Radical: My Journey Out Of Islamist Extremism
Maajid Nawaz spent his teenage years listening to American hip-hop and learning about the radical Islamist movement spreading throughout Europe and Asia in the 1980s and 90s. At 16, he was already a ranking member in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Islamist group. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a top recruiter, a charismatic spokesman for the cause of uniting Islam’s political power across the world. Nawaz was setting up satellite groups in Pakistan, Denmark, and Egypt when he was rounded up in the aftermath of 9/11 along with many other radical Muslims.
He was sent to an Egyptian prison where he was, fortuitously, jailed along with the assassins of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The 20 years in prison had changed the assassins’ views on Islam and violence; Maajid went into prison preaching to them about the Islamist cause, but the lessons ended up going the other way. He came out of prison four years later completely changed, convinced that his entire belief system had been wrong, and determined to do something about it.
He met with activists and heads of state, built a network, and started a foundation, Quilliam, funded by the British government, to combat the rising Islamist tide in Europe and elsewhere, using his intimate knowledge of recruitment tactics in order to reverse extremism and persuade Muslims that the ‘narrative’ used to recruit them (that the West is evil and the cause of all of Muslim suffering), is false. Radical, first published in the UK, is a fascinating and important look into one man's journey out of extremism and into something else entirely.
This U.S. edition contains a "Preface for US readers" and a new, updated epilogue.
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Community Reviews
Unfortunately Nawaz is known for his anti-vaxxer opinions today. He just seems to have controversial opinions about a ton of stuff. Not just anti extremist Islam, but also about various other stuff where the government or some great power is controlling the population. Hence why he feels the Covid vaccine is a dangerous controlling the population.
At any rate the book is the book. It's from before he went full on insane on Twitter. It's about his time in power in Hizb ut-Tahrir and how he spread extremist Islam in UK, Pakistan, and Egypt and recruited followers. And how he was imprisoned for 4 years in Egypt as they were hunting extremists back then. Today Egypt is controlled by extremists.
The book could and should have been good. But the audiobook just doesn't quite cut it. It's fine enough and easy to read as he clearly had a ghostwriter. But the narrator is way over the top. And most stories are quite pointless. Half the stuff is just Nawaz bragging about who he met and name dropping left and right. Even dragging out some names to then DROP them on us to shock us with his power and prestige. The man is clearly a tad too narcissistic. This delusion never left him. It would actually be more impressive if he didn't name drop and just kinda said the names. That would make him look powerful. This on the other hand makes him look like a small confused kid trying to constantly brag.
Furthermore many of the Islam stories are quite silly. He CONSTANTLY talks about how everyone is racist towards him and hates him and his organizations. No matter if he is a Muslim extremist or later anti extremism Islam activist he seemingly thinks everyone is after him and being unfair towards him. At times he even calls small stuff racism. He and his friend being arrested because his friend waved a gun around? Of course that's super racist. Him being interrogated on the street after getting into a knife fight and a dude getting stabbed next to him? Suuuuuuper racist! Super duper racist. Everything happening to him is racist even when he describes Europeans who hate Islam he call them racist. Which makes no sense. What race are Muslims? He clearly talks in the way modern gen-Z progressives talk. Yet later he criticises them. So I don't even know what his point is. I guess if you attack him you are racist, but other people claiming racism are delusional?
The stories about his changing behavior and growth are also just nonsense. He goes to prison. Then on the next page he is suddenly not extremist anymore. Next page he starts up an organization. There is no clear explanation for anything. This book is overly long considering it's a very unimportant topic. Just a few years in his life. Yet he is unable to explain the important stuff. How did he change his mind?
I would say it's not worth seeking out. It's a bit like a podcast episode about some unknown guy spending 2-3 hours talking about his life. It can be fun enough, but it's not important and never quite focused enough. Rather it's a guy in need of bragging and readers are here to hear him brag. I mean, he did marry an attractive young woman and does lead a big organization. But maybe a tad too many people don't see past his bullshit statements. Most ideas are fine, but you can clearly spot some delusion. He is so good at deluding himself that people around him likely fall for it too. Just like most other Twitter activists he thinks he is the center of the world and can say no wrong. It reminds me of Elon Musk. Unfortunately it's not even a lesson in what not to do as the guy clearly won the game of life despite supporting extremist ideas in his past and still being delusional today. He's not smart, he is not important, he is not consistent. He is just a name he made for himself. Pointless.
At any rate the book is the book. It's from before he went full on insane on Twitter. It's about his time in power in Hizb ut-Tahrir and how he spread extremist Islam in UK, Pakistan, and Egypt and recruited followers. And how he was imprisoned for 4 years in Egypt as they were hunting extremists back then. Today Egypt is controlled by extremists.
The book could and should have been good. But the audiobook just doesn't quite cut it. It's fine enough and easy to read as he clearly had a ghostwriter. But the narrator is way over the top. And most stories are quite pointless. Half the stuff is just Nawaz bragging about who he met and name dropping left and right. Even dragging out some names to then DROP them on us to shock us with his power and prestige. The man is clearly a tad too narcissistic. This delusion never left him. It would actually be more impressive if he didn't name drop and just kinda said the names. That would make him look powerful. This on the other hand makes him look like a small confused kid trying to constantly brag.
Furthermore many of the Islam stories are quite silly. He CONSTANTLY talks about how everyone is racist towards him and hates him and his organizations. No matter if he is a Muslim extremist or later anti extremism Islam activist he seemingly thinks everyone is after him and being unfair towards him. At times he even calls small stuff racism. He and his friend being arrested because his friend waved a gun around? Of course that's super racist. Him being interrogated on the street after getting into a knife fight and a dude getting stabbed next to him? Suuuuuuper racist! Super duper racist. Everything happening to him is racist even when he describes Europeans who hate Islam he call them racist. Which makes no sense. What race are Muslims? He clearly talks in the way modern gen-Z progressives talk. Yet later he criticises them. So I don't even know what his point is. I guess if you attack him you are racist, but other people claiming racism are delusional?
The stories about his changing behavior and growth are also just nonsense. He goes to prison. Then on the next page he is suddenly not extremist anymore. Next page he starts up an organization. There is no clear explanation for anything. This book is overly long considering it's a very unimportant topic. Just a few years in his life. Yet he is unable to explain the important stuff. How did he change his mind?
I would say it's not worth seeking out. It's a bit like a podcast episode about some unknown guy spending 2-3 hours talking about his life. It can be fun enough, but it's not important and never quite focused enough. Rather it's a guy in need of bragging and readers are here to hear him brag. I mean, he did marry an attractive young woman and does lead a big organization. But maybe a tad too many people don't see past his bullshit statements. Most ideas are fine, but you can clearly spot some delusion. He is so good at deluding himself that people around him likely fall for it too. Just like most other Twitter activists he thinks he is the center of the world and can say no wrong. It reminds me of Elon Musk. Unfortunately it's not even a lesson in what not to do as the guy clearly won the game of life despite supporting extremist ideas in his past and still being delusional today. He's not smart, he is not important, he is not consistent. He is just a name he made for himself. Pointless.
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