing the Divinely and Prophetically endorsed vision of just and equitable forms of Islamic governance, as practiced by the rightly guided caliphs and their successors. A caliphate, which in its dynamic period was at the heart of a great civilisation, leading the world in science, philosophy, law, maths, medicine and astronomy.
"Then We revealed the Book to you, (O Muhammed), with Truth, confirming whatever of the Book was revealed before, and protecting and guarding over it. Judge then, in the affairs of man in accordance with the Law that Allah has revealed, and do not follow their desires in disregard of the Truth which has come to you. For each of you We have appointed a Law and a way of life." (Al Ma’idah 5:48)
Under the patronage and praise of known Islamaphobes and right-wing policy think tanks, these individuals today question the authority of Allah, they engender the campaign to malign and undermine Islam by precipitating manipulative and fallacious misnomer terminologies such as Islamo-Fascism and Islamism, they now have the audacity to preach to people of the middle-path, those who have always worked inclusively and systematically for the betterment of their communities in all spheres, understanding that this holistic faith is one which persists from cradle to grave, for the sake and pleasure of the Almighty, to serve humankind.
“Believers! If any of you should ever turn away from your faith, remember that Allah will raise up a people whom He loves and who love Him; a people humble towards the believers, and firm towards the unbelievers; who will strive hard in the way of Allah and will not fear the reproach of the reproacher. This is the favour of Allah which He grants to whom He wills. Allah is All Resourceful, All Knowing.” (Al Ma’idah 5:54)
On Friday the 2nd of November, Mr Majid Nawaz a former senior member of the religiously impoverished national executive of Hizbut Tahrir, unashamedly delivered his nefariously skewed and disjointed new methodology and turncoat credentials. With his consorts and partners in desertion and secularism, Ed Hussain, Gayasudeen Siddiqui and Mr Rashad in attendance, he implicitly denounced the concept of the Sovereignty of the Majestic over his creation, with his pathetic, lamentable and sometimes comical analogies and now freethinking narratives. What was most difficult to bear, was that his former masters and co-conspirators in prejudice and the dogmatically flawed approach he pursed for so many years, did not even have the decency, the courage or the sense of duty, to send any strong representatives to denounce or confront his views, something in which they used to revel in the past, when shouting down humble, moderate yet principally and scholarly far superior brothers and sisters, whose designs have been proven to bear much sweeter fruits, by the grace of Allah (swt).
Their non-attendance to even challenge him is a clear testament of their true communal sentiments, duplicity and failure as an organisation, which has been the cause of leading people like Mr Rashad, Mr Shiraz, Mr Hussain, Mr Nawaz and who knows how many others astray. A Hizb (party, sect or cult) which has ultimately done more harm to this community than good, a community whose tolerance towards them will no doubt wane. Now that their true colours have been exposed, God-willing they will soon be the recipients of righteous hecklers and leaflet distributors, at future events they organise, no doubt concerning the one and only topic they think they are qualified to speak about, 'Khilafa'. I would recommend brothers to visit their exhibition stand at the upcoming GPU event, to question their 12 year stand and the damage they have done to sections of our second generation. The independant organisers of Firday's event, City Circle, should also contemplate their decision to give such individuals an open platform to spew their inconsistent claptrap, with minimum scrutiny and inquest. In pursuit of dialogue, debate and discussion, one can not allow injury to Allah (swt)'s cause, through the indirect advocation of deviant ideas, which attempt to subvert the enduring message of the Qur'an & Sunnah. May Allah (swt) bless, guide and aid them in selecting their speakers more diligently.
We pray that Allah (swt) strengthens and blesses the true callers, thinkers, scholars and activists of Islam, whose consistent contribution to the establishment of institutions, schools, national organisations, Mosques, youth groups and publications here and across the Muslim world, stems from the notion that Islam is comprehensive for all areas of life in the quest for the development, progression, benevolence, peace, harmony and establishment of a God-conscious society and harmonious, Insha'Allah. I pray that Allah (swt) protects, preserves and elevates our Deen and its devoted, patient and sincere adherents.
Wasalamu' Alaikum,
Posted by: Musa Evans | November 6, 2007 12:26 AM
There's a good critique of husain et al on http://www.islamic-considerations.blogspot.com
and of their theology on http://www.abu-ibrahim.blogspot.com
Posted by: Jak | June 29, 2008 6:37 PM