Ashfaq Abdul Majid, the 25-year-old who fled the country with his wife and daughter on June 2 and joined ISIS, was allegedly brainwashed with promises of “jannat” by Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) employee Arshid Qureshi
Ashfaq Abdul Majid, the 25-year-old who fled the country with his wife and daughter on June 2 and joined ISIS, was allegedly brainwashed with promises of “jannat” by Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) employee Arshid Qureshi. An FIR was registered at the Nagpada police station against Qureshi and three others on August 6, based on a complaint from Ashfaq’s father, Abdul Majid Abdul Kader. The case has been handed over to the Mumbai crime branch.
A report in this paper yesterday said Kader blamed Qureshi for radicalising his son, and telling him that he would go to heaven if he left his family. A teacher at a Kerala village allegedly radicalised Ashfaq, Kader said. Incidentally, televangelist Zakir Naik leads the IRF. Naik has been in the headlines lately after the family of a slain terrorist claimed he used to listen to the Islamic preacher’s speeches.
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Perhaps it is time to become more discerning when it comes to speeches, speakers, audiotapes or even videos. The West is rife with young men and women turning in the wrong direction. Experts claim these hate speech mongers prey on the emotionally fragile or weak, luring them with their silver tongued words on hate, spiked with what they profess as wisdom. We cannot term those who have been radicalised as weak, uneducated or poor. Urbane, educated men and women are being swayed by promises of jannat or simply fuelled by lust for revenge.
Parents may find it hard to accept that their children are capable of thinking on their own. Yet, in certain cases, tough as it may be, they need to accept it. It is up to people too — to sift the good from the bad, recognise hate speech and hate mongering and find that emotional ballast within themselves to withstand any kind of pressure.
It is little use blaming external factors all the time. Create a filter within and hold up a mirror to yourself. Do not get caught up in the spiel. There is no heaven or paradise for killers or violence. Let us see things through the prism of logic, good sense, values and reality.
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