Quilliam (think tank)

Quilliam (Foundation)

Founder(s)	Ed Husain, Maajid Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali
Founded	2008
Location	London, United Kingdom
Key people	Ed Husain, Maajid Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali
Employees	13
Motto	Challenging Extremism, Promoting Pluralism, Inspiring Change
Website	quilliamfoundation.org

The Quilliam (Foundation) is a London-based think tank that focuses on "counter-extremism", specifically Islamism, which it argues is the cause of Muslim terrorism. It lobbies government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world. According to its founder Maajid Nawaz, "We wish to raise awareness around Islamism"; also "I want to demonstrate how the Islamist ideology is incompatible with Islam. Secondly...develop a Western Islam that is at home in Britain and in Europe... reverse radicalization by taking on their arguments and countering them."

The organization opposes any Islamist ideology, and champions freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders Maajid Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali, and Ed Husain is, in part, based on their personal experiences.

Name

The organization was originally named the Quilliam Foundation, but later rebranded as simply Quilliam. The think tank was founded by Maajid Nawaz, Ed Husain and Rashad Zaman Ali. Both Ali and Nawaz are former members of the UK branch of the international Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Husain studied with the group or associated members.^{[citation needed]}

Quilliam takes its name from the Islamic activist Abdullah Quilliam, a 19th century British convert to Islam who was influential in advancing knowledge of the religion in Great Britain, and who gained converts through literary works and charitable institutions he founded.

Terminology

Quilliam defines Islamism in the following terms:

It is the belief that Islam is a political ideology, as well as a faith. It is a modernist claim that political sovereignty belongs to God, that the Shari'ah should be used as state law, that Muslims form a political rather than a religious bloc around the world and that it is a religious duty for all Muslims to create a political entity that is governed as such. Islamism is a spectrum, with Islamists disagreeing over how they should bring their ‘Islamic’ state into existence. Some Islamists seek to engage with existing political systems, others reject the existing systems as illegitimate but do so non-violently, and others seek to create an 'Islamic state' through violence. Most Islamists are socially modern but others advocate a more retrograde lifestyle. Islamists often have contempt for Muslim scholars and sages and their traditional institutions; as well as a disdain for non-Islamist Muslims and the West.

Quilliam argues that Islam is just a religion, not a political religion nor an ideology and that “Islam is not Islamism.”

Quilliam argues that “[Islamists] are extreme because of their rigidity in understanding politics”.

Objectives

A policy proposal published for the British government and journalists at the time of Quilliam's launch suggested establishing rehabilitation centres in which extremists could be deradicalised, based on the success of Egyptian and Saudi programmes of this kind. These centres would expose extremists and terrorists who wish to leave their organisations to the work of scholars whose work has been recognized as sound and legitimate.

More recent information about Quilliam's goals, available on its website, states:

Extremism, a prelude to terrorism, cannot be contained by Muslims alone. Not least because religious rigidity and extremism are products of the failures of wider society to foster a shared sense of belonging and to advance liberal democratic values among all sections of society. That said, we believe a more self-critical approach must be adopted by Muslim leaders to free communities from Westophobic ideological influences, escape social insularity and facilitate the organic growth of Western Islam. Quilliam seeks to challenge what we think, and the way we think. It aims to generate creative thought paradigms through informed and inclusive discussion to counter the Islamist ideology behind terrorism, whilst simultaneously providing evidence-based recommendations to governments for related policy measures.

To date the organization's goals have been mainly communicated through publishing reports, involvement in the media through taking part in interviews and discussions across Europe and the Middle East and through its 'Outreach and Training' unit which delivers a 'radicalisation awareness programme', a training course intended to develop students' understanding of:

* The difference between Islam as a faith and Islamism as a radicalizing political ideology which justifies violence
* The different pathways into radicalization
* A detailed explanation of the process of radicalization - the key causes of it and how it manifests itself
* A thorough understanding of Islamist paradigms and extremists' propaganda
* An exposition of the political narrative and manipulation of grievances which are exploited and used to groom vulnerable individuals
* The cultivation of a climate which provides support for political violence
* Explanation of the contextual nature of Islamist political ideas – as a modern and totalitarian manipulation of traditional religious ideas
* A comprehensive ideological and theological refutation of Islamist thought providing a counter-narrative – for those who need to engage directly

