Ed Husain: The Islamist

Listened to the BBC's World Have Your Say program on NPR this morning, they featured a short segment on the British-born Muslim Ed Husain, who has documented his journey from the more fundamentalist version of Islam that threatens those who do not share their narrow views of society, to the compassionate religion that teaches tolerance and understanding with those who may not share the same exact religious ideals.


The book, entitled The Islamist, is soon to be published worldwide, but Ed said on air there was no U.S. publisher (at this moment, though I would imagine that to be rectified soon).



Ed told his story, and then callers were selected to ask questions, and the first called, a lady from Oslo I think, got into a heated debate about the true nature of Islam. Ed had made the comment that this was not the place for such a debate, and continued expounding his views based on his experiences at various places in the world.


Ed was a well-spoken, thoughtful interview, which has made me decide to look for his book. There was an interview with Ed in last Saturday's London TIMES.




EDIT ON APRIL 30TH: Still no word about the book being published in the U.S., so I ordered my copy from the institution on books in this state, POWELL'S



EDIT ON MAY 16TH: Received an a-mail from Powell's today telling me the book had shipped today. Two weeks earlier than the original date they'd guesstimated. Nice one.


EDIT ON MAY 21ST: Received the book in the mail, will be reading it this coming week.


EDIT ON JUNE 13TH: A very good read so far, about half the way through, reading with one arm in a sling isn't that conducive to the act. The book moves along at a quick pace, in an easy to read style much like listening to a lecture in person. The core belief behind Ed in those days, perhaps symptomatic of headstrong youth, of the absolute certainty of what they were doing and believed in being the correct path for humanity has already sparked a renewed clash of ideas, though in rather more mundane and local ways for the time being. The backdrop for future battles, on a more global scale, is already being sharply drawn at this point, their idea of changing others by first changing oneself is a powerful one indeed.

Found this bit on Ed and some of the places he was at various places in his life in this feature from London's TimeOut. The story is HERE.