Do Terror Recruiting Videos Actually Work?
Posted June 21, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a question that’s been asked since the arrest of 17 locals in a suspected terror plot to blow up buildings in Toronto and Ottawa.
But just how do the radicals who spew so much hate get to their malleable converts?
The recruitment video that surfaced in Toronto this month is one example.
So are heavily slanted books on the subject.
And some radicalized Muslims preach the cause to the consternation of more moderate Muslims in their mosques.
But those who are true to the religion that preaches peace find the messages an insult to their faith.
“Any type of video, any type of book that promotes war in the name of Islam for personal reasons is blasphemy,” 26-year-old Yaseen Poonah explains without a shred of doubt. “If there is a promotional video in the name of Allah, it should be in peace. It should be the true message of what the prophet struggled for years for and to show unity.”
The Qur’an is quoted heavily in all the videos as a means of legitimizing the cause, but the scripture is taken out of context. That greatly disturbs local imams like Shabir Ally.
“Unless we contextualize these sayings and unless we’re prepared to show that these are not necessarily sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we are feeding youths with things they may misuse later on.”
The imam notes it’s up to parents and the community to guide young people in the right direction, before the most impressionable get swept away in a storm of rhetoric.
“It is very important for all mosques to hold special meetings with the youth and to allow the youth to speak so we know where they’re at,” the imam concludes.
But keeping them away from those influences won’t be easy. There are more than 4,800 Islamic extremist websites trying to recruit new young converts. And it takes only a few to get the message that leads to a path of destruction for them – and potentially, the rest of society.
