It’s not that simple. A lesson on the true principles of Islam can help counter some vulnerable girls /women, but it’s not enough. Girls need more than a lecture on Islam. They need love, support, family, and confidence-building measures. As one Muslim mother told me, “We need to empower our daughters.”
I have been doing this for a very long time. I began my career in The Counter-Terrorism Center identifying, reporting, and offering solutions to help warn and counter potential threats to the homeland and abroad. Then and now, I have been helping the global community find creative solutions to the threat of extremist women—we all know now that the threat presented by women is not new, but it is alarming. Even when the numbers of girls / women in terror groups is statistically less than men, the threat is real.
We also know that girls / women in violent extremist groups are more difficult to reach. But it’s not impossible.
For over a decade, I have been interviewing Muslim girls, women, and mothers to understand how ISIS and the plethora of other terror groups actively recruit females, on-and-offline.
Why is this happening?
“ISIS gives our girls power,” one Sudanese mother told me.
The recruitment of three teenage girls in the pristine city of Denver is an unlikely place for terrorism. The state of Colorado is known for its snow-capped mountains, ski resorts, and legalized marijuana. But not terrorism.
Two months ago, I visited the Somali community center, wanting to understand how three girls–two Somali and one Sudanese–boarded a plane in 2014 for Syria without their parents knowledge. How did the three girls manage to hide their intentions from their family and friends? How did male terrorists find the girls online? How did they escape? And what can we learn from this case?
The following video story by my friend Vicky Collins helps us understand what happened in Denver.
http://www.nbcnews.com/widget/video-embed/349976131828
Luckily, the Sudanese father reported his daughter missing when she didn’t come home from school. Within hours, the girls’ were intercepted on a plane that landed Germany, where they were sent home to their families. Thanks to the Attorney General, no charges were filed. So long as the families said nothing.
But there were so many unanswered questions.
Two years after the incident, members of the Somali / Sudanese community are reluctant to talk to reporters and outsiders about what happened. I presented myself as an American Muslim woman and a mother of two children. I wanted to know what parents can do to save their children.
Are there warning signs? What can Muslim parents do?
In a series of meetings with community members, who wished to be unnamed, I learned the following, which reads like a to-do list:
- Watch your children
- Check their cellphones at the end of each day
- Know who they meet in and outside of school
- Allow the girls to join social activities
- Teach the truth about Islam at home
- Talk to other parents
- Encourage women to get out of the house
- Hold more Town Hall-like meetings
- Work together across communities
- Train parents to raise normal, healthy, happy children
Girls are not the only vulnerable sex. Boys, too, are prime targets. And you don’t have to be a Muslim to fall prey to extremist / violent groups. Earlier this year, I listened to former neo-Nazi and far-right leader, Christian, tell a packed room:
As a kid, I wanted to matter. To do something with purpose…Kids need opportunities.
Former male and female extremists say the same thing. They need to be loved. Cared for. Nurtured. To know their faith and embrace their mixed identities–many Muslim children are raised by parents born in another country and speak their native language at home. A multi-cultural family is a gift, so long as children are allowed to embrace their American (or European) and immigrant identities.
Helping parents recognize the warning signs of their children’s radicalization is a challenge. Some parents do not know what to look for. But a network of mothers in Belgium, who have lost their sons to ISIS, know the danger is real. Together, the women have formed a group; they have challenged legislation calling for a hotline to help counselors and other parents reach their children before it’s too late; and they go to the schools to talk to the youth about ISIS, Islam and identity.
Learning Islam may not save a child from extremist recruitment. But it is an important step forward.
These days, countering violent extremism is a cottage industry. Studies are being funded–more research is underway. Governments are being prodded to do something about their own internal crises. Local communities are encouraged to work together. The police are being trained–one force at a time–to be sensitive to Muslim culture and communities. But this is just the beginning.
We have just started to initiate community-based prevention and intervention programs. We know that a case-by-case intervention program is needed, and parents–regardless of faith–have to play a central role in helping their children counter extremists on-and-offline.
The story of the Denver girls is in my award-winning book, Invisible Martyrs.
