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Hip-hop in the '90s began moving towards the Nation of Islam and the 5 Percenters, black nationalist movements; very much so, these movements embraced a form of Islam: Malcom X's form of Islam prior to his change.
Maajid Nawaz -
My upbringing was completely liberal from the start. In fact, I didn't even have a Muslim identity.
Maajid Nawaz
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Poking fun at other people's beliefs, while it may seem frivolous and offensive, is a non-negotiable right. It is a principle that underpins free speech, the basis for progress.
Maajid Nawaz -
The British state already invests in early intervention campaigns in drug abuse and sexual health. Challenging extremism should be no less of a priority.
Maajid Nawaz -
Unity in faith is theocracy; unity in politics is fascism.
Maajid Nawaz -
In an open society, no idea can be above scrutiny, just as no people should be beneath dignity.
Maajid Nawaz -
I am a Muslim. I am born to Muslim parents. I have a Muslim son. I have been imprisoned and witnessed torture for my previous understanding of my religion.
Maajid Nawaz -
To be forced to defend oneself is an inherently undesirable position to be in. The focus shifts from ideas to the person conveying them.
Maajid Nawaz
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Rather than allowing jihadists to shut down debate, it must proliferate so much that they simply cannot kill us all.
Maajid Nawaz -
I can say with a level of confidence that Islam is not a religion of war, only because the majority of Muslims don't subscribe to that perspective, not because there's something inherent in the text that tells me it's a religion of peace.
Maajid Nawaz -
If liberalism is to mean anything at all, it is duty bound to support without hesitation the dissenting individual over the group, the heretic over the orthodox, innovation over stagnation, and free speech over offense.
Maajid Nawaz -
For years, Islamists and other extremists have taken advantage of grievances of Muslims in Britain and have successfully identified ways to integrate them under one 'Islamic' banner.
Maajid Nawaz -
The best revolutions are unplanned, and the most democratic are leaderless.
Maajid Nawaz -
Any item of clothing that covers the face and makes it impossible to identify individuals is open to abuse.
Maajid Nawaz
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The fact is that there is a serious problem of extremism with minority groups within Muslim communities.
Maajid Nawaz -
The cheeky ideal I am calling for is that Muslims should be viewed as equal citizens, nothing more and nothing less.
Maajid Nawaz -
To suggest that a Muslim cannot think for himself sounds to me very much like an incident of anti-Muslim bigotry.
Maajid Nawaz -
A fatwa is a religious edict. Such edicts bind only those who seek to follow the Imam issuing them but can be regarded as an option for others seeking an alternative view.
Maajid Nawaz -
My identity comprises of more than just my faith. I am a proud Muslim, but I am also a liberal, a Briton, a Pakistani, a Londoner, a father, a product of the globalised world who speaks English, Arabic and Urdu.
Maajid Nawaz -
In the United Kingdom, we need to promote an inclusive British identity that involves and empowers people from all ethnic and faith backgrounds.
Maajid Nawaz
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'Muslim' is not a political party. 'Muslim' is not a single culture. Muslims go to war with each other. There are more Muslims in India, Russia and China than in most Muslim-majority nations. 'Muslim' is not a homogenous entity.
Maajid Nawaz -
There has been a failure to grasp how competing narratives fight for the attention of angry young Muslims, and we have grossly underestimated the appeal of the jihadist brand.
Maajid Nawaz -
De-radicalisation begins by breaking down the logic which once seemed unassailable and rethinking what you are fighting for and why. That is hard to do when Islamists and Islamophobes feed off each other's hateful cliches.
Maajid Nawaz -
I realised that the idea of enforcing sharia is not consistent with Islam as it's been practised from the beginning. In other words, Islam has always been secular, and I had been totally ignorant of the fact.
Maajid Nawaz