Don't just call the police to stop young men from joining Isis. Call their mothers
|
Version 0 of 1. The voice of Muslim mothers’ is conspicuously absent from the public discourse about preventing radicalization in the Muslim-American community. When recognized and empowered, they can play a robust role in protecting their families and communities, a role enshrined in the Islamic tradition. “Paradise lies at the feet of your mother” the prophet Muhammad reportedly said, as he forbade a man from military service so he could take care of his mother instead. Islamic sharia law is replete with assertions of parents’ privileges and rights, especially those of mothers. Muslim mothers’ established social role is one of the few constants across an otherwise heterogeneous religious group. This may be why the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) sidesteps Muslim mothers by reaching out directly to young recruits in unobserved cyberspaces. Zerine Khan of Bolingbrook, Illinois, was oblivious to her children’s involvement with the group until law enforcement officials showed up at her home after all three of her children tried to board a plane to join Isis. Her children, like other Isis recruits, had carefully hidden their plans from the parents. Khan tearfully asked the group to leave her children alone in a public statement but by then, her teenage son Hamza Khan was already in federal custody facing prosecution. Contemporary American parents know well the fallout of destructive detours in their teenagers’ journey into adulthood, often hidden until too late. These detours can range from eating disorders to sexual exploitation to criminal gangs. For contemporary Muslim American mothers, the specter of their child joining Isis is another dreaded, albeit statistically rare, detour. With their American passports, these young men and women are highly prized by Isis as propaganda props. Muslim parents are just as loathe to letting their teenagers descend into violent extremism as the rest of the society. They have contacted law enforcement at times when they suspected that their children were targets for extremist recruitment, although not always with good results. British Muslim mother Majida Sarwar serves as a cautionary tale. After she discovered that her son had joined the Jubhatul Nusra front in Syria, she reached out to authorities and when he became disillusioned and had decided to return, she let them know. To her dismay, he was imprisoned for a lengthy term. A distraught Mrs Sarwar asked, “What kind of person would go to the police if they think their son will get 12 years in prison?” In the United States, surveillance and sting operations are used to try to stop crimes before they are committed, but they aim towards prosecution, not helping to provide an off-ramp before its too late. Stories of marginal members of the community being groomed by eager FBI informants permeate hushed conversations in American mosques, creating fear and paranoia among Muslim community members. At the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in February 2015, President Obama recognized the Muslim community as important stakeholders when he stated: “Families and friends, coworkers, neighbors, faith leaders – they want to reach out; they want to help save their loved ones and friends, and prevent them from taking a wrong turn.” Communities must further develop community-led prevention intervention, and rehabilitation capacities, which allow young persons to get the help and, where possible, avoid lengthy prison sentences. This would allow mothers to see law enforcement as allies in keeping their teenagers safe. A mother who fears that her outreach will attract an agent provocateur is unlikely to ask for help. Mosque leaders who fear spies in their midst avoid openly discussing worrisome behavior among the congregants, lest they inadvertently identify easy targets for government surveillance. These mothers, and their communities, need to be able to trust that reaching out to law enforcement will help ensure safety for their loved ones and their community. Outreach strategies can run the gamut from cyber-awareness seminars to after school programs to bystander training. Muslim mothers are natural allies in these efforts not just because they are committed to keeping their children safe, but also because they have the knowledge to guide programs and policies more effectively towards their community’s needs. In addition to being in good faith, outreach programs need to more culturally aware if they want to reach mothers. Today’s American mosque is typically highly gender segregated. When law enforcement’s outreach effort is carried out by men, it is usually directed at the mosque’s ‘leaders’, who are almost exclusively men. While it would be inappropriate for unrelated men to approach the mosque’s women directly within the physical space of the mosque, culturally competent female liaison officers could more easily navigate these barriers and build relationships with women, who congregate in separate areas in the mosque, often behind a physical barrier. They can talk to the mothers about topics like strategies for how to challenge extremists’ narratives, especially when they are in communication with their children. One size does not fit all. The diversity of the American Muslim community is such that mothers will engage differently in different communities. Hence an affluent South-Asian mosque community in upstate New York will need resources that will be different from those needed by Somali-Americans in Minneapolis-St Paul. American Muslim mothers cannot be effective allies if they feel ignored, betrayed or antagonized. Given that mothers occupy a powerful position in devout young Muslims’ world view, and are highly invested in protecting their children from being recruited into Isis, they have a central role to play in the area of national security. Communities, government and law enforcement need to work harder to help these women overcome their fears about law enforcement and to build a milieu of mutual trust and support needed to keep communities safe. |