[5] Husain was privately educated at the British School in Abu Dhabi; the family were also based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a period.

[9][10] Husain gained her first experience in journalism at the age of 18, spending three months as a city reporter in Islamabad, Pakistan, at the English-language newspaper The News.

From September 2002 she was the corporation's Washington correspondent, serving as the main news anchor through the buildup to the invasion of Iraq and during the war.

[17] In June 2024, during the lead up to the 2024 UK general election, Husain was selected to chair and referee two televised debates on the BBC.

[23] In September 2024, Husain was criticised by some Jewish organisations who claimed the journalist failed to sufficiently challenge comments that they considered to be antisemitic during an interview on the BBC Today programme with the Iranian-American academic and political analyst Mohammad Marandi.

Marandi had been specifically invited to be asked about the Iranian view of the Israeli invasion of Gaza Strip and any potential Iranian response, and the programme contained other interviews including those with Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner and US Diplomat Dennis Ross to get a broad perspective on the complex politics of the region.

She also featured as the morning anchor presenter on BBC One during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

[27] Husain is an ambassador for the charity Mosaic, which helps young people from deprived communities to realise their talents and potential.

[37] Amid widespread condemnation of the killing of ISIL hostages in 2014, Husain voiced support for the use of social media to denounce its extremism.

In an interview with the Radio Times, she urged Muslim scholars to use social media to condemn its attempt to use horrific videos to draw support in the West, from the leading British Islamic organisations.

[38] Husain, who was the first Muslim presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said: "I think the Not in My Name campaign is a very positive development because outrage is shared by all right-thinking people.

I would really like to see much more of the counterpoint from a theological perspective, with scholars taking to social media to refute the awful arguments we see put forward in those videos.