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The imams’ ruling comes amidst a contest between mainstream Muslim groups, which are struggling to deter youths from radicalizing and taking up arms, and extremists and facilitators who are using social media to recruit.

“To all my brother [sic] in the West: Dont [sic] delay come, join us,” Abu Usama wrote on Twitter. He also appeared in an ISIS video burning his passport while threatening to destroy Canada. “One day in jihad is more beloved than spending years at home in comfort with my family.”

Police have been struggling to track radicalized Canadians and disrupt their travel plans. In May, Mohamed Hersi, arrested in 2011 at Toronto’s Pearson airport, became the first person to be convicted of attempting to leave Canada to join a terror group, Al-Shabab.

Imam Nadvi said those drawn to extremist groups tended to be saddened by injustices in the Muslim world and angry at what they perceive as the lack of response by the West. But when they fight in other countries, they disregard the fact that they are not their conflicts and their involvement only makes life worse for most Muslims.

“Any Canadian individuals taking up arms and fighting foreign governments are actually breaking the laws of their own country,” the imams’ statement says. “We believe that any Canadian citizen who takes up arms should do so only in the legal context of the Canadian law and government.”

While Syrians have “resorted to self-defence” against the forces of President Bashar Al-Assad, the imams said those living outside the country could not claim the same justification according to Islamic “laws and principles.”

Denouncing the “narrow, bigoted, dogmatic distortions of the purveyors of violence and terror,” the statement also said imams were prepared to take part in “meaningful discussions, to engage in preventative strategies and to find meaningful solutions to this growing threat in our country.”

National Post

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