Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Usman Nawazis a British activist, author, columnist and politician. He was the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for London's Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in the 2015 general election. He is also the founding chairman of Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank that seeks to challenge the narratives of Islamist extremists...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionActivist
east iraq threat west wider
The rise of ISIS in Iraq is a wider threat to the stability of the Middle East and the West than many realise.
entirely homes islamic male muslim possible single society visited
As I went between the Islamic Society in my college and university, the mosque, the halal takeaway, and visited the homes of my male Muslim friends, it was entirely possible for me to get through my day without interacting in any meaningful way with a single non-Muslim.
symbol
The niqab, for some, has become an antiestablishment symbol around which one can rally and relish in the opportunities for confrontation that it provides.
breaking feed hard hateful islamists seemed
De-radicalisation begins by breaking down the logic which once seemed unassailable and rethinking what you are fighting for and why. That is hard to do when Islamists and Islamophobes feed off each other's hateful cliches.
began chorus people rap songs
There were people who had sampled my voice from speeches when I was an Islamist and made them the chorus of pro-Islamist rap songs who then began talking about me as an apostate.
extremist
The University of Westminster is well known for being a hotbed of extremist activity.
priority remain
Quilliam will remain a priority for me because its values shape my beliefs and outlook.
allowing cannot simply
Rather than allowing jihadists to shut down debate, it must proliferate so much that they simply cannot kill us all.
total
Islam will be what Muslims make of it. And it is the sum total of the interpretation that Muslims give to it.
ideology impose seeks society
Islamism is an ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society.
discreet originally sanctuary tool western
Satire has been a sanctuary historically monopolized by progressives, originally used as a discreet tool against Western religious fundamentalism.
bind option regarded religious seek seeking
A fatwa is a religious edict. Such edicts bind only those who seek to follow the Imam issuing them but can be regarded as an option for others seeking an alternative view.
apart family
I come from an immigrant family, but I know no other nationality apart from British.
confidence inherent islam level majority muslims peace religion subscribe tells text war
I can say with a level of confidence that Islam is not a religion of war, only because the majority of Muslims don't subscribe to that perspective, not because there's something inherent in the text that tells me it's a religion of peace.