MUSLIMS across the country have been told by religious leaders to reject extremist ideology, in an effort to ensure no more Scots travel to the Middle East to join the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
At Friday prayers, a message was delivered by imams to worshippers days after it emerged that 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood, from Glasgow, had gone to Syria to join the organisation.
Her parents, who have not seen her since November last year, said she told them she wanted to be a martyr. Her mother Khalida Mahmood pleaded in an interview with CNN for her to return home, saying: "My dear daughter, in the name of Allah, please come back."
The pleas came as the Muslim community made renewed calls for the release of Scottish-educated David Haines, who is being held captive in Syria by IS.
Mazhar Khan, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Scotland, said the appeal to deliver the message of peace had been made to ensure the Muslim community "spoke with one voice" on the issue. "It's a simple message that we reject everything associated with this group," he added. "It is more relevant because of the atrocity in which another journalist was killed and also the young Scots girl turning up in Syria. Most people have realised IS is completely discredited and barbarous. But the message still needs to be there to ensure it is getting across."
Asim Ali, a 20-year-old from Cathcart, attended Friday prayers at Glasgow's Central Mosque. He said: "The message was that people should not be going to Syria; that it's a war zone and going there is not going to help anything. It's not our war to fight. What the IS group is doing is not good,and we've been told this ideology is wrong."
There were reports yesterday that the family of Mr Haines, who attended Perth Academy, had been put under 24-hour police protection at their home in Zagreb, Croatia. The aid worker was taken from a refugee camp close to the Syrian border with Turkey in March 2013, and had his life threatened in the recently released video of the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff.
The aid agency that employs Mr Haines, Acted, released a statement calling for his release and describing the threats as intolerable.
Meanwhile, the family of Ms Mahmood, who is thought to have married an IS fighter, said she phoned home four days after she disappeared last year to say she was on the border between Turkey and Syria.
Recalling the conversation, her father Muzaffar said: "Her message was that 'I will see you on the day of judgment. I will take you to heaven. I will hold your hand.' That's what she said. 'I want to be a martyr'."
Barack Obama, speaking at the end of the Nato summit in Wales, said the West would defeat the "extremist nihilism" of the Islamic State as he toughened up his stance against claims of a lack of leadership.
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