We were blessed to speak with bestselling author Ontario-based Dr Saqib Qureshi on why the release of his new book In Being Muslim Today is needed now, more than ever.
In Being Muslim Today, author Dr. Saqib Qureshi says that he wants to silence the noise that obscures the message of Islam.
Released in May this year, his latest release provides a compelling presentation of Islam’s beginning, its changes throughout the last 1,400 years, and its relevance today.
Described by renowned Professor Illan Pape as “the best antidote”, Pape says that Qureshi’s candid and courageous book does not shun critical scrutiny of Islamic orthodoxies and provides an assured receipt for a much better world for Muslims and their western countries to which they belong.
We asked Qureshi what compelled him to write this story now.
“We often hear that ‘Muslims in the West are a problem’. This isn’t news. It’s been on the table for decades, at least since I can remember, sparked by the riots against the Satanic Verses and protests against the Gulf War in 1991. ‘There is something a bit weird about those Muslims’ has long been a thing, fuelled by right wing politicians, Islamophobia has gotten a whole lot worse than those events in 1989 and 1991. That ‘thing’ has taken centre stage. Muslims of the West are today talked of in the national media as a problem. What’s interesting is that if you were to ask the typical Muslim of the West to dedicate resources to tackle this, or any of the community’s biggest issues, you’ll get a lost smile – like Alfred E. Neuman from Mad Magazine,” says Qureshi.
According to Qureshi, Muslims are in the unenviable position of having multiple groups fighting over the right to define who we are, what we believe, what we should believe, and why we should feel bad for believing it, or not.
“In one corner, you have a sizable chunk of the non-Muslim Western ‘intelligentsia’, who feed off misrepresenting Muslims—highlighting every act of violence committed by a Muslim anywhere in the world and linking it to Islam. They are uninterested in any other Muslim story that runs counter to their ‘Muslim means violence’ narrative,” says Qureshi.
In his book, Qureshi argues that political violence is not unique to Muslims or Muslim-majority countries. What happened when Jewish demands for statehood in Palestine stalled? The Zionist terrorist group, Irgun, murdered ordinary civilians. In 1946, Irgun commandos, disguised as Palestinians, bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and killed ninety-one civilians. Albert Einstein, himself Jewish, compared the Irgun to the Nazis. Then, in 1948, having obtained Israel, Irgun disbanded and one of its leaders, Menachem Begin, later became prime minister.
Qureshi says that among extreme ‘Islamists’ one commonality rings true, there is a loud absence of Islam to be found among them.
“An MI5 study of British ‘Islamic’ extremists concluded that most were ‘religious novices’. The Bridgeway Foundation noted about ISIS recruits, ‘They don’t know much about Islam’. Another professor in this space noted, ‘ISIS recruits have very little understanding of Islam’. A recent study noted that most ISIS recruits have never studied Islam and are remarkably secular. The same is true of al-Qaeda recruits,” says Qureshi.
In light of the recent race riots in the UK, whereby violence against Muslims or people who were perceived to be Muslim shocked and shamed a nation, we asked Qureshi what can Muslims do to help bring the Ummah together, in order to tackle misinformation and community mistrust around Muslim identity?
“If we want to raise a pile of cash for yet another mosque? Not an issue… there seems to be unlimited resources and appetite for another low-performance, unaccountable, male-dominated, physical fiefdom. But to tackle Islamophobia, mysogyny or under-employment, all of which are chronic and serious problems amongst Muslims of the West – there is apathy. Unless social, political and economic problems are pro-actively tackled, until the paralytic cloak of victimhood is pushed back, our younger generation will wish that the Islamophobia they will face in the future is what we have to deal with today,” says Qureshi.
As for finding peace with one’s own identity in the face of adversity, Qureshi says that above all, it’s important for muslims to not allow our communities to dictate what one wants or needs to be happy.
“We do a fantastic job of putting aside ourselves at the mercy of social norms. Do not live a false and schizophrenic existence, just to comply with what friends, family and the rest of the planet want or expect of us. Live your life so you are happy with it. Honesty to others doesn’t happen without honesty to yourself. Block the noise. Allow yourself to surface. Your voice distinguishes who you are,” says Qureshi.
Ameen to that brother Saqib!
Notes from the Editor: Dr. Saqib Iqbal Qureshi is a bestselling author, angel investor, film producer, and Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he received his PhD in International Relations and Epistemology. His work has featured in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Spectator, Entrepreneur, and The Independent. Qureshi has produced two films and, in 1996, the BBC One documentary, Al Dawaah, the first television documentary about the Muslim community in any Western country. He is the author of The Broken Contract and Reconstructing Strategy. You can buy his book here.
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