Yakoub Islam

Who is Yakoub Islam?

Yunus Yakoub Islam is a UK-based Muslim, blogger, poet, and cyber-activist. Born Julian Hoare, he changed his surname to Anderson in 1982, prior to marrying his then girlfriend, Julie Harte. He discovered anarchism in the 1980s through the works of the punk band Crass, but later distanced himself from the anti-religious punk scene to explore academic learning, eventually converting to Islam in 1991. He now describes his politics as "postcolonial anarcho-pacifist" and is the author of the Muslim Anarchist Charter.

Yakoub has written for the Muslim World Book Review, Q-News, Alt.Muslim and Muslim Wake Up. He is an erratic correspondent to national newspapers, and his letters have been published in The Times, The Guardian and Sunday Telegraph. He campaigns against Islamophobia in both traditional and contemporary media, and is the author of "The Voyage in: Second Life Islamophobia", in S Sayyid & Abdoolkarim Vakil Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives.

Yakoub's son and youngest child was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder in 1995. In 2002, Yakoub resigned his post as an SEN Teacher in order to become his son's primary care-giver. He is currently writing a Muslim Steampunk novel provisional entitled The Muslim Age of Steam. The novel aims to provide a platform for his Muslim Anarchist standpoint, and combines premodern Islamicate Science, futuristic science fiction, and Victorian steampunk themes.