Comments on: Review of “The Islamist” : Ust. Andrew Booso [complete]

By: Listen to the voices of moderate Muslims « My Writings - A wide angle view of India

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:46:19 +0000

[...] first place, and just how little they know now. One only had to read a few passages of the infamous “Islamist” to see that, and one only had to hear the shocking perversion of His Book on Newsnight the other [...]

By: Ridwan

Ridwan — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:43:43 +0000

I just want to say Jazakallahu Khayr, Andrew, for the time and effort you took to writing this review. May Allah increase you further in knowledge and give you tawfiq to carry on your good work.

I was with HT once. Although I left, I would never contend with them about the Islamic precepts they seek to bring about. Ed has fallen into a trap whereby, in seeking to distance himself from his past, he has thrown the baby out with the bath water.

Ed, if you’re reading this, I request you take a break from writing articles and speaking to the media and take leave to study and contemplate. As a scholar said, knowledge has three doors. The first, when you enter, you think you know everything. The second, when you enter, you realise you know very little. The third, when you enter, you realise — you know nothing.

We ask Allah to guide us to the truth.

By: mr. abdalla

mr. abdalla — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:07:38 +0000

great review,

i think however the quote below smacks of disrespect when addressing scholars.
‘without these two translators making any objection to their hero’s words’

By: Terrorism, Stability and Other Personal Thoughts « AE

Terrorism, Stability and Other Personal Thoughts « AE — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:57:03 +0000

By: Zak

Zak — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:11:16 +0000

Ma’sha’Allah,

May Allah reward you for this review.
You went to great depth, and have highlighted the flaws in Ed Hussain’s book and thoughts.

People like him try to divide the Muslims into these two opposing camps, when the reality is that the majority do not fall in any.

If he was sincere in what he wrote, then may Allah guide him, but if it was with any ill intention towards the Muslim or Islam, then I fear for him the punishment of Allah in this life and the next, and I ask Allah to protect us from their works..

By: Faisal

Faisal — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:08:31 +0000

This book review is extremely well written and researched by Andrew, a fantastic expose of the key flaws in the book. Unfortunately I have read Ed’s attempted response and infact he has not responded to any of the well articulated arguments mentioned in Andrew’s review. Instead the blog is a response to questions that further perpetuate Ed’s view of life. It is vital that those who understand the correct ’sufi’ viewpoint clarify (as Andrew has done) the position of the adherence of shariah from their perpsective. The current trend to jump on the sufi bandwagon only serves to misrepresent and distort the message of scholars such as Nuh Keller into a secular brand of Islam which is currently being sponsored by individuals/think tanks that seem hell bent on linking political Islam with extreme acts of terrorism.

By: Ed Husain

Ed Husain — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:14:59 +0000

I have responded to some of these allegations on my website.

By the grace of God, Maajid resigned from Hizb ut-Tahrir’s leadership in Britain. In time, he will explain his reasons why.

But he agrees with me that the regimes in the Muslim world are legitimate and that just as the Ahl al-Sunnah persevered through the tyranny of Hajjaj bin Yusuf, we should counsel Muslim rulers, exercise sabr, be abundant in dua, and work for political change with and not against the hukkam.

By: Mohammad Islam

Mohammad Islam — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:25:34 +0000

I echo much of what Kaashif Nawaz has written above. The link below is also very interesting reading:

http://sumayyahevans.blogspot.com/2007/06/beware-of-those-who-sell-their-deen-for.html

By: Ed Husain: The Islamist « The ‘Islamist’

Ed Husain: The Islamist « The ‘Islamist’ — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:18:10 +0000

[...] are made) is the lengthy one by Yahya Birt. Other Muslim writers including Inayat Bunglawala, Andrew Booso and Yusuf Smith are much more critical of him. There are some newspaper journalists including Brian [...]

By: Kaashif Nawaz

Kaashif Nawaz — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:26:46 +0000

Assalamu alaykum,
I, as an ex-member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, brother of Maajid Nawaz (ex-prisoner in Egypt and leading ex-member of HT that Mahbub talks of in his book), and someone who knew “Ed” or Mahbub in the 90’s can say that Mahbub’s book and consequent interviews, and articles are not entirely accurate or helpful. The murder at East-Ham college was not of a man who was a Christian, but of a man who was high on drugs, and carrying 2 knives with intent on attacking one of the students on campus, he was intercepted by a gang of Muslims, who intercepted him – nothing to do with Islamism or HT, but more to do with gang wars which Muslims got involved in and some HT members tried to resolve.
I know that the reasons why Mahbub left involvement in HT are less to do with his stated reasons and are of a more embarrassing nature which made his position as an “Islamic” activist untenable. Muhbub is lucky that many of the people who knew him at that time have not revealed these issues, as they legitimately could to defend against his public misrepresentations or exaggeration. To argue that our brothers in HT be banned based on what he said is like arguing that the conservative party should be banned because many years ago conservative party rhetoric would be almost indistinguishable from current BNP rhetoric. Edward Mosely was a conservative MP at one time. I personally believe that Ed witnessed a period in HT which was hijacked by Omar Bakri and immature zealots who “salafised”, emotionalised, and de-spiritualised the rank and file of the party. Ed has little knowledge of HT after Omar Bakri was expelled from their ranks, and as Ed, and many of us who were in HT after Omar Bakri underwent a positive change which was slow but effective and I sense is still progressing. I would be very surprised if HT made strong public stands against voting in the next general elections. HT have openly condemned 9/11 and 7/7, and even before they were under risk of getting banned, they condemned jihadi tactics in Algeria etc. We mustn’t forget that the founder of HT, unlike Syed Qutb or Maududi, Taqiudeen al-Nabhani was an ‘Alim qualified from al-Azhar and Dar al-Uloom Cairo, and a professor of Islamic law at the Kulliyat-as-Shariah in Amman for a while. He also had a Sufi background, taught by his grandfather theSufi Sheikh Yusuf al-Nabhani. Taqiudeen in his books has openly criticised the Wahabi movement, and always recognised Mawlid, dhikr, rihla, Ijaza, and Sufism. I think the members later just severely neglected it, and now at least they are attempting to reform back to their Sunni roots. Recently 22 HT members were arrested by the current military government in Bangladesh making preparations to organise Mawlid celebrations. I also have an issue with the definition of the term “Islamist”. The standard definition is that an Islamist is anyone who believes that Shariah should be part of the law implemented, or belief in a Caliphate, which would mean all Sunni Muslims by definition of whatever school of thought, regardless of where, by whom, and when you believe this should happen. People learn, evolve, and change, and to suffocate them or entrench them into constant self-defense only hinders this progress. Ed is guilty of this, and should heal his bitterness of being in the intellectual straight jacket of omar-bakri plagued HT of the early 90s, not with resentment, but with love and brotherly advise.
By the way I am Kaashif Nawaz, not Kaashif Nasir (who I also know from college) who has commented earlier.