:bism: (In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)
The reason Quilliam Foundation doesn't have grassroots support from U.K. Muslims as a whole (a) because the founders weren't ever engaged with the mainstream Muslim community, (b) seen as misrepresenting Islam and Muslims, and (c) were seen as creating a deliberately hostile environment for mainstream Muslims and fear-mongering about extremism. Moreover, the founders of the Quilliam Foundation were defects of Hizb ul-Tahrir group, which had not enjoyed popular support from U.K. Muslims because the organization was seen as cliquish and its membership in U.K. was never high. Also, the political extremism which Maajid Nawaz laid claim and said to have defected from, even when considered true (though his story has been debunked in Muslim community), can only said to represent himself and not the mainstream community. Also, I have heard Maajid Nawaz on Fox News, and I can honestly say that much of what he says is no doubt an appeasement of baseless fears that Islam is there to terrorize non-Muslims, which is why I myself have never liked him. I can honestly say from my observation and discussion in different Muslim sites over the years of which U.K. members had been over-represented in the Internet community, that U.K. Muslims have not liked Maajid Nawaz for the reason that he seems to have acquired monies from the government for what he calls counter-extremism but is seen as a counter-productive disaster within the Muslim community in the U.K.
The U.K. government recently had established the PREVENT strategy in implementation of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill in 2015 and enforced it on schools in an attempt to prevent children and teenagers from being drawn into terrorism. However, the Muslim community felt the disproportionate impact of the bill with their school children, and it was also not an effective gauge of radicalization. For further understanding, please read "
The mental trauma caused by Prevent on Muslim children." Also, the government had failed to engage the Muslim community in trying to understand what would or would not constitute radicalization in a young adult.
If a person is an extremist and now he's not, his best bet is to become a model Muslim and engage the Muslim community from within. Moreover, "counter-extremism" (though that is
not what these lectures is called within the Muslim community) is already being done in part by U.K. Muslim scholars who had been warning people against joining
Daesh when early reports showed beheading of journalists, the burning of the Jordanian pilot, and the like. Moreover, according to M15, the more religious-minded a Muslim is, the less likely he/she is to be radicalized. CIA, FBI, MI5 all agree that religion plays a fringe role in radicalization; rather, issues of identity, isolation, angst, political anger plays the main role in radicalization. And I can say this is true also from my own experience; for example, when I was on another Muslim site, a U.K. national and 16-year old teenager basically said that his life was utterly crappy and he didn't feel like he had any meaning or purpose and he asked the Muslims on the site if he should join
Daesh as he as was also feeling suicidal. Since this is a site that was at that time run with some
Daesh fanboys, some of these Internet
Daesh enthusiast openly encouraged him to leave the U.K. and join
Daesh. I, however, and many others encouraged him not to do so.
The primary arguments against extremism lays in Quran and Sunnah itself. However, if you really want to know what arguments can be used against extremists or terrorists, I'd say that your best bet is to read this 512-page treatise that is also a
fatwa (ruling) called
Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings that really reads like a book.
The lives of apostates, gays, offensive cartoonists, Salman Rushdie, etc. are already protected when Muslims agree to live in non-Muslim lands.
Shariah (Islamic law) can only be implemented on Muslims living in a Muslim land that is run by a legitimate
Muslim khalifa (leader) accepted by the Muslim
ummah (nation); the last Khalifat (Caliphate) that existed in the Muslim world was the Ottoman Caliphate. For example, read the
fatwa (ruling) How to React When People Disrespect Islam. In the
fatwa (ruling), the following is said clearly and the part about which you will care most is, "In the absence of Muslim political & juridical authorities,
one cannot impose penalties on those who insult Islam. As citizens of Western countries, Muslims should be especially aware of free-speech laws and their implications." However, as should be obvious, Muslims who choose not to follow the
fatwa (ruling) are doing so under the color of their own perception and regard for their own views over the views of traditional scholars.
I think even on IB, you are seeing this as a Muslim board; I can honestly say that besides two members who I had seen actively defend
Daesh when I'd come onto IB, I have not seen any promotion of any radicalized ideology ever. Not only that, not only me, but other Muslim members had been actively debating these two members in the Paris Attacks thread. Also, while I don't live in the U.K., I can honestly say that mainstream Muslims of any place in the globe do have a grassroots desire to end radicalization and extremism. However, the fact of the matter is that the people who should be paying attention to this desire are the extremists and radicalized individuals, but they don't because they believe mainstream Muslims are not all that "Muslim" and they are the only right Muslims in the world. Once anyone has had a maggot enter the head that they're the only ones right and everyone else is wrong, it is hard to convince them that they're being tribal and ignorant; I think the cure to such individuals' (a) hard-hardheadedness and (b) hard-heartedness lays in (1) counseling and (2) acquisition of knowledge and (3) finally prayers that God opens their heart to guidance.
(Peace be upon you)
this unfounded and baseless paranoia is unjustified and I am reminded of Khalid ib Waleed's (RA) last words on his death bed.