When talking about 9/11, it’s pretty shocking to hear someone tell you they once believed “America got what they deserved.” It’s also pretty frightening to think that any of your friends from college would end up in prison on charges of terrorism. This was the reality of Shiraz Maher during his involvement with a radical Islam group between 2002-2005. It took an escape from the party and everything he knew to change his life and, in turn, fight against the beliefs he once supported. His lecture raised the issue that the U.S. House of Representatives is questioning right now — are the ideas of Islam and Western society mutually exclusive?

Hosted by SHARP Lectures Series and NADI (Middle Eastern Studies Club), Maher provided an account of his participation in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), a party that seeks a return of Islamic law and the Caliphate. Maher had an international upbringing – he’s a Pakistani Muslim raised in Saudi Arabia who was fortunate enough to attend college in Cambridge, England. After 9/11, when still a student in the U.K., Maher was among those who felt the tension between Islam and the West, was swept up into the large wave of anti-Americanism at the time, and felt lost in identifying as a Muslim. He began attending mosque regularly, and fraternized with members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, eventually becoming a regional organizer.

Maher never participated in acts of terrorism, though fellow members later did. He described Hizb ut-Tahrir’s mission as preparing public opinion and targeting individuals and organizations towards Islamization. In England this meant videos and PSAs targeting markets (Pakistanis watching South Asian television) that painted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as complicit with the Bush administration’s domination of Middle Eastern politics.

Ultimately, he was able to leave Hizb ut-Tahrir and — influenced by Muslim writers who had lived in India — began to believe that the caliphate need not be established for Muslims to prosper.

For an event titled “How I Escaped Radical Islam,” Maher’s story seemed a little tame, but his talk pointed to some pretty important issues that still occur in Europe. Maher joined Hizb ut-Tahrir wanting to feel as a part of a community. He was one of many Muslims who felt at odds balancing Islamist values and Western ones. Islamist parties like Hizb ut-Tahrir offered people like Maher identity, fraternity, and belonging.

With the West seemingly “waging war” on Islam, the rise of parties like Hizb ut-Tahrir seems fairly obvious. This is a pretty concerning trend in European countries today — Muslims, especially Muslim youth, feeling alienated from larger society and falling in with potentially radical organizations. In essence, Western intrusion into the Muslim world has helped create a self-perpetuating cycle — how can a Muslim living in the West identify with the countries seemingly “attacking” Islam? Maher described this as worrisome, mentioning that Hizb ut-Tahrir was created in the U.K. and then moved to Pakistan. With Egypt beginning to create a new government, and the involvement of Islamist parties like the Muslim Brotherhood still debatable, it will be interesting to see if large support for Islamization will come from secular countries like France and the U.K. There is certainly fear of Islam in many Western countries (including our own), and with the continual separation of Muslims and other groups in these countries, the rise of Islamism does not seem far-off.

Hizb ut-Tahrir in the U.K. has shrunk considerably since Maher’s involvement. As one of the first senior members to defect, he has since tried to change the dialogue surrounding Islam in the U.K., encouraging Muslims to embrace their dual identities as Westerners and Muslims. He still considers himself a Muslim, but has found a personal balance that rejects radicalism and accepts Western culture. In light of the Congressional hearings on Muslims in America, do you think that Western society has a hand in creating radical Islam?

Photos by Amalyah Oren.