It's not always the case that Muslims have been theocrats.

Within our lifetime, we can remember a time when Islamism wasn't the dominant form of discourse or the aim should be to minimise the absolutists within any religious community and contain them.

Preying on the grievances of disaffected young men is the bedrock of Islamism.

When I returned to the United Kingdom, I found that I could no longer justify Islamist extremism as the antidote.

Once you subscribe to an ideological dogma as a solution to certain grievances, it then frames your mindset.

After much soul searching I was able to renounce my past Islamist ideology, challenging everything I was once prepared to die for.

No form of theocracy, whether it's manifested in a violent or non-violent form, is ever good for civilisation, and we have to challenge it in civil society as well as we would challenge Christian-based theocracy, or any other form of bigotry.