Minister calls for police to engage with Muslims
POLICE should visit mosques to improve ‘intelligence’ about young Muslims, External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf said yesterday.
The SNP minister said he was ‘surprised, shocked even’ at the disclosures about the j i hadist from Aberdeen and condemned his ‘abhorrent’ views.
He said: ‘When I go to Friday prayers in the mosque, very often there will be a police officer there talking to young people. Having that close relationship is imperative because intelligence is incredibly important in a situation like this.
‘I have said in the past, the best way to tackle extremist ideology is by empowering moderate ideology. The vast majority of Muslims and Muslim preachers and scholars in Scotland are moderate. I have lived all my life in Scotland within the Muslim community and have never come across such abhorrent views. But in a way it serves as a warning that we are not immune to this sort of thing and have to remain vigilant.’
Fears have grown over radicalisation in Scotland in recent years.
In 2010 it emerged that Scots schoolchildren were being taught brutal Sharia law punishments, including how to hack off a hand or foot.
Children as young as six were studying at controversial weekend and evening classes on council property throughout Scotland. The Saudi organisation behind the initiative rented space in schools from local authorities – including Aberdeen.
Alex Salmond was criticised i n 2010 after he recorded a ‘special Eid message’ on video praising Muslims at the controversial Blackhall Mosque in Edinburgh, which admitted teaching that gays and lapsed believers could be killed under Islamic
law.