Obama addressed a powerful speech yesterday to young Muslims while speaking at the United Nations, especially taking into consideration the fact that many young Muslims have joined ISIS and other extremist groups after getting “brainwashed.”
“The countries of the Arab and Muslim world must focus on the extraordinary potential of their people, especially the youth,” Obama said.
“Here I’d like to speak directly to young people across the Muslim world,” he said. “You come from a great tradition that stands for education, not ignorance; innovation, not destruction; the dignity of life, not murder. Those who call you away from this path are betraying this tradition, not defending it.””Such positive change need not come at the expense of tradition and faith. We see this in Iraq, where a young man started a library for his peers. ‘We link Iraq’s heritage to their hearts,’ he said, ‘and give them a reason to stay.’ We see it in Tunisia, where secular and Islamist parties worked together through a political process to produce a new constitution. We see it in Senegal, where civil society thrives alongside a strong, democratic government. We see it in Malaysia, where vibrant entrepreneurship is propelling a former colony into the ranks of advanced economies. And we see it in Indonesia, where what began as a violent transition has evolved into a genuine democracy.”
“The ideology of ISIL or al-Qaida or Boko Haram will wilt and die if it is consistently exposed, confronted and refuted in the light of day,” Obama said. “
Look at the young British Muslims, who responded to terrorist propaganda by starting the Not in My Name campaign, declaring, ‘ISIS is hiding behind a false Islam.'”
It is worth pointing out that the #NotinMyName social media campaign, was started, as Obama said, by young Muslims who tweet and post images with messages stating that the un-Islamic so-called “Islamic State” doesn’t represent them or their values.
The Moroccan Times.
