DesertFox
06-19-2007, 05:48 PM
Theodore Dalrymple
City Journal
An ex-Islamist tells his story.
The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left, by Ed Husain
The author of this memoir is a young man of Bangladeshi descent, born and brought up in London’s East End. He went to elementary school with a mixed population and got on very well there, his teacher making unobtrusive efforts to introduce him to English culture. Unfortunately, when he left for high school, his father insisted that he go to a boys-only school, and the only one within range was among the worst in England. Gang warfare was endemic; a wing of the school burned down in an arson attack; an African teacher lost his job for incompetence, and held demonstrations outside the school calling for his reinstatement, until the police had to mount guard to prevent violence. This was not an atmosphere in which a studious and intelligent young boy such as the author could flourish.
His father was a pious Muslim, of the quietist variety. He did not approve of political Islam, and believed his religion offered both a guide to good conduct and a consolation for the sorrows of human existence. There was a strong mystical component to it; not for him the Islamist nostrums of Sayyid Qutb or Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, obsessed as they were with the current political, economic, and social backwardness of the Muslim world. He despised and hated Islamism, regarding it as virtually heretical. ...
The author lets us see from the inside what combination of circumstances can produce a fanatic in a society such as Britain’s. If even as decent a person as he can be lured into fanaticism, there is much to worry about. Personal angst and sociological structure are not sufficient to explain his trajectory: an ideological ingredient was necessary. And that ideological ingredient was ready to hand: plausibly, if not indubitably, inevitably, or invariantly, derived from Islam.
One small point, not without interest: the Ed of the author’s name is short for Mohammed, not Edward. It is a sign of his attempt to integrate his complex social and cultural identity.
More (http://www.city-journal.org/html/rev2007-06-19td.html)
City Journal
An ex-Islamist tells his story.
The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left, by Ed Husain
The author of this memoir is a young man of Bangladeshi descent, born and brought up in London’s East End. He went to elementary school with a mixed population and got on very well there, his teacher making unobtrusive efforts to introduce him to English culture. Unfortunately, when he left for high school, his father insisted that he go to a boys-only school, and the only one within range was among the worst in England. Gang warfare was endemic; a wing of the school burned down in an arson attack; an African teacher lost his job for incompetence, and held demonstrations outside the school calling for his reinstatement, until the police had to mount guard to prevent violence. This was not an atmosphere in which a studious and intelligent young boy such as the author could flourish.
His father was a pious Muslim, of the quietist variety. He did not approve of political Islam, and believed his religion offered both a guide to good conduct and a consolation for the sorrows of human existence. There was a strong mystical component to it; not for him the Islamist nostrums of Sayyid Qutb or Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, obsessed as they were with the current political, economic, and social backwardness of the Muslim world. He despised and hated Islamism, regarding it as virtually heretical. ...
The author lets us see from the inside what combination of circumstances can produce a fanatic in a society such as Britain’s. If even as decent a person as he can be lured into fanaticism, there is much to worry about. Personal angst and sociological structure are not sufficient to explain his trajectory: an ideological ingredient was necessary. And that ideological ingredient was ready to hand: plausibly, if not indubitably, inevitably, or invariantly, derived from Islam.
One small point, not without interest: the Ed of the author’s name is short for Mohammed, not Edward. It is a sign of his attempt to integrate his complex social and cultural identity.
More (http://www.city-journal.org/html/rev2007-06-19td.html)