REVIEW: A Long Jihad

A Long Jihad, My Quest for the Middle Way by Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari 

As a youngster I used to attend East London Mosque with my Late father (Rahimahullah) and my brothers. For Tarawih, Jumuah and talks.

One person who was very prominent was the then chairman of the Masjid, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari. He would make announcements and deliver speeches.

I met him at my secondary school when I was about to transition to college/sixth form. He would come to our school and I'd see him at the prayer hall. I would ask him about the schools at LMC and their sixth form project. He was kind to me and would respond to my questions, although he wouldn't have had anything as such to do with the school. Once he came to my local Masjid and saw me. A lot of people looked confused when he came up to me and spoke to me!

17 years later, I found a book on my bookshelf by him. At first I ignored it. Not a title I'm interested in. Not the type of book I wanted to read (yes I judged the cover!)

2022 I had the plan to read 10 books. Having read a few (and listened to one), I decided to pick A Long Jihad and have a go.

I really enjoyed it. It was a autobiography of the author. What intrigued me is how educated he was whilst in Bangladesh and how his travel and eventual settlement to UK consisted of studies and work that I growing up in a Bengali community wasn't familiar with. I would too often hear of family members and relatives working in garment factories or restaurants, never have I heard of someone working in the Bangladesh Air Force and then working and researching in the field of physics.

What interested me was Dr. Bari's experience with the local issues, that I grew up experiencing. Gang violence between Bangladeshis, white supremacists attacks on Asians, 7/7 etc. I like how Dr. Bari didn't just write in a chronological order, but different intervals in his life popped up unexpectedly to the reader. 

Dr. Bari shares experience about his later work field as a Special Education Needs teacher and gives warming life lessons, that anyone can benefit from and prepare for the life ahead especially in terms of parenting. 

Having read the book, I appreciate the work of Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), as Dr. Bari was a General Secretary of the group. I was very much against them, especially in my youth days. I thought they were a government funded project, to brainwash people to like and cose upto the British government. Though I don't agree with everything of theirs (obviously we don't need to), I appreciate them now. 

Dr. Bari has seen a lot in the area where I've grown up in. We need more leaders like him, his knowledge, experience, expertise, vision etc. This book is a really good tool for anyone who works with young people, or parents. He gives lots of advice and tips drawing from his own experiences.

Despite his prominence, I think he is underrated and this book will allow the reader to appreciate and take lessons from the work Dr. Bari had done so far.