Every Ed Husain article these days seems to be geared toward making sure the Tories, most likely victors in the next General Election, continue funding his Quilliam Foundation. His latest at Comment is free closes with this appeal for taxpayers’ money:
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thabet
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thabet
Ed has the following complaint in his Telegraph opinion piece:
Is that why Husain went running to promote his group in The Daily Wail, a well-known advocate of liberalism and secularism?
He goes onto complain about the marriage habits of British Pakistanis and Bangladehis:
When I visit America, I see Muslims who are free, vibrant, dynamic, and fully American. In France, too, there are greater rates of inter-religious marriages: Muslims marrying people of other faiths, and negotiating how we coexist. In Britain, rates of Muslims marrying outside their faith community are woefully low, and the numbers returning to the villages of Pakistan and Bangladesh for a spouse worryingly high.
Apart from the fiqh question (important for observant Muslims), and the more important one related to religious liberty (more important in the context of British legal systems), we see that Husain is not much different to the molvis and maulanas he would not doubt rail against for their illiberal views on sex and marriage. Both moralise on the desires and choices of individuals, and both demand they engage in personal relationships with the right kind of people; the difference is the molvis and maulanas don’t hide behind the pretence of freedom, liberalism and individual choice*.
The use of “Muslims” is also odd, if we consider the lengths the Quilliamites went to attack the idea of a ‘monolithic Muslim world’, and demand politicians recognise the more pressing fact that there are Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, etc who happen to be Muslim. If there is no ‘Muslim world’, why is there a ‘British Muslim’ community? Why talk of ‘British Muslims’? Why not stick to talking about British Pakistanis, British Bangladeshis, British Algerians, and British Somalis? And is it only villagers he is upset about? What if a British Pakistani returns to Lahore, or a British Bangladeshi goes to Dhakka (cities comparable to London in population size)?
I will be very surprised if we don’t see more of Ed flogging his political goods (centre-right liberalism and soft-nationalism) to the rabid anti-Muslim hordes in the right-wing press between now and next June. If the Tories do win the next election (and that is the most likely scenario), they will probably start to slash the money being poured into counter-terrorism measures by the current government. Furnishing your pro-British credentials in the popular right-wing press is a good way to ensure you get to keep some of that money you’re so desperate to get hold of.
*There is a more theoretical point here about liberalism, education and the liberal principle of the inalienable right of individuals to choose, raised in Talal Asad’s Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. See the discussion on Britishness and Salman Rushdie.
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thabet
Is Ed Husain suggesting that rather than recruiting British Muslims to act as informants, the security services concentrate on recruitung (or bribing, or blackmailing) British-based Muslims (in his example, Pakistanis)?
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thabet
According to Ed Husain, one of the most pressing questions of our time is:
How do ordinary Brits really feel about those who prefer orange juice to beer?
This man is stupid. Completely stupid.
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plimfix
“If the MCB is serious about tackling extremism, it should immediately expel extremists such as Daud Abdullah from its own ranks,” said Ed Husain, co-director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism thinktank. “The man is a fanatic.” The Quilliam Foundation was named after a famous British Muslim whom Ed believed exemplified the stance of his “counter-extremist thinktank”. Except Quilliam was an Islamist. Read your history book next time, Ed.
As a long-standing admirer of Badshah Khan, I condemn all forms of anti-colonial violence as counterproductive. Of course, there are quite a few non-Muslims on the political far-left in Britain who support what they view as legitimate anti-colonial resistance, but I am not aware of Sir Edward Husain calling them extremists or fanatics, or of accusing them of “endorsing terrorism”. Perhaps he did. I’ve never heard Ed condemn the British government for selling arms to Israel, or giving military support to Israel, either. Perhaps he did. Or perhaps there is only one kind of “extremist” as far as Ed and his friends are concerned. And perhaps that’s why so many journalists have Ed’s phone number.
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plimfix
Speaking of Ed Husain, I’ve always been mildly confused by the section in his book in which he names the widely available Islam: Beliefs and Teachings by Ghulam Sarwar as a sort of “gateway book” to Jihadism — like going to Bingo with your mother can lead to gambling addiction, or ritalin to a heroine habit — if your Kurt Cobain, that is. Apparently, it was Ed’s condemnation of Sarwar’s text that led Denis MacEoin to put it on his list of hate books allegedly abounding in British mosques. In fact, Islam: Beliefs and Teachings contains only a page on “politics” — not exactly radical jihadi stuff, it has to be said, which I read, disagreed with and subsequently ignored. I suppose, unlike Ed, I have a mind of my own.
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thabet
Gravy train: Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz say they have received over £500k from the Home Office to ‘tackle extremism’ and over £100k from the Foreign Office.
What have they achieved from spending tax payers’ money?
By the way: what was the point of that article?
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thabet
Some time ago, right-wing hack Mad Mel wrote a review of Ed Husain’s The Islamist. Husain had upset some Muslims with his book and positive reviews from the likes of anti-Muslim bigots like Mad Mel didn’t help.
But now that Ed Husain and the Quilliam Foundation (of which Husain is a prominent member) have criticised Israel’s policies of disproportionate bombing and starving Gaza, Mad Mel is furious.
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shahed
You may have heard of the Quilliam Foundation, a UK Muslim group made up of former extremists that is dedicated to promoting moderation in Islam. Some people like them (and get flak for doing so). Others aren’t so sure groups like Quilliam are the answer.
