Shaykh Dr Muhammad Umar Al-Qadri, of the Al Mustafa Islamic Centre in Dublin, spoke about ‘Islam, Jihad and Terrorism’ to a packed auditorium in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) yesterday (22 Jan) in an event organised by the Religious Studies and Theology Research Group in the School of Humanities.

He also took the opportunity to launch a new anti-radicalisation website aimed at promoting the true values of Islam and encouraging people to report extremism.

The discussion was particularly timely in light of recent events in France. Dr Al-Qadri said terrorists who kill in the name of their religion are adhering to a radical interpretation of Islam and spreading this interpretation, particularly among young Muslims in western countries.

He went on to talk about the challenges radicalism poses for Islam and society generally and whether free speech has its limits in a multicultural, pluralistic world.

Dr Al-Qadri  has lived in Ireland for 14 years having previously lived in Pakistan and The Netherlands.

“In Ireland, the Muslim youth has been exposed to a number of radical and extreme preachers. Young Muslims are vulnerable to radicalisation due to their anger and frustration concerning dual standards of Western countries’ policies in the Muslim world.

“Some members of the Irish Muslim youth have travelled to Iraq and Syria,” he continues. “These youngsters were radicalised by extremist preachers in person and through social media.”

The anti-radicalistion website

The jihad.info website will contain articles and lectures from Muslim scholars on the authentic teachings of Islam and will also give people a platform to report extremist activities.

Source :  http://www.wit.ie/news/humanities/islamic-leader-launches-anti-radicalisation-website-in-wit

Complete Lecture & Launch : 

Interviews to TV and Radio: 

Media Coverage of the Launch www.jihad.info :

http://utv.ie/News/2015/01/22/Muslim-leader-launches-anti-radicalisation-website-27186

http://www.thejournal.ie/jihad-irish-1898635-Jan2015/

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/social-media-and-preachers-radicalise-irish-muslims-scholar-1.2076105

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/site-to-help-young-irish-muslims-avoid-radicalisation-30930431.html

http://5pillarsuk.com/2015/01/20/muslim-scholar-in-ireland-launches-anti-radicalisation-website/

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/islamic-community-to-fight-against-radicalisation-of-irish-muslims-30932137.html

A small number of European Muslim youth, including Irish, have travelled to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan to join radical militant groups (Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban etc.) in recent years.

These youngsters were motivated by an ideology that has an understanding of Jihad that is against the teachings of Quran and Hadith. The concept of Jihad that was propagated to these youngsters by extremist preachers was not in accordance with the teachings of the Quran and Hadith.Would these youngsters have known about the real concept of Jihad in Islam, they would not have traveled to join the these radical militant cults.

Some have returned from Iraq and Syria in the mean time but are still radicalized. The reason for their return may not necessarily be having realised the true concept of Jihad. 
They may have refrained from violence and withdrawn from radical militant cults for other reasons and  may still retain the wrong concept of Jihad. This may lead them to join a radical militant organisation later in life, hence to educate them about the true authentic Islamic concept of Jihad is critical.

In order to eliminate the misconception about Jihad and minimize radicalization of Muslim youth, Islamic cleric Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri  is launching a website that is part of a de-radicalisation project.

Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri has said that it is our responsibility as a Muslim to contribute to a peaceful society and to fight against extremism.All of us have a responsibility to try to confront this radicalization and make sure that we stop young people being drawn into poisonous extremist militant cults that a very small minority of people have created by distorting the true concept of Jihad.

The website will include an option to inform about extremist hate preachers and extremists individuals that can be a threat to Peace and at the same time menace to the Peaceful image of Islam.

The website will be launched formally on Thursday 22nd January 2015 at 17:30 pm at the Waterford Institute of Technology where the Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri will deliver a lecture on “Islam, Jihad and Terrorism”.

http://www.wit.ie/events/humanities/wit-presents-islam-jihad-and-terrorism

We invite the press to attend this lecture and there will be an opportunity to ask questions after the lecture.

Al-Mustafa Islamic Educational & Cultural Centre Ireland
01-5156206 / 087-6764122
info@islamiccentre.ie
19th January 2015

On Monday 12th January 2015, Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri was interviewed on one of Ireland’s most popular radio programs “The Right Hook”.

The questions were related to Shariah Law, Blasphemy, Freedom of Expression and Islamic view on Secular society.

You can listen to the radio podcast at the following link of NEWSTALK:

http://www.newstalk.com/player/shows/The_Right_Hook/9/15664/12th_January_2015_-_The_Right_Hook_Part_2

You can listen to the Program at the video below