| Maajid Nawaz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Southend on Sea, Essex, England |
| Education | BA in Law and Arabic and MSc in Political Theory |
| Alma mater | London University, London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Political Activist |
| Organization | Quilliam Foundation |
| Website | |
| quilliamfoundation.org | |
Maajid Nawaz (born 1978 in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex) is a British Pakistani and former member of the Islamic political group Hizb ut-Tahrir. He holds a B.A. (Hons) from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies and a M.Sc. in Political Theory from the London School of Economics. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Quilliam (think tank), the world's first counter-extremism think tank. He is also the co-founder of Khudi, a counter-extremism social movement working towards the promotion of social democratic change in Pakistan.
Nawaz cites racism whilst growing up and feeling divided between his Pakistani and British identities as important factors in his struggle to find his own identity. The Nation of Islam and genocide in Bosnia also influenced him.[1] Maajid's experience of Islamism began at the age of 16 when he left home to pursue a design course in London - it was then that he was recruited to Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Liberation Party).[2] Maajid very quickly became a national speaker and international recruiter for the party, travelling first to Pakistan and then to Denmark to export the party's ideology and set up cells from London. He resigned from Hizb-ut-Tahrir in May 2007.[3]
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Maajid Nawaz studied at Newham College of Further Education alongside the British writer Ed Husain.[4] Today he is the Executive Director of Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank, created by former activists, including Husain, from radical Islamist organisations.
Nawaz entered the spotlight in 2002 when, as part of a compulsory year abroad as part of his university degree,[5] he travelled to Egypt and was jailed in Alexandria with two others, Ian Nisbet and Reza Pankhurst, for belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir, a banned organization in Egypt.
During his time in the same prison he spoke at length with the Muslim Brotherhood leadership such as with Mohammed al-Badee’, who in his youth personally smuggled Qutb’s Milestones out from prison, and their spokesman Dr Essam el-Erian. He also befriended Dr Sa'ad al-Din Ibrahim and the imprisoned runner-up to Egypt's 2006 presidential elections, liberal head of the Tomorrow Party, Ayman Nur. Throughout this time, Maajid continued his studies, sitting with graduates of Cairo's Al-Azhar University and Dar al-'Ulum. He specialised in the Arabic language whilst studying historical Muslim scholastics, sources of Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith historiography and the art of Qur'an recitation. He also committed half of the Qur'an to memory.[3]
During his imprisonment in Egypt, Maajid was tortured along with his fellow prisoners.[6] During his trial, Maajid Nawaz was adopted by Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of Conscience".[1]
Reasons for Nawaz’s departure from Hizb ut-Tahrir were due to profound doubts. As he describes in his own words: "My journey from prison was not an easy one to make. After all, there were many reasons for why I should not leave, and very few for why I should. The one reason that I could not ignore, the one reason that grew deep inside me till it consumed me with guilt was the realisation that I was abusing my faith for a mere political project. After learning through my studies in prison that Islamism was not the religion of Islam, but rather a modern political ideology, I no longer felt guilty simply for criticising a political system inspired by 7th century norms."[7]
Since his departure from Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Maajid Nawaz has been active in the Quilliam Foundation.[8] He also writes regularly for UK and international newspapers and speaks at a variety of forums worldwide. On July 11, 2008, he addressed US Senate Homeland Security and Government and Affairs Committee on the subject of Islamist extremism.[9] In January 2009, he attended the Doha Debates alongside other Muslims to debate the threat of political Islam to the West. He presented the Lent Talks on BBC Radio Four on March 10, 2010.
At the age of 21, he married Rabia, then a fellow-activist within the Hizb-ut-Tahrir community and a biology student.[1] Together they have one child, Ammaar.[10] On Maajid's decision to leave Hizb-ut-Tahrir, they separated.