A Long Jihad: My Quest for the Middle Way

In an era of fanaticism and polarization, Dr Bari’s life is an example of a prominent Western Muslim rejecting extremes and finding balance

In this memoir, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari asks us to look beyond the extremism and violence that all too often defines the Muslim community toward those, like himself, navigating a middle-way life. A path defined in Islam as the “natural way,” far away from the cliff of radicalisation that threatens to harm others.

Through his personal journey as an Air Force officer in Bangladesh to the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain during the ill-advised War on Terror and beyond, Muhammad’s proud and reassuring reflections on being a Western Muslim come to light: the importance of community engagement, civic responsibility, and what it means to live a good life.

In articulating his positions Muhammad Abdul Bari offers Muslims, and everybody else, guidance on going forward as engaged, confident individuals, down a path that rejects radical views and seeks to stay in the centre, living a life of moderation that is, as the Qur’an says, “justly balanced.”