British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward. Krista Tippett’s unedited conversation with Ed Husain. He’s the author of “The Islamist: Why I Became an Islamic Fundamentalist, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left.” Krista spoke with him on December 7, 2007, from the studios of American Public Media in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was in the studios of the BBC in London. This interview is included in our program “Reflections of a Former Islamist Extremist.” http://onbeing.org/program/reflections-former-islamist-extremist/150