"It's a lack of education, a lack of knowledge. They need to find proper imams."
CAIRO - In a step to further protect Calgary Muslims with enough knowledge against radicalism, area imams are increasing efforts to curb attempts by ISIL to recruit members from within their youth communities.
In a religious edict (fatwa) issued in March against ISIL, 37 imams and religious scholars from across Canada denounced its threats against Canada and its online recruitment.
The fatwa further urged Muslim youth to shun the sway of ISIL, which they accuse of having violated Islamic tenets "in the most horrific and inhumane way."
“Some Muslims, having the fatwa against them, will have second thoughts before seeking to join an extremist group”, said Khalil Khan, president of Calgary's Al Madinah Islamic Assembly.
"(They) will wonder if this is right or wrong," commented one of the fatwa's 37 signatories.
Refuting ISIL
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Also addressing the issue, Zaheera Tariq, one of the Assembly's directors, told AFP that recruits are being lured by misrepresentations of Islam.
"It's a lack of education, a lack of knowledge," she said, adding that young people are "being influenced by those people who are misrepresenting Islam, who are misquoting the Prophet."
She added: "They need to find proper imams."
Calgary's religious leaders weighing in on the disturbing trend, including Dr. Tariq Khan and other leaders say more resources are needed to address a growing religious education gap facing Muslims whose numbers are soaring in Calgary.
The city's Muslim population has increased fourfold in the past two decades to 120,000, and in 2010, Naheed Nenshi became the first Muslim to be elected as mayor of a major Canadian city.
"The Muslim population is growing rapidly in Calgary. That's why we needed a bigger mosque," Tariq added, pointing to construction underway to expand the mosque, creating space to accommodate some 800 students.
Misconceptions
It is said that a son of French-speaking Canadians, Clairmont, reverted to Islam at the age of 17 after a failed suicide attempt. Three years later, he began showing signs of radicalization.
"He met someone and moved downtown," his mother Christianne Boudreau told AFP.
Bourdeau went on to explain that she later learned her son had joined an extremist cell whose leader was being monitored by Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Youths in this area are well off as most of them earn good money from the oil patch of the isolated northern Boreal forest.
In response, Imams say Canadians -- Muslim or otherwise -- need to remain vigilant.
In the wake of terror arrests that sowed fear of backlash in their community, Canadian Muslims voiced utter rejection to violence and terrorist acts under any pretext, affirming that they are no less loyal to Canada than their non-Muslim compatriots.
A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.
Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.
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