Ed Husain

His father arrived in the United Kingdom in 1961, and started a small Indian takeaway business in Limehouse.

He maintained ties with Yemeni Sufi Muslims from the Hadramawt region.

In his early years, Husain was brought up in Limehouse and attended a local primary school called the Sir William Burrough School, and he attended Stepney Green School, a state secondary school.

Husain attended the Brick Lane Mosque in his early years with his parents, who followed a spiritual form of Islam based on Sufi traditions.

Husain has a BA in history from the University of North London, and later studied at SOAS, University of London, where he completed an MA in Middle Eastern Studies.

His doctoral research was under the supervision of Sir Roger Scruton at The University of Buckingham.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Husain worked for HSBC in London for several years.

Ed Husain (born 25 December 1974) is a British author and a professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service in Georgetown University.

As a political advisor he has worked with leaders and governments across the world.

He is also a senior fellow and director of the Atlantic Council’s N7 Initiative which is focused on peace in the Middle East and broadening and strengthening relationships between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbours.

He then moved to Damascus with his wife in 2002, where he worked for the British Council teaching English whilst studying Arabic at the University of Damascus.

After two years in Syria, Husain and his wife moved to Jeddah to be closer to the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina while continuing to work for the British Council.

Upon his return to Britain, Husain worked as a senior advisor to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He is the author of The Islamist (Penguin, 2007), The House of Islam: A Global History (Bloomsbury, 2018), and Among the Mosques (Bloomsbury, 2021).

His writing has been shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize.

A regular contributor to the Spectator magazine, he has appeared on the BBC and CNN and has written for the Telegraph, The Times, the New York Times, the Guardian and other publications.

Husain was born and brought up in the East End of London, in a Bengali Muslim family.

Husain's father was born in British India to a family connected to the Yemeni saint Shah Jalal and his mother in what is now Bangladesh.

His mother has Saudi Arabian heritage, specifically in the Hejaz region.

"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 teachings relating to an Islamic state or Caliphate, arguing:

... a dawlah ([a state] not 'the' state) can and should preserve and protect the religion.

In 2008, he cofounded a think tank with the aim to "challenge extremist narratives while advocating pluralistic, democratic alternatives that are consistent with universal human rights standards" and to stand "for religious freedom, equality, human rights and democracy".

Husain later joined the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he was Senior Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies.

He focused on trends within Arab Islamism, perceptions of the West in the Arab world, and US policy toward the Middle East, writing broadly on the Arab Spring and its implications for the region and foreign involvement.

He has held senior fellowships at think tanks in London and New York, including at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) at the height of the Arab uprisings (2010–2015).

While at CFR, his policy innovation memo led to the US-led creation of a Geneva-based global fund to help counter terrorism.

He is also a member of the editorial board of the Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on terrorism and insurgency.

While at the Council on Foreign Relations, Husain commented on U.S. policy on issues ranging from the 2011 U.S. congressional hearings on radicalization spearheaded by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) to the events of the Arab Spring and the death of Osama bin Laden.

Since joining Civitas, Husain has commented on Islam and society, the British political system, the prospect of a Middle East Federation, and the role of Saudi Arabia in the geopolitics of Islam.

He was appointed to the Freedom of Religion or Belief Advisory Group of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2014.

Husain was a senior advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (2015–2018).

In 2017, Husain joined the Wilson Center as a Global Fellow in its Middle East Program.

He was a Senior Fellow at Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society in London, where he ran the 'Islam, the West, and Geopolitics' research project.

Husain was appointed as a professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service in Georgetown University in 2021 and a senior fellow and director of the Atlantic Council’s N7 Initiative in 2023.

From 2018 to 2021 he completed his doctoral studies on Western philosophy and Islam under the direction of the English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton.

In an article in the Spectator at the end of 2019, Husain highlighted shifting alliances in the Middle East and the possibility of a new Arab-Israeli alliance.

It was discussed widely in the region.

He has appeared on CNN, Fox, NPR, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and has been published in the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian, National Review, Spectator, Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle, among other media outlets.

Husain supports a liberal interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence, telling one journalist: