Leaving Al-Qaeda

"Leaving Al-Qaeda" charts Hassan Butt's early life and Jihadi career as it leads up to the dark secret at the heart of this compelling book - a full account of terrorist activities that were undertaken in Pakistan.

Along with this account of Butt's life, his motivations, evolving beliefs, regrets, guilt, and his later re-establishment of moral purpose, this modern story of repentance re-examines the nature of identity in Western society, the state of multiculturalism in Britain and the inner-workings of the international terror network.Hassan Butt writes: Taking the life of an innocent civilian can be done in an instant, but building your worldview around the justification of murder takes years.

In my case it took six. From the violence, deprivation and racism of my youth, I slipped easily into the radical Islamic movements that welcomed the tension between the foreign blood in my veins and the native soil beneath my feet.

They promised to use my religion, Islam, to change the world for the better. And in those early years, I was filled with the confidence and sense belonging of those who defy the world in the name of truth. That was until I found myself planning and funding terrorism for one of Al-Qaeda's associates.Leaving Al-Qaeda took another four years.

It also meant asking myself questions that I had long ignored and coming to terms with the fact that I had spent a decade killing for killing's sake.

Now, having left, I live under constant threat that my own life will be taken.

Nevertheless, if the world wants to stop terrorism from growing within its long forgotten ghettos and dark backwaters, then this story must be told.