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July 20,2013
A Pew Research survey released in August of 2011 showed 59 percent of adult Muslims in the United States are between the ages of 18 and 39, compared to 40 percent of adults in the general public. This large number of young adults means more opportunities for American Muslims.
The involvement of two young Muslim men in the Boston Marathon bombing was a stark reminder to American Muslims that young kids in their community could be used to spread terror and violence. Many analysts believe community leaders need to play a role in keeping kids off the violent path.
Imam Johari of Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in suburban Washington said he and leaders like him are spreading the message of non-violence.
"I tell the legacy to young people about the African Americans. If we can create social change, and it was not violence that freed the Negros," he said. "It was the willingness of the whites, the blacks and religious people and government leaders to join together and say this system is against the American Constitution and against God. And we did that.
Peter Skerry of the Brookings Institution recently wrote an article on the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. Speaking by Skype from Boston, he said, "Muslim American leaders are not positioning themselves very well to speak to Muslim American youth or to Muslim Americans generally. "They are twisting and contorting themselves in several different directions that just undermines their position.
But Imam Johari said the challenge of keeping youth away from violence requires the whole society to come together.
"There’s no such thing as a Muslim cancer, there’s no such thing as Muslim hypertension and there’s no such thing as Islamic violence," he said." These are young people who have been caught up in something that has something to do with their own personal, emotional problems. We’re all doing what we can, but we can’t do enough. This has to be a problem that all of us solve together.
Experts believe parents are supposed to be the first ones to notice if their children are getting in touch with any radical groups or following them on the Internet. Masood Khan and his wife have four young kids, and he said his family is aware of that danger.
"My wife is very strict on these things, and we know what they’re doing," he said. "All of my four kids, two daughters and two sons, what they’re doing on the Internet and on computer, they’re being monitored. We know what they’re doing.
Khan said parents should remain engaged with their children and that the kids should be encouraged to maintain a balance between their religious and social activities.
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