British imam warns Muslim community against IS extremism

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Sunday 05 Apr 2015 - 13:26 Makkah mean time-16-6-1436 Imam warns against IS (Google/Images) London (IINA) – A British imam has warned that the “tentacles of Islamic State (IS) are spreading” after a family from Rochdale were arrested on suspicion of trying to reach Syria, the Guardian reported. Waheed Ahmed, the 21-year-old son of a local councilor, was among the nine people detained in Turkey on Wednesday to be deported back to the UK. Irfan Chishti, an imam from the Rochdale Council of Mosques, told the Guardian he would warn worshippers against radicalization both by recruiters from the so-called Islamic State and online. “No one is immune to it,” he told the newspaper. “The tentacles of IS really are spreading so quickly, not just into homes but into palms, via the internet on phones,” he said. Imam Chishti, who has worked with government anti-extremism program “Prevent”, said the militant group was “not in any way Islamic” and that its violent narrative must be countered. In a statement released after the group’s arrest last week, Chishti had called the involvement of young children in the alleged plot to reach IS-controlled territory “extremely shocking” and said local mosques would continue working closely with police. “Our message to the community at large has always been one of awareness – many parents still are oblivious to the dangers of the internet where grooming of all forms is rife,” he added. Police on Friday searched the home of Labor councilor Shakil Ahmed, who said he believed his son Waheed had been in Birmingham on a work placement. Waheed was detained along with two other men aged 24 and 22, two women aged 47 and 22 and four children aged one, three, eight and 11, police said, adding that they were all related and from Rochdale. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said officers were trying to establish the group’s reason for travelling to the Syrian border in Hatay province. AB/IINA