Challenging Dutch Politician Geert Wilders

In February and October 2009, Quilliam publicly confronted the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, arguing that "Geert Wilders is undoubtedly an ill-informed, hate-driven bigot with many unpleasant views but he is not directly inciting violence. ... We therefore challenge Geert Wilders to an open debate in which we will argue that Islam is compatible with secular democracy and that, contrary to what he apparently believes, Muslims are not a threat to Europe and its values.”

Hijab and Burqa

Quilliam support the right of women to wear the hijab and the right of women to take it off. In a commentary in The Sun, Maajid Nawaz stated: "If Muslims object to the French ban on the hijab, we must also object to the `Islamist` plan to impose the hijab and ban women uncovering their hair." Quilliam has also defended the right of women to wear the full face veil, known as the niqab or burka.

Personnel

Founders and Directors

Quilliam was established in 2007 by Ed Husain, Maajid Nawaz and Rashad Zaman Ali, three former members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Ed Husain (Co-Director and Co-Founder)
Maajid Nawaz (Co-Director and Co-Founder)
Rashad Zaman Ali (Although Ali helped to set up Quilliam, he is no longer linked to the organisation, and now works for an organisation called 'Centri'.)

Quilliam is organised into four units: a 'Research and Policy Unit', an 'Outreach' unit, a 'Training and Consultancy Unit' and a 'South Asia Unit' (previously known as 'Global Affairs Unit').

Ishtiaq Hussain, a Senior Trainer, left the organisation in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Supporters

Quilliam has attracted messages of support from a wide range of figures from across the political spectrum. Its advisors include Timothy Garton Ash, Musharraf Hussain Al-Azhari, Catherine Fieschi, Giles Fraser, David Goodhart, Michael Gove, David Green, Ali al-Saleh al Najafi and Ghayasuddin Siddiqui. The chair of Quilliam's advisory board is restauranteer Iqbal Wahhab.

Criticism

Critics have included Azzam Tamimi, Inayat Bunglawala, Ziauddin Sardar ― who formerly criticised Quilliam but has since sided with Maajid Nawaz during a debate with Tariq Ramadan broadcast on Press TV ― and Seumas Milne of The Guardian.

In an open letter to The Guardian, Anas al-Tikriti, Yvonne Ridley, Ihtisham Hibatullah, Ismail Patel, and Roshan Salih wrote:

We believe this is just another establishment-backed attempt to divert attention from the main cause of radicalisation and extremism in Britain: the UK's disastrous foreign policy in the Muslim world, including its occupation of Muslim lands and its support for pro-western Muslim dictators. The foundation has no proven grassroots support within the Muslim community, although it does seem to have the ear of the powers that be, probably because it is telling them what they want to hear. It is quite possible to be a politically engaged Muslim without wanting to fly planes into tall buildings. Yet the (Quilliam) foundation equates all forms of political Islam with extremism and terrorism. But those misguided few who are willing to cross the line into terrorism are not driven by disfranchisement or Sayyid Qutb's writings; they do it because they are furious about western foreign policy....

Seumas Milne argued that “all three are straight out of the cold war defectors' mould trading heavily on their former associations and travelling rapidly in a conservative direction”.

Funding

In January 2009, The Times published an article claiming that Quiliam had received almost £1million from the government. The newspaper report also asserted that some "members of the Government and the Opposition" had questioned the wisdom of "relying too heavily on a relatively unknown organisation ... to counter extremism." Quilliam openly acknowledges the funding that it receives from the public sector, and makes its financial records publicly available.

See also

• Islamism
• Islamic Modernism
• Democracy in the Middle East

External links

• Quilliam's official website
• Ex-extremists call for 'Western Islam' - The Launch of the Quilliam Foundation
• Government gives £1m to anti-extremist think-tank