My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist

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My Friend the Fanatic is a travel narrative by the Indian-American author Sadanand Dhume about his exploration of radical Islam in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. Dhume’s travel companion is a young Javanese, an Osama bin Laden admirer who edits the country’s foremost fundamentalist magazine.
The travels described in the book begin at the site of the 2002 bombing of the Sari Club in Bali and end nearly two years later in Ambon, the scene of a civil war between Muslims and Christians. Some of the famous personalities Dhume encounters include Abu Bakar Bashir, the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian branch of Al Qaeda, Inul Daratista, a popular singer and inventor of a risque dance called drilling, and the televangelist A. A. Gym. The places he visits include Bandung, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi and Balikpapan on the island of Borneo
As a self-described atheist, Dhume views the rise of both radical Islamic politics and orthodox Islamic practice in Indonesia with concern. He challenges the belief that Indonesia’s syncretic form of Islam makes it immune to inroads by radical Islam.