Local Muslim Leader Offers Insight Into Reality Of Religious Extremists
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Imam Hassan Mohamud oversees 11 mosques in the Twin Cities, and resides at the Islamic Dawah Center in St Paul.
He says when he talks about ISIS and the recruiting of young Minnesota men to fight, he wants to talk about fairness.
"When we address [these] issues, we look at two perspectives," Mohamud said.
From the perspective of Islam, he says the religion does not allow for the beheading of journalists, nor does it allow for the killing of women, children and elders.
"We condemn what ISIS did," he said
From the perspective of being an imam, Mohamud says they are not aware of anyone who is recruiting now.
He says it's the government's job to find the people responsible for recruiting young people to join the fight with terrorists.
"We don't have investigation tools," Mohamud said
He also believes American foreign policy could do more to help the situation, pointing to the recent situation in the Gaza Strip.
"We have to be fair as we say 'Arab Americans' and 'Somali Americans.' We should also say 'Israeli Americans,'" he said.
Mohamud says Israeli Americans went to Gaza to fight and came back to the United States, and no one said anything about what he calls the atrocities that took place.
"And they killed children, innocent people and destroyed the schools," he said, calling it a double standard.
Mohamud works with young Somali children, teaching them about the values of Islam.