Chief Imam at the third-largest mosque in America, Imam Mohamed Magid is making great efforts in curbing ISIS and other radical Islamist groups’ advanced recruiting tactics aimed at wooing the insular youths in the United States.
“I’m not going to be able to save every kid, but I have a responsibility to save kids here as much as I can in this mosque. We teach them here in this mosque, being a Muslim it means to believe in all aspects of life of being a good citizen and being a good individual,” said Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) and former president of the Islamic Society of North America.
Magid is creating a meta-narrative, the true narrative of Islam since “ISIS’ narrative about Islam is not an acceptable narrative”, which is why it’s easy to damage their recruiting efforts.
He asks the would-be recruits, “Can you explain to me, where in Islam you can burn someone alive?” Since there is no evidence from the holy Quran or the teaching of the prophet Mohammed allowing burning someone alive; there is however, evidence against it. The insular youths, obviously don’t have an answer.
“One of the things they said to me, Muslims are being humiliated all around the world… And I said, do you think ISIS really is helping? ISIS killed more Muslims than any other organization. … Why don’t you really be part of relief effort, as we did in Fairfax County? We gather blanket every winter and send them to Syria refugees,” he adds.
Magid has started a workshop for parents centred on promoting Internet safety. “ISIS is very savvy in the Internet. They see the traffic, who’s coming to watch and so forth and during that time that’s where they catch the young person when he shows curiosity… We need the parents to be savvy and understanding their place in the virtual space. The best line of defense in this whole issue is parents, family. Complete awareness about your children, for instance, what they’re doing, who they are, friends they have in the virtual community, that’s very important,” he tells ABC News.
Magid recently changed a young man’s mind who had already been contacted by ISIS. “He came to realize this is not what the prophet teaches, and now he resents them, he wants them to be defeated. Now that kind of young person could be the person to deradicalize and change the mind of other young people,” he states.
I always thought why nobody takes a stand against those false acquisitions made by terrorists on name of religion.