Saving Indians From Islamic State

Hundreds of young people, their minds once clouded by religious bigotry and calls to violence, are now returning to normal, peaceful lives. Their social rehabilitation comes courtesy of a humane counter-terror project—one that has the government, security agencies, the police and community leaders working together to defeat terror

- Namrata Biji Ahuja

Yasar Moideen of Malappuram in Kerala has boyish looks and a charming smile. Yet, for the past two years, the affable 31-year-old has been leading a somewhat friendless life. In June 2016, some of his friends left India on what he describes as ‘hijrah’—a religious journey to a land “where they could do more good, and sin less”. The leader of the émigrés, a group comprising 21 Malayalis, was Yasar’s best friend, Abdul Rashid Abdullah. Their destination: the ‘caliphate’ established by the Islamic State in parts of Iraq and Syria.

Rashid is now believed to be in Afghanistan, somewhere in the region that IS calls Khorasan province. He is now one of India’s most wanted men—the National Investigation Agency says he masterminded the recruitment of vulnerable Muslim youth to fight the war for IS. Of the 20 Malayalis shepherded by Rashid to Syria and Iraq, at least one has been confirmed killed in battle. The whereabouts of the others, including that of Rashid, remain unknown.

Yasar, however, is in denial. He draws a parallel between Rashid’s journey and the First Hijra—in which Prophet Muhammad’s followers fled from persecution in Mecca and sought refuge in the kingdom of Aksum, or modern-day Ethiopia, in the seventh century. “There was no Islamic State then,” said Yasar. “In fact, Ethiopia was Christian-dominated. But, since Meccans were cruel, Muslims went there. Later, when Islamic rule was established in Medina, they all returned.”