The youth wing of the Welsh Ahmadiyya Muslim Community say more must be done to encourage young Muslims to take part in British life.
Source/Credit: Wales Online
By Abbie Wightwick | August 27, 2014
Young Welsh Muslims campaigning for peace say Cardiff jihadis fighting for IS in Syria are not following the true teachings of Islam – and have called on all faith communities to work to stop extremism.
The members of the youth wing of the Welsh Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a Muslim sect with 500 members in Wales, said people of all faiths and none must do more to encourage young people to take part in British life.
They want more to be done to give young Welsh Muslims a sense of belonging to stop them becoming radicalised like Nasser Muthana. The 20-year-old fighting alongside his brother Aseel, 17, and friend Reyaad Khan, 20, for the Sunni militant group behind the beheading of American journalist James Foley, they said.
Speaking days after Nasser boasted on Twitter about the deaths of 250 Shia soldiers, the youngsters said people of all faiths and none must do more to encourage young people to take part in British life.
Engaging young Muslims in charity work, sponsored sport events and even encouraging them to donate blood could all help them feel part of British and Welsh society rather than wanting to fight against it are among their ideas.
Rohail Sadat, 16, who has just finished GCSEs at Whitchurch High in Cardiff and Sabah Shakoor, 28, an aeronautical engineering student from Cardiff, said extremists are spreading the wrong message about Islam making it even harder to tackle the problem.
“We denounce all extremism. If my friends ask me about extremism I explain it’s the wrong interpretation of Islam, but it is hard to explain sometimes,” said Rohail.
“I don’t agreed with extremism at all. Maybe if these people were educated more they would not be inclined to go (to Syria and Iraq).
“We need more community activities to bring us together.”
Sabah, a former Cathays High pupil, who is charitable coordinator of the Welsh Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, has organised events including sales of poppies for Remembrance Day, helping the Somerset flood relief effort and blood donation, all of which helped young members taking part have a stake in the community they live in, he said.
“I totally disagree with going to fight in Syria,” said Sabah, whose group is entering members into the Cardiff Half Marathon for charity and organises peace conferences.
“Islam means peace and the AMC’s motto is “love for all, hatred for no one”.
“The AMC is trying to get across the message of peace and love for all. Jihad is for self reformation, not political gain.”
He said violent jihad was “not the teaching of Islam” but agreed it was hard to get that message across to some young people fired up by unrest across the Middle East.
Haris Malik, 39, an IT engineer from Cardiff who is the AMC’s youth coordinator for Cardiff, said the 50 young members in Cardiff are trying to spread the word of peace at a difficult time.
Violent chaos spreading through Iraq and Syria is fuelled by religious sectarianism between Sunni and Shia Muslims while Israel and Hamas have agreed to an open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war after seven weeks of fighting that has seen more than 2,200 people killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
“We need stronger bonds to stop extremism here,” said Haris, “The flags raised at our gatherings are our flag and the British flag. We are British and living here. We want to serve this society and country first.
“If we can share a peaceful message with the youth they will not be inclined to go away to war.”
The three will be among 400 Muslims from Wales joining tens of thousands from across the world gathering in Hampshire for a three day event this weekend to pledge allegiance to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community their caliphate and its leader His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad.
Members of the minority Muslim sect, most of whose families come originally from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, worship in community halls across Wales, but must travel to London for their nearest mosque.
Naveed Mughal, spokesman for the community in Cardiff and coordinator for the youth wing in Wales, said atrocities committed in the name of Islam in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, have nothing to do with true religion.
He said: “I would say to Welsh jihadis, or people supporting them, they need to understand the true Islamic teachings. Islam does not permit violence against other Muslims or any other fellow human beings.
“Violence is not the answer whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, any other faith, or no faith.
“To help stop young people tempted to become jihadis stakeholders need to give them more sense of belonging to British culture.
AMC members will travel today from Rhyl. Cardiff, Swansea and Newport to the convention in Hampshire, known as the Jalsa Salana.
It is the largest and longest standing Muslim convention in the UK with members expected from 89 countries including the Middle East, Australia and USA and proceedings transmitted to 80 million Muslims worldwide in 12 languages.
Read original post here: Young Welsh Muslim peace campaigners outline their plans to stop extremism
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