Radical: My Journey from Islamist Extremism to a Democratic Awakening

Maajid Nawaz

jul 2012 · Random House

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Born and raised in Essex, Maajid Nawaz was recruited into politicised Islam as a teenager. Abandoning his love of hip hop music, graffiti and girls, he was recruited into Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Liberation Party) where he played a leading and international role in the shaping and dissemination of an aggressive anti-West narrative. While studying for his Arabic and law degree, he travelled around the UK and to Denmark and Pakistan, setting up new cells.

Arriving in Egypt the day before 9/11 his views soon led to his arrest, imprisonment and mental torture, before being thrown into solitary confinement in a Cairo jail reserved for political prisoners. There, while mixing with everyone from the assassins of Egypt's president to Liberal reformists, he underwent an intellectual transformation and on his release after four years, he publically renounced the Islamist ideology that had defined his life. This move would cost him his marriage, his family and his friends as well as his own personal security.

Six years after his release, Maajid now works all over the world to counter Islamism and to promote democratic ideals through his organisation, The Quilliam Foundation, which he co-founded with former Islamist and bestselling author Ed Husain.

Following in the wake of the extraordinary democratic change in the Arab world, that few would have foretold, Radical is Maajid's intensely personal account of life inside and out of Islamic extremism. It also highlights one man's quest to inspire change and challenge extremism in all its forms.

This is a hard-hitting memoir of one man's journey into and out of Islamic extremism.

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Maajid Nawaz is the co-founder and executive director of Quilliam and founder of Khudi. He was formerly on the UK national leadership for the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir and was involved in the organisation for almost 14 years. He served four years in an Egyptian prison as an Amnesty International 'prisoner of conscience', until he became de-radicalised and renounced his extremist views. Maajid now engages in counter-Islamist thought-generating, social-activism, writing, debating and media appearances. He holds a BA (Hons) from SOAS in Arabic and Law and an MSc in Political Theory from London School of Economics. Maajid serves as an ambassador for the global Alliance of Youth Movements, is a member of the Liberal Democrat party, and a proud father to his young son.