The association’s campaign is known as Stop the Crisis, all in capital letters with an emphasis on the “ISIS” part of the word crisis to refer to the terrorist group ISIS or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Source/Credit: North York Mirror
By Lisa Queen | November 4, 2014
York University’s largest Muslim Student Association, AMSA, is hosting an event called 'Stop the Crisis' to raise awareness about youth radicalization and the harmful impacts of extremist views.
Just weeks after two Canadian soldiers were killed by extremist converts to Islam, Muslim students at York University will hold a forum denouncing the murders, drawing attention to the growing problem of youth radicalization and praising Islam as a religion of peace.
“It is to educate students and people across Canada about the peaceful teachings of Islam,” Jari Qudrat, president of Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association told The Mirror.
“We felt our faith had been hijacked by these extremists.”
The association’s campaign is known as Stop the Crisis, all in capital letters with an emphasis on the “ISIS” part of the word crisis to refer to the terrorist group ISIS or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The campaign is part of a national movement by students and others to highlight the global issues of growing youth radicalization and increasing Islamophobia, which is the fear or hatred of Islam or Muslims.
Qudrat said he is grateful to live in Canada, a country where people are educated and most don’t link Islam to terrorist acts.
At the same time, he understands that people are afraid and don’t understand why extremists are committing atrocities.
He also pointed out it is not only radicals identified as Islamic extremists that carry out terrorist acts.
The Nov. 13 forum will feature a Canadian who has converted to Islam who will condemn ISIS.
While the forum had already been in the works, it has taken on additional significance since the murders of two Canadian soldiers in October.
Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was run down Oct. 20 in a parking lot in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, south of Montreal, by Martin Couture-Rouleau, who lay in wait for two hours.
Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old who was shot and killed by police following a car chase after he had run over Vincent, had his passport seized in July to prevent him from going to Syria to fight with ISIS.
Just two days later, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was fatally shot by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau while standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Zehaf-Bibeau, a radicalized 32-year-old who was also seeking to fight in Syria, was shot and killed after storming Parliament Hill.
Qudrat, a third-year student at York’s Schulich School of Business, condemned the killing of the soldiers.
The deplorable actions of Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau do not represent the “pure and pristine” teachings of Islam, he said.
The issue of youth radicalization hits close to home at York, Qudrat, said.
He pointed to former biology student Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, who appears to have been killed in September while fighting with ISIS in Syria.
“We can’t just avoid (the issue) and hope it doesn’t happen again,” Qudrat said.
He is hoping the forum will “leave an impact in the hearts of Canadians” so everyone understands terrorist acts have nothing to do with Islam.
“There is a verse of Islam (that says) ‘If you kill innocents, you kill all mankind,’” he said.
“Islam, Christianity and Judaism are religions of peace. Religion has nothing to do with these acts.”
The forum will be held Nov. 13 in York’s Vari Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. and a free dinner will be served.
To register, visit www.AMSAYorkU.ca
Read original post here: Canada: York U. Muslim students tackle youth radicalization
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