In March 2016 a delegation of British Imams travelled to Iraq to meet the people who have suffered at the hands of ISIS. It was the first visit of its type. The wanted to find out what ISIS stands for.
They plan to share what they've learned with their communities in the U.K. with the hope of keeping Muslims from becoming radicalized and leaving to fight for ISIS or committing attacks close to home. Shaykh Mohammad Umar is the chairman of the Ramadan Foundation in England. He was on that trip.
Source: http://www.npr.org/
Did you learn something that you didn't know about ISIS?
Mohammad Umar: Yes, definitely. Media is doing a great amount of effort in explaining and telling us who ISIS are. But they are only telling the tip of the iceberg of the reality of what ISIS stands for and what ISIS does. It's the barbaric, narrow-minded, Stone Age ideology that must be defeated physically, must be defeated theoretically and academically.
Do you think you have good reason to worry about young radicals in the U.K., especially in your community?
Mohammad Umar: Yes, we do. Every imam and every scholar should be worried. I mean, the reality is now - the mosque and the places of worship in the U.K. have never been places of propagation for radical ideologies or radical views. The mosque doesn't propagate them. The recruitment from radicalization and the recruitment for ISIS or any other terrorist, barbaric organization are social media.
Do you have a programme to meet the young people?
Mohammad Umar: We have a number of programs. We are going to launch a U.K. roadshow where we will go to different mosques, institutions, universities, to speak to young Muslims and to show them footage and to share with them our experience of what we learned about ISIS.
What you have to understand is there is a clash of civilization, and we must all come together. We need to stop the fighting and the bickering amongst each other, unite and take on this modern-day tribulation and this modern-day ideology.
How can we defeat the ideology of ISIS?
Mohammad Umar: We must stand together, expose how this group is breaking all human rights laws to the entire world and unite to confront this corrupt ideology.