"Can a former Islamist make it cool to be moderate?” was how The New York Times introduced its profile last week of Maajid Nawaz, a British former Islamist turned anti-extremism analyst. That the authority on Muslim “cool” would turn out to be a think tank analyst is somewhat surprising.
Nawaz has for several years become the go-to ex-Islamist in policy circles in London and Washington. His narrative of starting as a committed member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, being jailed in Egypt for several years and then realising the error of his fundamentalist ways has given his comments on extremism a certain authority.
He is, however, widely criticised among liberals and, I think it is not too harsh to say, even despised among the British Muslim community, of which he still considers himself a part. A leading US civil rights group, the Southern Poverty Law Centre, even included him on a list of “anti-Muslim extremists”. It does appear to pain him that neither liberals nor Muslims can accept his analysis (“I consider myself a liberal and wanted to work with liberals,” he says) – but not sufficiently for him to seek to understand their criticisms.
Now Nawaz is back with a new project. He wants to “make it cool to be a liberal Muslim”. And this very statement takes us to the heart of the left’s problem with Maajid Nawaz. Because Islam is already “cool”; Nawaz just hasn’t taken the time to notice.
One of the reasons Nawaz provokes such irritation is that he acts as if he is the first to discover something that is, in fact, already common knowledge.
He did this, first, by becoming a “moderate” Muslim. After spending his teens and twenties devoted to radical political organisations, he then repented and proceeded to lecture Muslims – who had never had a radical thought in their lives, who had spent the same period building careers and raising families, who had read the same radical leaflets as the young Nawaz and seen right through them – about why they should be moderate. Little wonder that Muslims asked why they should listen to someone who came to the same conclusions they did, but a decade later.
Now Nawaz is back, lecturing a young generation about “cool” Islam, about “liberal” Islam. Yet the truth is so maddeningly plain, it’s almost impossible to believe anyone has been strung along by this fiction. Anyone who has spent time in Arab, Asian or African countries, who has interacted with Muslim communities in the West – or indeed who has access to Google – will know that “cool” Islamic culture is already flourishing.
Islamic music, fashion and art are blossoming as never before. From Indonesia to Idaho, millions of Muslims are interpreting and experiencing their faith through culture.
A simple YouTube search will bring up dozens of artists (in English; there are many more in Arabic, Urdu and all the other languages of the Muslim world) whose music videos celebrate their faith in a joyful, youthful, exciting way – and attract millions of views.
Every moment of every day, across Twitter, Facebook and all the other connected apps of modern youth, this conversation – the one Nawaz is seeking to insert himself into – is already taking place, discussing identity, culture, politics and faith. There is no need to seek a cool or liberal Islam – millions of young people are creating it at this very moment.
That Nawaz doesn’t know this must be put down to wilful ignorance, an attempt to represent a reality he did not create for personal gain. But the reason he is believed in western political and media circles points to a wider problem.
Muslims in western societies are torn between two boxes, offered to them by the political left and right.
The left, fixated by difference, desperately desires Muslims to be “authentic”, recognisably Muslim – all the better to defend them from Islamophobia.
On the right, which despises difference and applauds conformity, Islam is seen as just another ethnic or religious marker, to be washed away by a homogenising society.
Nawaz, then, is caught in a trap not of his own making. Unable to be an “authentic” Muslim for the left, but desperate to be a figurehead for Muslim communities, he gravitates towards the right, thereby losing Muslim and liberal allies, inexorably leaving the community he claims to want to serve.
In so doing, he breaks his connection with Muslim communities and is unable to see how Islamic culture has flourished, particularly among a younger generation who are gleefully celebrating their faith with all the colour, noise and dynamism of young people everywhere.
In western political and media circles, these tens, hundreds of millions of Muslims are invisible, so they turn to Nawaz, the middle-aged uncle who was once down with the kids, for guidance.
But Nawaz is having an entirely parallel conversation, without Muslims, young or old, one conducted entirely in the seminar rooms of Whitehall and Washington. And he wonders why no one is listening.
falyafai@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @FaisalAlYafai
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%20turbo%204-cylinder%20%2F%202.0%20turbo%204-cylinder%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20148bhp%20%2F%20328bhp%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20250Nm%20%2F%20420Nm%20(S3)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20TBA%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Southampton 0
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 16')
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
