Matthew Yusuf Smith

Matthew Smith (born 1977), also known as "Yusuf" and "Indigo Jo", is a British Muslim blogger living in New Malden, South London. He converted to Islam in the summer of 1998.
Interests
Matthew Smith lists his interests, besides religion, as computing, particularly programming with the Qt programming toolkit. He also enjoys cycling and spends a lot of time in Foyles bookshop.
From 1995 to 1998, Matthew Smith attended Abersytwyth University (then known as the University of Wales, Aberystwyth), where he obtained a degree in Politics and History.
During his time at University, Smith was active in the Aberystwyth Guild of Students. At one point he was Chair of the Guild Council. Although the Aberystwyth Guild of Students is affiliated to the , Smith opposed the policies of the then NUS leader, Jim Murphy, writing of the "moronic motion" passed by the NUS to drop its opposition to the abolition of the student grant in line with the Labour Party's policies.
He went on to say "Frankly I don't see why anyone stays affiliated to that awful "Union", it's nothing more than a grooming centre for future Labour politicians. As soon as I get back to college I'm going to try and get the Union to write a letter to Glasgow papers warning locals of Jim Murphy's record and telling them not to vote for him" for his views on polygamy and female genital mutilation, among other things.
Blog
Matthew Smith started his blog in 2004 with the strap line "In which an unemployed graduate has an excuse to use his politics degree. Religious, tech and media issues (and anything I fancy)", it is also listed on the Quranclub's State of the Muslim Blogosphere Report as being the third oldest active Muslim blog on the internet.
The October 2009 Issue of Emel - the Muslim lifestyle magazine, carried a feature on prominent Muslim bloggers in which Matthew Smith, explaines why he started his blog and his views on whether the medium is compatible with Islam, and if blogging replace the mainstream media.
In March 2010 the British government published a report on Islamic Blogs where Matthew Smith's blog was listed as the fourth most influential “pro-Islamic” blog. The report was complied by David Stephens of Nottingham University based on research carried out in early 2008.
Criticism
In a review of the blog published by the British political website www.politics.co.uk when referring to the length of some of the posts said "However, some of the articles are so wordy that we would advise you brew a cup of tea before sitting down to read them"
Press Attention
Over the years his writings have come to the attention of main stream press:
Following the London bombings of June 2005, Matthew Smith posted a long defence of Islam and Muslims following an article in The Telegraph called [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3618243/Where-is-the-Gandhi-of-Islam.html "Where Is The Gandhi Of Islam?"], in which Charles Moore demanded that Islam get its house in order. Matthew Smith’s point was
The BBC picked up on this and ran a follow-up article where they summed up that and various other blog posts on the subject.
In January 2009 Matthew Smith, posted a link on his Blog under the title of “Review of rotten book by the Sookhdevil” to a review of a book by Patrick Sookhdeo called Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam written by Ben White of Fulcrum. Melanie Phillips reported in the The Spectator that this post was the cause of a number of death threats received by Patrick Sookhdeo, even the Barnabas Fund felt it necessary to issue a plea for supporters to pray for their staff, “especially for our international director, Patrick Sookhdeo".

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