Source: metronews.ca

Imam Imtiaz Ahmed, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Ottawa, says mosques should provide better guidance to converts to Islam so that they do not become influenced by extremist ideologies.

A local Muslim group launched the Ottawa chapter of a nation-wide campaign aimed at preventing Canadian youth from becoming radicalized and from joining terrorist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Ottawa launched the “STOPTHECRISIS” initiative Tuesday during a press conference at the Ottawa Public Library’s downtown branch.

The initiative is led by the progressive Muslim movement, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at, which was founded in 1889. Its mosques in cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Brampton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Vancouver are also participating in the campaign.

The “StopthecrISIS” movement was launched across Canada Tuesday. (Joe Lofaro/Metro)

Its imam, Imtiaz Ahmed, said the goal of the project is to reach as many youth as possible and start a conversation about youth radicalization in Canada.

“It is a crisis worldwide,” said Ahmed. “We don’t think it is a crisis in Canada yet, but it has potential of becoming a crisis. We need to act fast, we need to act together and stop it from becoming a crisis.”

This initiative comes almost four weeks after Martin Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old recent convert to Islam, ran over and killed warrant officer Patrice Vincent in Quebec. The RCMP said he had posted ISIL flags to his Facebook page prior to the Oct. 20 attack.

As part of the campaign, Ahmed said he has already held a Q & A session with his followers about what ISIL is doing and how its ideology is counter to that of Islam.

He told reporters he has not encountered any instance of radicalization in Ottawa.

However, he argued imams across Canada should take a more proactive approach to prevent radicalization by providing better education of Islamic teachings to Muslim converts.

“After conversion they should properly train these individuals who accept the religion and guide them step-by-step, so they (do) not fall prey to ISIS and all those other terrorist organizations that have similar ideology,” said Ahmed.

“We, at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Ottawa, have this system in place.”

The federal government has been revoking Canadian passports individuals it believes are terrorist sympathizers who are planning to join extremist groups abroad.

Parliament Hill shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had his passport denied, although the RCMP have only definitively said he was driven by “ideological and political motives” after police obtained a video recording of himself before he killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.