A vital duty for leaders of British Islam

WE MAY never solve the mystery of why young minds are so easily twisted into supporting wild and violent ideas. But it is certain that their elders should take great care over what they say to the young.

It is shocking and distressing to read the words seemingly justifying the sexual enslavement of captive women, spoken and quoted by Ali Hammuda, a Muslim preacher, in a talk to teenage boys as young as 13 in a British mosque.

However much he may seek to qualify these things, the Imam clearly states that, on one interpretation, Islam permits such enslavement of women – in essence, rape.

The fact this occurs in the midst of a rambling sermon about how teenagers should pay more attention to their parents does not detract from the fact that the seeds of this terrible idea have been planted in young minds.

But in words spoken only two years after Islamic State actually abducted and enslaved hundreds of Yazidi women, why is this barbaric idea there at all?

Three young men who had attended the same mosque went to Syria as jihadis. Was it because of preaching of this kind, which in some places comes close to the message preached by IS?

At a time when the Metropolitan Police chief, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, warns that it is a matter of when, not if Britain faces a new terror atrocity, we cannot be complacent about such things.

What goes on in mosques up and down this country is crucial to our peace and safety as a nation. We cannot realistically police speech, or subject our Muslim citizens to intrusive surveillance which will anger many who are loyal and peaceable.

So the leaders of British Islam now have an absolute duty to stand up against such appalling ideas being spread among impressionable young men and boys.