When Nussaibah Younis got a job deradicalising Islamic State brides, it made her reflect on her teenage years and a brush with a cleric who ed al-Qaeda. Comedy was her escape.
Nussaibah Younis grew up in a very politically Islamic household in the UK. Both her parents had strong views on what it should mean to practice the Muslim faith. Her mother was a preacher and Nussaibah has developed the same ability to command a room. She was giving school assemblies at the age of 11 - these turned into persuasive speeches at Oxford university, and since then she's convened diplomats in Washington and tribal leaders in Iraq. Along the way Nussaibah has totally reassessed what her faith means to her.
Her job in policy took her to Iraq, working on reconciliation projects in the wake of the Islamic State group. There, tasked with deg a deradicalisation programme for women who married fighters from the Islamic State group. When meeting these IS brides, Nussaibah was surprised to find herself reflecting on her teenage years. "It could have happened to me" she says, recounting her iration for a cleric who later ed al-Qaeda.
In Iraq Nussaibah developed an unlikely coping mechanism, stand-up comedy. It eventually led her to write Fundamentally, a satirical novel inspired by her past and now shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction. In this deeply personal and often funny conversation, Nussaibah reflects on the pressures of being a model Muslim woman, the terror of stepping away from it, and the liberating power of fiction.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry
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(Photo: Nussaibah Younis at the Oxford Literary Festival. Credit: David Levenson/Getty Images)
