Radical
Page 30
After we sent out the press release, our phones and email accounts came alive. The allegation we had made was initially reported with skepticism and credited to Quilliam. As the East Coast of the United States awoke, the rate of press queries we were receiving started rising to fever pitch, and our phones began dancing to their own tune. Pundits who we knew for a fact had received our press release—they are on our mailing list—started repeating our words verbatim across US media outlets without crediting their source.
Eventually, experts and news outlets began realizing that they might have all made a mistake. Received wisdom had shifted; what had happened in Benghazi was now deemed a terrorist attack. It took the US government another week to finally accept the truth. The CIA eventually conceded that it had arrived at the same conclusion, and the White House issued a public admission.
The family of Chris Stevens and other victims would now know the truth and could better seek justice. “Uncivilized” Muslim mobs in Libya would no longer be made the scapegoat for a preplanned terrorist attack. Obama’s administration had learned the hard way not to neglect the terrorism agenda.
From our office in central London, Quilliam had just forced the world’s only superpower to change its course. That’s the power of an idea.(Link)
GLOSSARY OF ARABIC TERMS
(Except where indicated: Urdu/Punjabi)
Akhi (my brother)
‘Alayhi salam (shortened Muslim prayer for Prophets: upon him be peace)
Al-Jabbar (The Compeller—one of the ninety-nine names of Allah)
Allahu akbar (God is great)
Allahu musta’an (prayer: help is sought from Allah)
Assalaamu alaykum (greeting: Peace be upon you)
Amir (leader)
Azan (call to prayer)
Beta (Urdu: son)
Bhai (Urdu: brother)
Bi iznillah (with Allah’s permission)
Da’i (missionary)
Daris (student)
Dariseen (students)
Da’wah (mission)
Deen (religion)
Eeman (faith)
Fee sabeelillah (in the path of Allah)
Ghimamah (blindfold)
Habib (dear friend, beloved)
Halal (permissible)
Halaqah (private study circle)
Hizbi (a partisan)
Itnain (two)
Itnain wa arba’een (forty-two)
Kafir (infidel)
Khilafah (caliphate)
Kuffar (infidels)
Kufr (disbelief)
Muhajir (immigrants, plural muhajiroon. Also the name of a banned extremist group in London founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad)
Muraja’aat (revisions)
Mu’taqal (the arbitrarily detained, plural mu’taqaleen)
Nana Abu (Urdu: maternal grandfather)
Nani Ammi (Urdu: maternal grandmother)
Nikah (marriage ceremony)
Qiyadah (leadership)
Raqam (number)
Sall Allahu alayhi wa-salam (longer Muslim prayer for the Prophet: May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)
Shahadah (martyrdom, testimony of faith)
Shaikh (learned man, religious scholar, old man)
Shari’ah (body of Islamic edicts)
Shaweesh (conscripted Egyptian guard)
Sohni (Punjabi: beautiful)
Subhan Allah (Muslim invocation: Exalted be Allah)
Tai Ammi (Urdu: wife to eldest paternal uncle)
Wahid (one)
Wilayah (province)
Wallahi (oath: by Allah)
Ya Allah (O Allah)
Zaabit (officer)
Zalim (tyrant, plural—zalimun)
RESOURCES
1. Maajid Nawaz debating Anjem Choudary on BBC Newsnight, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrueU4xd2w.
2. Telegraph article about the arrested coup-plotters in the Pakistan army, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/1440284/Pakistan-army-officers-arrested-in-terror-swoop.html.
3. Transcript of an exchange between Maajid Nawaz and Dr. Sa’ad al-Din Ibrahim after the former’s release from prison, www.bushcenter.com/downloads/theInstitute/human-freedom/wave-of-freedom/A_Conversation_with_Dr_Ibrahim.pdf.
4. Maajid Nawaz and John Cornwall Amnesty International promotional video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpNzOBhvtoA.
5. Profile of Gita Sahgal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gita_Sahgal.
6. Maajid Nawaz’s BBC HARDtalk interview with Sarah Montague, during the last of his HT days, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4931416.stm.
7. Quilliam website, www.quilliamfoundation.org/.
8. BBC Newsnight featuring Maajid Nawaz’s journey from HT and Islamism,
part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtP-4r4OE8
part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yLZRONdIa0
part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM4pkRqL0c0.
9. Lord Ashdown’s remarks at the Quilliam launch, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KfLQ6olnwA.
10. Jemima Khan’s remarks at the Quilliam launch, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN0QBNXMjxQ.
11. Survivor of 7/7 Rachel North’s remarks at the Quilliam launch, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BbXckInd8Q&list=UU7fkP6rdeoTbrzlr7oXK3Vw&index=77&feature=plcp.
12. Seumas Milne’s far-left criticism of Quilliam, www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/17/islam.race.
13. Glenn Beck’s right-wing criticism of Maajid Nawaz and Quilliam, www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_gr6FOBwOg.
14. BBC Doha Debate, Maajid Nawaz hosted by Tim Sebastian arguing against politicized Islam, www.thedohadebates.com/debates/player.asp?d=42.
