"[1] Husain describes his book as explaining "the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam.
"[2] The son of Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and India, living in East London, Husain describes himself as close to his family and their Bengali spiritual guide (pir) he calls 'Grandpa' as a child,[3][4] but a boffin misfit at the innercity Stepney Green boys secondary school.
As an "isolated schoolboy" he is flattered by their attention and impressed with the "dynamism" and "discipline" of the group,[7] but his parents are furious, demanding that he choose between political Islam and the family.
[15] He takes up with a rival group, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), impressed with its focus on the international Muslim ummah (community) and its 'methodology for changing the world.
[17] Husain is forced from the Islamic Society presidency by YMO in an acrimonious shouting match, and later forcibly evicted from a mosque while aggressively preaching HT's "concepts".
[18] Hizb ut-tahri disrupts Muslim events it can't control[19] and in debate would "deny, lie, and deflect" to out-argue its opponents [20] in aggressive style -- "never defend, always offend".
HT founder Taqiuddin al-Nabhani's vision of a state to re-established Islamic caliphate was 'not innovatory Muslim thinking but wholly derived (according to Husain) from European political thought' of Hegel, Rousseau, Antonio Gramsci, and others.
[1] He and his wife move to Damascus, Syria and then to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, close to Mecca, to study Arabic and teach English at the British Council.
There he is outraged by the enthusiasm of many of his students for the 7/7 jihadi killing of British civilians,[32] but also startled by the casual racism of the Saudis, and the "misery and squalor" of a Muslim African shantytown in Jeddah amid the wealth and luxury of the Kingdom.
[34]In 2005, Husain returns to London, dismayed to discover what he calls "a sophisticated, entrenched form of Islamism and Wahhabism on the rise"[35] despite the post-7/7 "intense media scrutiny of extremism in Britain.
"[43] Anushka Asthana of The Observer wrote, This captivating, and terrifyingly honest, book is his attempt to make amends for some of the wrongs he committed.
[44]The Daily Mail columnist and author of Londonistan, Melanie Phillips says Husain "should be applauded for his courage" and displayed "intellectual honesty and guts".
Yet Husain did not finally sever his links with Islamism by becoming a militant atheist and converting to an Enlightenment faith in humanity—as secular fundamentalists urge.
[46]The tricky question is what, in the hothouse of youthful politics—whether at Oxford, in Liverpool or east London—leads some to violence while others, like Ed Husain, end up writing books about it.
[47]Husain's book will be used in many debates—the future of multiculturalism, whether infringements of civil liberties are necessary to combat terrorism, what parts of Islamist histories from Asia and the Middle East a British Muslim community needs to jettison.
One suspects the naivety which took him into Hizb-ut Tahrir has blinded him as to how his story will be used to buttress positions hostile to many things he holds dear—his own faith and racial tolerance, for example.
A glance at the blog response to a Husain piece in the Telegraph reveals how rightwing racism and anti-Islamic sentiment are feasting on his testimony.