Toronto mosque offers ‘detox’ for Islamic radicals
February 18, 2009
In what is likely the first of its kind in Canada, a Toronto mosque is offering a “detox” program for young Islamic radicals who are sympathetic to the terrorist group al Qaeda.
Muhammed Robert Heft, a team member of the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program, says the program is based on the idea that Islamic extremism can be fought by incorporating traditional teachings of the Qur’an into a “12-step Extremist Detox Program.”
Among the steps in the program offered at Toronto’s Masjid El Noor mosque:
- Finding common ground, “not fighting ground,” with other faiths
- In the “Open society of Canada,” how to reconcile “dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism”
- Seeing the whole as one, and take into account “global challenges that affect us all.”
- Actively countering extremist ideology through “education, public speaking and writing.”
