All lives are equal and on the occasion of these attacks, humanity should come together, stand united, and collectively condemn them. In the Jakarta attacks, for example, a Canadian was killed and that made them hit especially close to home.
Source/Credit: Toronto Sun
By Jari Qudrat | January 18, 2016
How many Muslims does it take to stop extremism?
How many Muslims does it take to stop extremism? All of them.
The growing barbarity and perpetration of indiscriminate violence done by extremists in the name of religion over these past few days has been all the buzz.
Whether it's the 20 year-old ISIS fighter assassinating his own mother, whose only crime was a sincere effort to de-radicalize her son, or recent attacks in Jakarta
As far as assassinating the woman who gave birth to you, it’s not only extremism, it’s tragedy. But it's also revealing. It reveals to us just how dangerous radical ideological recruiters really are.
Youth are easily influenced by those around them, but what is particularly dangerous is targeting youth frustrated with society and drawing them towards a misconstrued notion of jihad. All of this happens because, quite frankly, at times discovering the positive narrative is a challenging task.
The Jakarta attacks were also quite gruesome and painful to hear about. Attacks made in Istanbul, Indonesia, or any country for that matter should be equally painful to human beings.
All lives are equal and on the occasion of these attacks, humanity should come together, stand united, and collectively condemn them. In the Jakarta attacks, for example, a Canadian was killed and that made them hit especially close to home.
To make matters worse, recently the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso was attacked by Al-Qaeda, which resulted in the death of 6 Canadians. I think everyone’s had enough – Muslims, the government, Canadians, humans all across the globe. This cancerous ideology of extremist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda must be defeated through intellect and more.
There's a negative feedback loop: extremists cause havoc in society, in the aftermath of all this carnage innocent Muslims deal with the backlash, extremists sell the “East vs. West” story and continue to push their radicalization strategy. Therefore as Canadians it is our duty to ensure that we become more connected after these misfortunes, rather than being taken aback by irrational emotions
But the question truly arises, how do we really fix the problem?
The answer is not simple, and it will require more than just Muslims. It will require Canadians. I fell in love with Canada as my family migrated to this wonderful country, and I think we as Canadians need to lead the battle against ISIS.
How? We need to collaborate with one another and fill the world with goodness. We need to work with Muslim communities and become a part of their peaceful campaigns. A great example is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attending the National Convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at on the true, peaceful teachings of Islam. And John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, attending a dinner held by the same community to help Syrian refugees.
Canadians have to do their part, but ultimately it is all Muslims that need to provide a far more compelling counter-narrative for youth to be passionate about. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a renowned Islamic figure once said, “My purpose, yearning, and heartfelt desire is to serve humanity; This is my job, this is my faith, this is my habit and this is my way of life.”
This is the counter-narrative that can defeat ISIS – the idea of sacrificing for the right cause, the cause of bettering humanity, and making the world a better place to live in. This is what all Muslims need to preach, but more importantly practice.
In the powerful words of Bob Marley: “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”
- Qudrat is on the Executive Committee of Muslim Writers of Canada. twitter.com/JariQudrat
Read original post here: Perspective: How many Muslims does it take to stop extremism? | Jari Qudrat
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times. Ahmadiyya Times is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.