Imams to counter IS at Friday sermons
Religious leaders will focus on recruitment methods to protect children
EIGHTY imams affiliated to the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) will be basing their Friday mosque sermons on the unfolding recruitment of the Islamic State (IS) and its methodology. Over the weekend, a 15-year-old girl from Kenwyn was taken off a British Airways flight at Cape Town International Airport. She was on her way to join the militant group. She was caught after leaving a trail of evidence including documents and notes in schoolbooks suggesting she had been in contact with IS recruiters. The teen had also confided in friends about her intention to join IS.
At a meeting held at the MJC offices in Athlone, the council discussed various ways of combating the aggressive IS recruitment. They focused on ways of safeguarding the community and, most importantly, young people. As part of the outcomes of the meeting it was decided that imams would base their Friday sermons on cautioning people about IS.
MJC spokeswoman Nabeweya Malick said it was important for imams to explain to their congregations that IS did not represent Islam. “It is not an Islamic state, but a political terrorist group.”
The MJC said it was trying to make contact with the Kenwyn girl’s family.
“It would be good for us to understand the methodology IS used. We need to know the avenues, how they approached her, were they upfront with her or did they pose as a friend? Do they appear enticing to teens? What is their behaviour and actions online?”
Malick said she understood that the girl’s parents could be hesitant to go public and wanted to protect their daughter.
Another issue discussed was how IS used social media to do its recruiting. Malick said social media remained a challenge and schools should be educating pupils on its dangers. “A lot can happen that could affect young people. As a community we need to be mature and responsible about it.”
Malick warned that parents should not feel comforted by merely being around their children, but must be aware of who their chil- dren were in contact with.
The religious leaders also called on the government to help with dealing with IS and its intelligence. “Religious bodies and NGOs do not have the resources that the government has.”
The Department of State Security said it would investigate who had arranged and funded the teen’s trip to the Middle East.
It was reported that her final destination was Saudi Arabia. However, some reports said she would meet recruiters in Turkey.
Saudi Arabian law prohibited women from travelling alone and they had to be accompanied by a male relative.
But for travel to Turkey visitors could apply for visas online.
RECRUITERS such as Islamic State (IS) and those they aim to enlist are “a match made in heaven”, said Pretoria psychologist, Kevin Fourie, after a 15-year-old girl was saved from jihadis on Sunday.
The Cape Town teenager, who is said to have become increasingly politicised over the past month, was taken off a British Airways flight bound for Joburg and reportedly admitted she was planning to join IS.
Fourie said that while young people were especially vulnerable to being manipulated, anyone “disenchanted with their lives and disenfranchised” could be “sucked in”.
“It’s much like going fishing: you cast your line out but you don’t know what you’ll catch. The recruiters are casting their lines.”
He said that one of the aims of adolescence was to form an identity separate from the family.
“Teens want to establish themselves as something different. This is where peer groups play a very important role, providing a sense of affirmation.”
Teenagers tended to see things in black and white, because the part of the brain that understands the viewpoints of others only starts developing at the age of 18, he said. “They only see one side and are very idealistic. They believe, ‘If you’re not for me, you’re against me’.”
Fourie said recruiters would create a sense of “righteous anger” against the US and the West, showing the would-be jihadis that they were justified in their actions, no matter how deplorable.
While the British publication, The Spectator, likened the adoration of female recruits for IS to that of Justin Bieber’s fans, Fourie said that the appeal was different.
“The recruits are being told that they are fighting for a cause, for freedom. That is totally different to being enamoured with a pop star.”
Clinical psychologist Rachel Tillier said: “The problem with a situation like this is that it leaves you with more questions than answers. What would motivate a young girl to seek this out? A girl desperately needing a sense of belonging?”
She said that to give up personal freedoms for the sake of an ideology was difficult to understand. “There may be difficulties in her family and so running away to a fundamentalist group may give her a sense of control, meaning or direction. It’s also possible she may struggle with emotional issues or a clinical disorder like depression. Sometimes people will do desperate things to escape themselves.”
University of KwaZulu-Natal social sciences lecturer Lubna Nadvi said that more recreational activities need to be made available to ensure that youngsters were not attracted to “online spaces where they could easily be seduced into extremist ideologies or sign up for militant activities abroad”.
“There needs to also be some kind of monitoring system that tracks whether the community is being infiltrated by possible recruiting agents that are targeting youth for any kind of illegal activity including signing up for terrorist activities.”
Nadvi said “it made sense” that vulnerable youngsters who, perhaps, felt unloved by family and friends might be easier targets than those who were part of a more stable family or community environment.
“It (also) appears that Middle Eastern and Muslim countries are easier to access and find potential new recruits. The UK and a few other European countries seem to also be somewhat vulnerable to this practice.
“This has led to the governments of these countries introducing stricter legislation with regard to travel. It has also led to the unfortunate practice of profiling Muslims, most of whom are simply going about their daily business.”
Head of the South African Institute of International Affairs’ governance of Africa’s resources programme Ola Bello said radicalisation had stemmed from “disconnects” in the ideology of Islam. “Some Muslims see Islam being practised very comfortably in the 21st century, while others want it practised in exactly the same way as it was in the 7th century.”
He said the disconnect was also evident in the ambivalence of jihadis towards embracing technological advances, while recruiting new members over the internet.