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Quilliam (think tank): what Wikipedia removed

Quilliam was a London think tank founded in 2008 by Maajid Nawaz to counter Islamist extremism, before going into liquidation in 2021. Through 2015 the opening described the think tank’s own position plainly: it focused on “counter-extremism”, specifically Islamism, “which it argues is the cause of Muslim terrorism.” Today’s opening drops that formulation entirely, describing Islamism instead as something the group argued “represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society,” though the word terror still appears 26 times elsewhere in the article. A reader today learns that Quilliam saw Islamism as a project to impose religious rule on society, and not that Quilliam explicitly argued Islamism was the cause of Muslim terrorism.

The word “terror” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 26. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word2010201520206 October 20232025
terror01000
islamist55333

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The sentence stating Quilliam’s own position, that Islamism is the cause of Muslim terrorism, is gone; the opening now describes Islamism only as a desire to impose an interpretation of Islam on society.
  • The line describing Quilliam’s founding name and its lobbying of government and public institutions survives today only in a reworded, condensed form.
  • Quotes from Quilliam’s founders about wanting to raise awareness of Islamism and demonstrate their critique are gone; the reader no longer sees the founders’ own words on their mission.
  • The passage on the founders’ critique of Islamist ideology survives today, but only in a rewritten and shortened form.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2010 (revision 369261970):

Quilliam is an independent “counter-extremism” think tank which has received British government funding and which is based in London . It was originally set up by Maajid Nawaz , Ed Husain and Rashad Ali, former members of the United Kingdom branch of the international Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir . It was originally launched under the name ’ Quilliam Foundation ’ but is now simply known as ’ Quilliam ’. The foundation takes its name from the Islamic activist Abdullah Quilliam , a 19th century British convert to Islam, who was influential in advancing knowledge of Islam within the British Isles, and gained converts through literary works and charitable institutions he founded. On its website…

2025 (revision 1296206656):

British counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam was a British think tank co-founded in 2008 by Maajid Nawaz that focused on counter- extremism , specifically against Islamism , which it argued represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation and based in London , it claimed to lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering ” moderate Muslim ” voices. The organisation opposed any Islamist ideology and championed freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders―Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain ―was…

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