Sohail Ahmed (born 10 February 1992) is an English

social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

of Pakistani-Kashmiri descent, former Islamist and

Muslim extremist Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...

. Following his

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as a

gay man Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included '' inverts'' and '' uranians''. Gay men conti ...

, he now works in the fields of counter-extremism,

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

, and

social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...

. He has been featured in the media and has written for a number of publications exploring his personal journey, LGBT rights in the Muslim world, and

Islamic extremism Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...

. While he was a physics student at

Queen Mary University Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

in 2015, he said he had witnessed

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

and

jihadism Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

at the university.

Background

Ahmed is a British citizen of Pakistani-Kashmiri descent. His parents settled in London following the main wave of immigration from Mirpur, situated in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Ahmed grew up in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Originally coming from a

Barelvi The Barelvi movement, also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement that generally adheres to the Hanafi school, Hanafi and Shafi'i school, Shafi'i schools of jurisprudenc ...

Muslim background, his parents later became

radicalized Radicalization (or radicalisation) is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly radical views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radic ...

and started believing in the

Salafist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retur ...

form of Islam after befriending

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

neighbours.

Radicalization

Ahmed became

in response to the Iraq and Afghanistan military interventions by the United States and the United Kingdom. He was taught at his local mosque that the Iraq and Afghanistan interventions were representative of a war against Islam and Muslims. Consequently, he began considering carrying out an Islamic terrorist attack in his home city of London. Ahmed said that his struggle with

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

also had a significant impact on his journey towards

. In an attempt to change his sexuality, he became even more religious and observant, and given that he was a

, this, in practice, resulted in him becoming ever more extreme in his views. Ahmed said that whilst he was an Islamist, he was involved in propagating his radical views at Sir George Monoux College. He also said that he had radicalized a fellow British Muslim who later went on to join the ''jihad'' with the now defunct

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

in Syria.

Deradicalization

Ahmed ultimately decided not to engage in violence. He then began to doubt his religious beliefs, which mainly centred around questioning the anti-scientific views he was raised with, in particular regarding the rejection of

biological evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...

. This culminated in him studying evolution, which in turn led to him abandoning his Salafist views. He then later questioned the concept of revelation and religion, which resulted in him becoming a

Deist Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

. He then began questioning the

existence of God The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...

and became an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

. He now describes himself as a

cultural Muslim Cultural Muslims, also known as nominal Muslims, non-practicing Muslims or non-observing Muslims, are people who identify as Muslim but are not religious and do not practice the faith. They may be a non-observing, secular, or irreligious individ ...

, retaining a connection to his former religion, whilst simultaneously some of its rejecting its claims.

Activism and current work

Ahmed has campaigned for LGBT rights in the Muslim world, and against

. He is also an active Labour party member. As of 2021, he was working in the fields of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism, and was an intern at the

Henry Jackson Society The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as right-wing, neoliberal, an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Sohail Alumni of the Open University British critics of Islam British deists British LGBTQ rights activists Cultural Muslims English people of Kashmiri descent English people of Pakistani descent English former Sunni Muslims English agnostics English gay men Former Muslim critics of Islam Labour Party (UK) people Living people Pakistani former Sunni Muslims Pakistani gay men Pakistani LGBTQ rights activists 1992 births