This evening i read that Ed Husain, 8th-dan (self-proclaimed) former Grandmaster of Jihad in East London, refused to attend a BBC programme just because a HT representative would also be on the show.
Now that’s confusing since just two weeks ago Ed replied to a reader’s question in The Independent:
“In the past, I’ve called for them [i.e. HT] to be banned. However, in recent months, several leading former members of HT have come forward and formed a network that now is able to challenge and easily defeat HT’s arguments using scripture and theology. This is unprecedented in Britain. Most prominent among these former members is Maajid Nawaz, who spent four years in an Egyptian prison for his membership of HT. Now, as director of the soon-to-be-launched Quilliam Foundation, he has openly challenged HT to a public debate. To date, they have shied away and their supporters have resorted to character assassination. When as Muslim democrats we can defeat HT with arguments, why should we resort to a ban? I am convinced Maajid’s method of open debate is better than driving them underground. It remains for HT to respond.”
Noble words. But unfortunately Ed bottled it.
I’ve been watching him on TV these past few months, and the look on his face shows a sort of self-confidence that says “yup, i know what i’m talking about, and i know that what i’m saying is right.”
The problem is that, its the same look he used to have on his face over a decade ago when he was trying to convince everyone that HT had the answer to everything.
3 Comments
April 30, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Who should have their say?…
Are there some people we shouldn’t invite onto WHYS? « BBC World Have Your Say Ros Atkins (presenter of BBC World Have Your Say) on how she booked Ed Husain to appear on her programme on the BBC World Service,……
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May 2, 2008 at 5:39 pm
This is yet another case of Ed Husain demonstrating just why he is unable to engage with those who he claims that he was a part of. Surely if he has so much inside info on HT then he should welcome being able to expose their folly live on air, this is precisely what the Quilliam Foundation manifesto itself claims to try and champion. So when the doors to dialogue with those who have incorrect understandings of Islam are opened up for Eddie Husain why does he refuse to enter them, yet boast to the whole (non-Muslim) world that he has strategies to counter their ideas?
This gets us to the point that many within the younger Muslim community have realised with this whole circus with Ed Husain, his claims are nothing short of the fables of a fantasist. An example of this is in his book The Islamist he claims that the murder of who he calls a “Nigerian student” was due to HT and Islamism, when the reality of the situation, as it involved people I know, was that the murder was related to gang violence. Yet in Ed Husain’s bizarre world, he managed to construe that it was due to Islamism.
Therefore, I remind about what Quilliam Foundation claim to uphold in their manifesto entitled ‘Pulling Together to Defeat Terrorism’, they claim on p.3 to want to ‘reach out to extremists’ but if Ed Husain has already run a mile at the mere thought of speaking to a member of HT (hardly one of your Abu Hamzas or Abdullah el-Faisal’s) then what about trying to engage with youth. Indeed, Ed Husain has no credibility with Muslim youth he only speaks at events for non-Muslims – he has yet to hold an event for a majority Muslim audience which would include those grassroots elements that he and Quilliam claim to want to reach out to.
As a result, I would suggest reading the Quilliam Foundation Manifesto entitled ‘Pulling Together to Tackle Extremism’ and compare it with these recent antics of Muhammad Mehbub ‘Ed’ Husain.