USA: Ahmadi Muslims at UT Counter ISIS Recruitment Efforts

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"There have been times when I've experienced difficulty where people have insulted me for my name, faith my religion and my culture."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: KEYE CBS TV
By Nadia Galindo | February 18 2015

An alarming number of foreign fighters, including Americans, are now traveling to the Middle East to join the ranks of the Islamic State commonly called ISIS.

This month the National Counterterrorism Center announced more than 20,000 fighters from more than 90 countries are fighting with ISIS on the battlefield.

NCC estimates at least 150 of them are American citizens.

"We are always worried about radicalization seeing it on TV seeing it in other nations," University of Texas at Austin student Usama Malik said.

Malik said this is something he never considered happening here in Austin until last summer.

That's when Rahatul Khan pleaded guilty to helping recruit fighters to travel overseas and support terrorist activities. Khan was a UT student and lived in Round Rock, just like Malik.

"It was a little bit more personal, because this was in our backyard, these are people we see at the Mosque," he said. Malik said groups like ISIS are hijacking Islam to recruit fighters.

He's not standing by watching it happen, he and Muslims across the world are taking a stand.

Malik and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Organization at UT organized an event called "Stop The CrISIS."

It's an international campaign to counter efforts by ISIS to recruit young Muslims.

"The reality is that there are definitely Europeans and Americans who are going," Austin Community College Government Professor Roy Casagranda said.

Professor Casagranda said it's easy to see why so many foreigners flock to join the ranks of ISIS.

"They've sort of been villainized," he said.

"If you want American Muslims to go to Iraq and Syria and join ISIL, then keep attacking them, keep isolating them, keep talking about them and making them feel like there is something wrong with their religion."

Casagranda points to recent incidents in Texas like protestors at the recent Muslim Day at the Capitol and the arson fire the burned a Houston-area mosque.

Discrimination against Muslims also happens in a very personal way in day to day life.

"There have been times when I've experienced difficulty where people have insulted me for my name, faith my religion and my culture," Malik said.

Malik believes engaging with the community and having conversations is a start to counter the conversion of American youth to extremism.

"I was able to brush it off. I may have talked to a counselor here and there others may not have the courage to do that," he said.

The Stop The CrISIS event will be held on Thursday, February 26th at 6:30 p.m. on the UT campus at Welch room 2.122.

The event will also focus on dispelling misconceptions about Islam.

The public is invited to attend.







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