Terrorist sympathizer-turned-informant Mubin Shaikh calls for cooperation between Muslim communities and western governments
First published on U.S. News & World Report, 1/7/2015
By Mary Cirincione
Mubin Shaikh, 39, knows firsthand the vulnerabilities of western Muslim youth, and the dangers of extremist ideology and radicalization. He was once a radical teen himself, drawn to militant Islam at 19.
But taking innocent life was not something he was prepared to do.
Shaikh reconsidered his support for Al Qaeda and similar terrorist groups, ultimately teaming up with Canadian intelligence and police in 2004 to infiltrate multiple homegrown terror cells. His clandestine efforts exposed bombing plots by the “Toronto 18” against the Canadian Parliament and Canadian Broadcasting Centre, and led to the June 2006 arrests of 12 men and five teens.
At a Wednesday morning discussion at The New America Foundation, the terrorist sympathizer-turned-informant reflected on past stints as jihadist and undercover operative. He said he is still convinced of one thing: “The homegrown threat remains real.”
Because what happened to him is happening to others.
Last October, three Denver girls aged 15, 16 and 17 skipped class to join the Islamic State group. That same month, federal law enforcement arrested 19-year-old Mohammed Hamzah Khan of Illinios at O’Hare International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Turkey to join militants there.
Although it’s difficult to determine the number of westerners who have turned to radicalized Islam, some telling figures have come to light in recent months. The Washington Post reports that 130 Americans joined up with Islamic State forces in Syria between Dec. 2013 and Oct. 2014, along with 70 Canadians and nearly 500 Brits.
It’s possible these men and women could return home to commit acts of terrorism domestically, Shaikh said.
“I have looked a lot into the prevention, disengagement and de-radicalization [of Muslim extremists], he said. “But the communities don’t have a way to respond. They don’t know how to deal with this terrorism phenomenon. They want to disassociate themselves from it but it’s hard to do when these [terrorists] are individuals who claim your faith.”
“And it’s extremely frustrating for the Muslim community to try to tell Muslim kids, ‘No, it’s not a war on Islam,’ when you have mainstream narratives that perpetuate it’s a war on Islam,” Shaikh added, explaining that the Muslim community feels as though it is under siege, forced to fight on two different fronts.
What’s missing is a true partnership between the Muslim community and the national government, Shaikh said, and it appears that the federal government may be of the same mind. In September 2014, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the launch of a new joint initiative with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counterterrorism Center to combat Muslim youth radicalization. Three pilot programs in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis are currently underway, utilizing prevention and intervention efforts to help Muslim youth resist jihadist recruitment. The three cities have two things in common: large immigrant populations and sizeable Muslim communities.
Although the agencies have yet to release details regarding operations and successes, Shaikh described the initiative as a great start: “It’s very good because what they’re doing is they’re empowering communities to deal with the issue. It’s an excellent strategy to engage the communities and give them the confidence that ‘Yes, you can talk about this stuff in your mosques and we’re not going to monitor you because of it.’”
But what puts western Muslims at risk?
Shaikh describes the challenge of coping with a parallel identity, something that can be especially difficult for young Muslims. “By day you’re going to public school, you’re exposed to intercultural experiences. But by evening, you’re back into your closed circle, closed community and religious training.”
That sort of stress can lead to an identity crisis, which Shaikh said he experienced at 19. Torn with guilt over his western lifestyle which included drinking and girlfriends, Shaikh said he felt his only option was to dig deeper into his faith, prompting him to spend four months in India and Pakistan. “I convinced myself that I needed to get more religious,” he said. “That’s when I was bit by the jihadi bug.”
Following a chance encounter with the Pakistani Taliban in 1995, Shaikh said his sentiments turned militant. “I was struck by the idea that the way to bring about change is through jihad, violent action. I was struck by the idea of reclaiming the lost glory of Islam. And what I’ve found is that that’s a very shallow religious understanding—very shallow,” Shaikh said.
It took two years of religious study in Syria, under the guidance of an Islamic scholar, to change his mind. “I had this full cognitive shift from spending time with a religious scholar who helped me debunk the extremist interpretations of the Quran,” he said.
Now a consultant and author on issues related to Muslim extremism and radicalization, Shaikh said there was a time shortly after the Toronto 18 arrests when he thought his efforts on this front might be over. But headlines have since proved him wrong. “Just look at the attack in Paris,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s attack on the office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed.
