Ed Husain

Focus Areas: Middle East, Arab world, Islam, Muslims, Jews, Israel, Western philosophy, national security, terrorism

Ed M. Husain, PhD, is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he researches, writes, and advises on United States foreign policy toward the Middle East. His work focuses on Arab-Israeli relations in the wake of the Abraham Accords, the geopolitics of the Arab Gulf states, China’s engagement with the Muslim world, and the evolving threat of Islamist terrorism.

Husain is also a Professor at Georgetown University, based at the Center for Jewish Civilization and the Security Studies Program, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Jewish-Muslim coexistence, United States Middle East policy and practice, and the intellectual history shaping anti-West terrorism. Previously, he served as Senior Advisor to the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, supporting efforts to advance reform in Islam and strengthen Middle East policy as part of the senior team that helped establish the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Earlier roles include Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC and New York during and after the Arab Spring, and Director of the Quilliam Foundation in London, where he advised government and international partners on strategies to counter extremism.

Husain earned his PhD in Western Philosophy and Islam from the University of Buckingham, where he studied under the supervision of Sir Roger Scruton. His research examined the philosophical definitions of the modern West and their parallels with classical Islam, engaging debates shaped by Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” and Said’s “Orientalism” to advance a framework for pluralism and coexistence. He also holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and completed advanced Arabic and Islamic studies in Damascus, with additional private study in Saudi Arabia. He received a BA (Hons) in History from the University of North London.

Husain is the author of Among the Mosques: Travels Across Muslim Britain (Bloomsbury, 2021), House of Islam: A Global History (Bloomsbury, 2018), and The Islamist (Penguin, 2007). He has published more than 150 articles, essays, and interviews in leading international outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Financial Times, and The Guardian, and has appeared on major television networks including CNN, BBC, Fox, MSNBC, and Al Jazeera. He is currently writing a biography examining the legacy of a major historical figure in the Arab world.

Education

• PhD in Western Philosophy and Islam, University of Buckingham
• MA in Middle Eastern Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
• Certificate in Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Damascus
• BA (Hons) in History, University of North London