A Toronto "Detox" Muslim First?
"As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values", reads a document outlining a 12-step program termed the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention "treatment and counselling" offered to young Muslims seen to be sympathetic to the ideology of al-Qaeda. This is an initiative by Mohammed Shaikh, director of the Masjid el Noor mosque in Toronto.Mr. Shaikh presents as a mediator, a former police chaplain and community activist who worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution, placing him in an excellent position to ply this community-supported intervention. He, Imam Ayub Mamoon, youth worker Gary Simpson, Ahmed Amirudden of the Ahlus Sunnah Foundation of Canada, and Mohammad Robert Heft of Paradise Forever, have created a structured program as professional mediators aimed at trouble-prone Muslim youth in Canada.
Their aim is to deter youth who have been impressed by radicals seeking to inject their jihadist agenda, and to recruit new members addicted to violent extremism. "Interventions" of a kind have already been conducted on a case-by-case basis by Canadian security agencies, working in conjunction with imams to persuade vulnerable Muslim youth to reject fanaticism.
The Muslim community would clearly prefer to be able to deal privately, among themselves, with this problem which federal security agencies have identified as a "direct and immediate threat to Canada". Most Muslim families don't raise their young to adhere to extremism. Instances where young Muslims inherit their views from their parents and become further exposed to fanaticism through the preaching of radical Islamic scholars remain few and far between.
But they are a concern, and there have been notable instances when this radicalization has come front and centre, when disaffected Muslims seeking revenge for perceived slights against Islam have been apprehended while planning violent attacks within Canada and elsewhere; the Toronto 18 come to mind, as does Ottawa's Momim Khawaja.
The Masjid el Noor interventionists have their work cut out for them, to persuade the impressionably radicalized youth that they should reject the vicious notion that they have a moral and religious obligation to defend their faith from 'Western-sourced attacks'. This initiative is a first for Canada, from among the Muslim community itself, but it has been introduced elsewhere; in the U.K., after the London transit system bombings.
The comprehensiveness of the intervention program is well planned and constructed. The determination of those involved in dedicating their professional expertise to helping Muslim youth to recognize the face of Islam that its over one billion faithful recognize and revere, and rejecting violent jihad, will most certainly make the world a better place.
12 Step Extremist Detox Program
1. Who is Allah: His Mercy to all.
2. Using verses from the Holy Koran that speak of peace and good conduct.
3. Who is Muhammad: his mercy, kind manner, humble attitude, wisdom, patience.
4. Using hadith: commentaries that provide ethics and other moral training.
5. Using stories of companions: a knowledge-based life of academic pursuit.
6. Stories from history: contexts and underlying factors, not always glory of God.
7. Islamic scholarship: what it seeks for the individual to know, and how.
8. Abrahamic Faith: the interconnectedness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
9. Other faiths: common ground, not fighting ground.
10.Open society of Canada: what it means for the majority (how to reconcile dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism).
11.Seeing the whole as one: global challenges affecting us all.
12.Advocacy: actively countering extremist ideology through education, public speaking and writing.
Labels: Canada, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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