Each month Westminster Journal will be adding an individual to its GEMs section. GEM stands for Great European Muslim. This individual will be recommended by Editorial process. Any submissions would be welcomed - simply send through details of the GEM you wish to recommend and give the reasons why you feel they deserve their place.

Ed Husain (born 25th December 1975 in London) is the pen name of the British writer Mohammed Mahbub Hussain who is the author of The Islamist. Husain's father was born in India and his mother originates from Bangladesh. He grew up in the Limehouse area of London where there is a large Bengali community. Hussain attended Sir William Borough School, Stepney Green School, Tower Hamlets College and Newham College. He later worked for HSBC and the British Council in Saudi Arabia and Syria before enrolling at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He later joined the Labour Party.

He studied Arabic at the University of Damascus and has completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is currently enrolled at the School's Ph.D programme in Political Science. Husain is also a visiting fellow at Civitas, the independent think-tank.

Husain states that in the early 1990s he was associated with Jamaat-e-Islami, East London Mosque, Young Muslims Organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Society of Britain. However, HT denies this. In an interview broadcast by CNN on May 3 2007, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir denied Husain's claim that he had been a member of the organisation.

Husain was a former associate of convicted terrorist Dhiren Barot, MCB media secretary Inayat Bunglawala and Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Husain supports a liberal interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence on issues such as homosexuality and Islamic marriage laws. Although labelling himself as a 'traditionalist', Husain rejects orthodox Islamic teaching in arguing that Muslim women should be allowed to marry non-Muslim men. In an interview in the New York Times Husain says:

"In traditional circles, Muslim women are not allowed to marry non-Muslim men...But in a pluralistic world in 2007, where non-Muslim men and Muslim women are marrying, you can't say, You can't do that."

Husain also questions orthodox Islamic teaching in relation to the Caliphate, arguing,

"But 'the state' is not a rukn of the deen and without it the deen is not lost. An individual can remain a firm believer, a mutadayyin, without the imam and the jama'ah".

Husain has also explained that he believes Muslim society is in need of modernisation. In an interview with Time Out, Husain says:

"As I left extremism I realised that if you are born here and grow up here, then you belong here. The Islam that was preached 2,000 years ago isn't going to work here in modern London. Muslims need to alter their lifestyles to a Western lifestyle. To criticise is not Islamaphobic. It's about opposing certain ideas."

In "The Islamist", Husain describes how he became an Islamic fundamentalist at the age of 16. He explains that:

"Five years later, after much emotional turmoil, I rejected fundamentalist teachings and returned to normal life and my family."

Husain says that his book explains:

"the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam."

Husain's book has been called "highly acclaimed" and received positive reviews from The Guardian, The Times and International Herald Tribune. Others such as Hizb ut Tahrir, Salafimanhaj and the Muslim Council of Britain have made strong criticism, alleging inaccuracy and flawed analysis by Husain.

Ed Husain is currently Deputy Director of the Quilliam Foundation - an organisation based in the UK seeking to bring Islamist extremists away from parties like Hizb ut Tahrir. For this alone he deserves the GEM title.

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