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Muslim women have a key role in the fight against extremism, a national conference has heard.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association South West (AMWA) gathering in Cardiff, to promote the peaceful teaching of their branch of Islam, said misunderstanding among non-Muslims and Muslims themselves spark intolerance and fear which can lead to extremism.

They called on all Muslims to speak out against violence and help spread the peaceful message of the Koran, warning that IS and other terrorist groups have highjacked its words to promote terror and lure young people to join them.

Saiha Maaz, mother of two teenage boys from Cardiff and regional vice president of AMWA South West said Muslim women were working behind the scenes to counter extremist views among young people, but must do more.

“Muslim women can play a huge role in fighting extremism,” she said.

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“There’s absolutely no way a man can have any hope of achieving what we can because we have more of an impact on our boys – that connection that men perhaps don’t have with teenage boys.

“The whole thing begins at a younger age. As Ahmadiyyas we believe in the foundation from the bottom up, you can’t just jump in and engage when you see the signs of trouble, whether it’s racialisation or drugs.

“We have them in our laps. That’s where it begins.

“You must give children the right understanding and direction and faith and respect towards mankind.”

'They see stuff about IS all the time'

She admitted raising teenagers wasn’t easy and it was an age when people were most attracted to extreme causes.

“It is very challenging on a day-to-day level. They see stuff about IS all the time,” she said.

“We must teach them the true theology.

“There was a suicide bomb and my son came to me and asked about it. The Koran very clearly says you should not kill yourself.

“IS have highjacked our words and are making things that are not right seem right.

“It worries me because it will have an impact on them and their environment. What people think matters.”

Her sons, pupils at Radyr Comprehensive, have occasionally had to explain the true teaching of Islam after friends have read misinformation or misunderstood media reports.

'That's why women matter'

“They do sometimes have people coming up to them at school and saying, ‘I read this’ and they have to answer them.

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“I sit down with them and talk to them about the true theology of Islam.

“That’s why women matter.”

Anum Khan, 23, a former St Iltyd’s and St David’s College student, whose brother was in the same class as the older of the two Muthana brothers from Cardiff who went to fight for IS in Syria, believes some young Muslim men find the violence of IS attractive.

Nasser Muthana, 20, a former medical student from Heath, his younger brother Aseel and Reyaad Khan, 21, who was born in Penarth and grew up in Riverside, went to fight for IS last year.

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They were not Ahmadiyya Muslims, a branch of the religion started in India in the late 19th century.

“I was shocked when I saw people from Cardiff had gone to fight with IS in Syria. Maybe some people are not integrated,” Anum said.

“We need to do more to get young people to integrate. Perhaps we could run joint programmes or have a youth forum in Cardiff.

'If you went to school here you should feel part of society here'

Sabeeha Mughal, 27, Cardiff University student and former Willows High School pupil, who moved to Cardiff from Pakistan aged 13, believes some young Muslims feel isolated in Western society.

“I think people go to Syria to fight because they don’t feel they belong and have issues with their identity and IS may make them feel they have an identity.

“The best response is to promote the peaceful teachings of Islam.

“I feel I have an identity. If you went to school here you should feel part of society here.

“Partly the blame goes to preachers who don’t give them information. They have been misguided, perhaps at home, or in their mosques.”

Nusrat Ahmad, 36, said the Ahmadiyya community in Wales, where there are hundreds of members, and elsewhere, has a policy of working with the communities they live among.

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In Wales they work with the British Legion and Oxfam and community work includes litter collections and tree planting.

'Most Muslim women feel liberated... The veil is no obstacle'

To date the Ahmadiyya branch of Islam has had no young members leaving to fight for extremists in Syria, the conference on Saturday, heard.

Women who travelled from as far as London and Cornwall to attend the Muslim Women in British Society conference, also wanted to counter negative views of Muslim women.

“It is very annoying because most Muslim women feel liberated,” said financial worker Nusrat Ahmad, 36, from Bristol.

“Muslim women are very strong and independent and are encouraged to get educated and find employment.”

Shehla Noman, regional president of the AMWA South West, also from Bristol, said: “The biggest fear is being misunderstood for something I am not as a woman and a Muslim

“IS is everything but Islamic and the veil is no obstacle.