Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist was reviewed by Robyn Doreian in the Sun-Herald on Sunday 2 August 2009. Here is an excerpt:
HAD Irfan Yusuf not outgrown a flirtation with Islamic fascism, his current address might well be Guantanamo Bay. In 1985, when he was 16, the lure of jihad became so strong that he felt ready to make “the ultimate sacrifice”.
Yusuf is now a lawyer and respected political commentator and Once Were Radicals is the 40-year-old’s journey into extremism …
Far from a dour account of events leading to his galvanisation, Yusuf explains the complexity of Middle Eastern culture and its history in lively, simple language.
Added to accessibility is laugh-out-loud humour, as he pokes fun at John Howard’s national security fridge magnets, and writes of his less-than-altruistic reasons for being involved in the Islamic Youth Association: the good-looking “sisters” in hijab.
More than anything, Once Were Radicals provides an engaging look at the Australian Muslim experience: what it means to be a part of Muslim culture, how it feels to be stereotyped, and non-Muslims’ role in the wider “Muslim question”.
