Dr. Nader Hashemi:

Youth radicalisation is not something that happens overnight. There is a large body of good scientific studies of how a particular person, born and raised in Denver, Colorado, for example, where I live, can become radicalised all of a sudden. What explains that phenomenon? The critical question is why does it happen to some youth and not to others living in the exact same environment. They are exposed to the same family and one brother becomes radicalised while another does not. Much of the answer has to do with the personal idiosyncrasies and crises of the particular individual. The key trigger is that he is looking for something bigger than himself, a cause, an identity. He is exposed to different points of view. The Deputy hinted at one common theme that keeps emerging and explains the phenomenon as it relates to ISIS. Much of the radicalisation is happening on-line by means of social media. However, it does not happen overnight. People wonder about how can anyone be so attracted to beheadings? What interpretation of Islam or religion produces that connection? If one listens to the on-line recruiting, that is not how they attract young people. The narrative of ISIS that is very appealing, attracts some young disgruntled, disoriented and confused Muslims is the following: there is a major humanitarian and moral crisis in Syria today which is borderline genocidal. The world has abandoned the refugees, the women and children and there are chemical weapons being used. The narrative reasons that the person, as a believing Muslim, has a moral obligation to come to the aid of his or her brothers and sisters who are suffering; that the person has a moral obligation to stand up for his or her co-religionists; that he or she should abandon this secular material lifestyle of comfort he or she is living in the West and come and be part of something that is bigger; that he or she should come and change the course of history; that no one cares about Syrian suffering, Syrian refugees, Syrian displacement but that he or she can play a role. That is what attracts people, but, of course, when young people go there, which is easy to do, they discover it is very difficult to come back. The narrative that draws people in is really one of moral suffering, abandonment, appealing to young people in their late teens and 20s, many of whom have a sense of adventure, that they can be part of something bigger. However, as I hinted, other things are going on.

There is this particular puritanical and intolerant interpretation of Islam that, sadly, has become mainstream within the Sunni Muslim community. In most Sunni mosques in North America, the ones with which I am most familiar, most of the interpretations, in varying degrees, overlap or have shades of Wahabi teachings embedded within them. This is the idea that Christians are not really people of good standing, that they cannot be trusted. This comes from the view that there is only one interpretation of religion that matters - forget Christians, Jews, atheists and Buddhists. In this interpretation of Islam there is also a deep intolerance against other Muslim interpretations - there is one way - my way or the highway. In many ways, this is not unique to Islam. The history of religions is filled with the clash of the intolerance of different voices, some that are radical, some that are more tolerant and some that lie in between. This is also part of the narrative. If one observes the form of Islam to which these young people are exposed, particularly in the English Muslim scene, it is an intolerant interpretation. Sadly, the inclusive, more open-minded, more democratically oriented interpretations of Islam are in the minority. These are the ones that need to be supported and encouraged to provide an alternative voice for young people because it is a problem if all they hear is that the only authentic way to be a good Muslim is to subscribe to that interpretation of Islam. It is part of the overall radicalisation process, but it is not the only one. Youth radicalisation has taken place throughout history, whether in religious or non-religious settings. It is not something that is about religion. There may be an assumption that if the majority of the people in the Middle East were not Muslim, if they were Buddhist, we would not have this problem, but I disagree with that assumption. It is much more than a problem with religion; religion is part of it, but it is not the key element; it is a contributory factor.