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Qari Asim, a Leeds imam speaking for the Forum, said the group aimed to broadcast the message that violent extremism is “forbidden” by Islam. “If you follow this path you are stepping away from Islam to a dark and godless place,” he said.

It’s clear that many young Muslims have not heard this message, or have ignored it. ISIL, recruiting by the Internet, convinces an impressive number of young people in the West to leave their homes and join in a world of bigotry and terror. Or they can serve as distant warriors in their own countries.

In Canada, we should have an independent, non-government organization to recruit anti-terrorist Muslims who will express themselves persistently, in company with non-Muslims. It should be an NGO in order to avoid the compromises that come with government.

ISIL, recruiting by the Internet, convinces an impressive number of young people in the West to leave their homes and join in a world of bigotry and terror

The issue calls for community as well as religious participation. James Malizia, assistant commissioner of the RCMP, said in a recent interview with the National Post, “It’s a social issue where families, social networks, need to get involved.” That’s the only way potential recruits can be reached, and persuaded to reject ISIL and its questionable promises.

Paul Berman, a first-class American political writer, this week summed up in Tablet magazine the reality of those who are trying to disrupt civilization: “I do not think that terrorist acts are expressions of sociological anguish, nor are they expressions of psychological anguish, nor are they the malign by-product of British imperialism, or of Zionism. The terrorist acts are the expressions of their own doctrine, and of nothing else. They are an existential choice, which is loathesomeness itself. An uglier movement than Islamist terrorism has never existed. More powerful movements have existed. But uglier ones, no. Islamist terror is the ultimate in repulsiveness.”

Repulsive, certainly. But also clever and determined. It will be hard to defeat, but it’s vital that we succeed.

National Post

robert.fulford@utoronto.ca