15. Intelligence Squared debate, Maajid Nawaz and Zeba Khan defending the faith of Islam from anti-Islam rhetoric against Ayan Hirsi Ali and Douglas Murray, www.intelligencesquared.com/events/islam-is-a-religion-of-peace.
16. Maajid Nawaz interviewed on Larry King Live, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF_A02IF4Bc.
17. Maajid Nawaz interviewed in-depth by al-Jazeera’s Riz Khan, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z1Eps1wJjQ.
18. Maajid Nawaz profiled on CBS 60 Minutes, www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6711907n.
19. Maajid Nawaz’s Facebook public page, www.facebook.com/MaajidNawazFanPage.
20. Maajid Nawaz’s Twitter page, https://twitter.com/#!/MaajidNawaz.
21. Maajid Nawaz testifies in the US Senate,
part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJLkdCgHQc
part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCF2dhtfy7k&feature=related.
22. Maajid Nawaz’s video blog response to Sayyid Qutb’s The America that I Saw,
part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0qdURg4Qz0
part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mX6A27D5g0
part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3JqAKi2FTU.
23. Maajid Nawaz testifies in UK parliament, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmhaff/uc1446-i/uc144601.htm.
24. Prime Minister Brown cites Maajid Nawaz among reasons for not banning HT in the UK, www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071114/debtext/71114-0005.htm.
25. Analysis of HT activity within the Pakistani army, www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/hizb-al-tahrir-a-new-threat-to-the-pakistan-army.
26. Khudi website, www.khudipakistan.com/.
27. Maajid Nawaz on the TED stage launching the idea for a counter-extremism social movement, www.ted.com/talks/maajid_nawaz_a_global_culture_to_fight_extremism.html.
28. BBC Newsnight tour of Maajid Nawaz to Pakistan,
part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixGca6zZg4
part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3unCtnLVZ-4.
29. Pakistan Lawyer’s Movement, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyers%27_Movement.
30. Khudi youth magazine Laaltain’s website, www.laaltain.com.
31. Maajid Nawaz at Google Zeitgeist, www.zeitgeistminds.com/videos/impact-of-ideology.
32. Maajid Nawaz interviewed by Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey at Goa’s THINKFest, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKBE9Bm8aCI.
33. News on Bangladeshi military thwarting an HT coup attempt, http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/49718.html.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the help of the key people who made it happen. Firstly, I would like to thank my agent and friend Neil Blair and his colleague Zoe King at The Blair Partnership. Neil, despite us initially meeting for an entirely unrelated purpose, you immediately saw the importance of my work and supported me above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you. Thanks also go to Jonathan Blair for suggesting that I abandon the large, corporate US agencies and consider instead his twin brother. It worked. I am indebted to the UK publishing director of the Virgin and WH Allen imprints at Ebury, Ed Faulkner, a visionary who saw me on the TED stage and instantly became enthused about the need to get my story out there. I’d also like to thank Yvonne Jacob at Ebury for being so proactive in spotting my story in the first instance, and Caroline Newbury, Sarah Bennie, and the entire publishing team for their support and backing. From the US publishing team at the Lyons Press imprint of Globe Pequot Press, I would like to particularly thank Jon Sternfeld. Jon, who would have guessed that you would go from being my prospective agent to my publisher! I should also mention Sharon Kunz, Meredith Dias, and the rest of the sterling team at Globe Pequot. Thanks to my co-writer, Tom Bromley, for the hours spent conducting interviews, transcribing my words, and picking my brain so that he could provide the structure I could build upon for this book. Thank you to Faye Husain, wife of Ed Husain, for fearlessly telling me to get more emotionally engaged with my rather stoic first draft, despite her husband’s belief that “It would do.” Thanks to Fatima Mullick for reading through my words so diligently, and putting me in my place when I was sounding too grandiose. Thanks to my son Ammar for reading the prologue and telling me it sounded really “cool.” Ammar, now you can read on. Thank you to my family for being so patient while I worked endlessly on this book. A special mention for my mum, who ensured that the facts about my family history were correct, and for my little niece Nusaybah, whom I didn’t see enough of while I was busy writing, but at least you have now been joined by your little brother Burhaan.
This story would not be complete were it not for my many early supporters: Iqbal Wahhab, Jemima Khan, Ruth Turner, Evelyn Rothschild, Hazel Blears, Dougie Smith, Dean Godson, Catherine Fieschi, Jonty Feldman, Michael Gove, and Yonca Brunini, and my main man, Rich. From the United States, I would particularly like to thank Michael Davidson, Bailey Cuzner and the GenNext team, Darren Henderson, Courtney La Bau, Frank K, Chad Sweet, Farah Pandith, Juan Zarate, Jared Cohen, Dan Sutherland, Tim C, Paul D’Agostino, Truman Anderson, Mauro Lorenzo, and Michael Murray.
My thanks to the tireless staff at Quilliam, especially Noman, Harriet, and Milly, who expertly handled things for me while I was away compiling this story, and the brave team at Khudi Pakistan: Imran, Ali, Shabbir, Rab Nawaz, and Umair, for building the dream. Finally, to Rachel I send my love.