No Filter Book Club: I Was Told To Come Alone by Souad Mekhennet
Bang on time, as per usual.
This month I, Alice Austin, read I Was Told To Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad. Souad Mehkennet is a journalist who reports on terrorism and Jihad for The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Souad is badass. She was born in Frankfurt to a Turkish mother and a Moroccan father, both of whom came to Germany as guest-workers in the ’70s. The post-migrant experience in Deutschland isn’t great – as a non-white child Souad was constantly othered. She writes “More than once, neighbourhood parents spoke to my sister Hannan’s primary-school teacher and asked that she be removed from the class because she doesn’t “fit in.”
At the age of five Souad went to live in Morocco with her grandmother where the Moroccan dialect of Arabic became her mother tongue alongside German. Souad became interested in terrorism during her studies – Germany is actually a hotbed for terrorism and many of the 9/11 bombers could be sourced back to Hamburg. Souad was perfectly placed to report – Muslim, European, female and fluent in Arabic. This combination meant she was able to build relationships with people in the inner circles of terrorist groups.
After 9/11, a woman who lost her husband in the bombings turned to Souad and said: “Why do they hate us so much?” Souad then made it her life mission to find out and report back – so that people could understand the dynamics between the West and the Muslim world.
The chapters of the book are divided into journalistic missions – memories and anecdotes from when she reported for The Washington Post or the New York times. Souad has conducted interviews with Jihadi leaders in a car on the Turkey/Syria border. She ran towards, not away, from Egypt’s Arab Spring and she was there in Baghdad when Iraq was invaded by US troops in 2003. Souad spent weeks in London, overhearing Arabic conversations in coffee shops and meeting with sources until she was able to uncover the true identity of Jihadi John. This woman is fearless. She’s interviewed the world’s most dangerous men, alone, at a time when their fave thing to do is behead journalists.
To me the most fascinating aspect is how she can trace her own experiences growing up as Muslim woman in Germany and explain how young men and women can get radicalised in Europe. Growing up, Souad was regularly told she doesn’t belong – but was lucky enough to have a supportive family to channel her anger into ambition. Many young radicalised men or women from turbulent backgrounds have no encouragement or support to help channel their anger. They are the ones who are susceptible to brain-washing.
This book puts the West’s history with Islam and the Middle East in perspective through the lens of a reporter who refuses to accept biased information. She’d rather risk her life to deliver the truth. And what Souad uncovers here will make any reader think long and hard about the West and our relationship with Islam.
You can buy it online here.
