‘How I escaped Islamism’

Yet another article by an ex-Islamist, this one by Shiraz Maher, a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, in the Sunday Times.

These articles follow the same formula. A connection is drawn between HT and acts of terrorism, and HT is presented as typical of “political Islam”. There appears to be an endless demand from the media for such “exposés”. Strangely enough, there is no equivalent market for articles pointing out that HT is a non-violent organisation which rejects terrorism and that its abstentionist position towards mainstream politics in the UK is rejected in favour of active engagement by most of those individuals and organisations whose political commitment is inspired by Islam.

Meanwhile, over at BBC News, a report on a Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in Jakarta states regarding HT: “Many experts see it as ideologically close to jihadist groups, and suspect its commitment to peaceful means is purely tactical.”