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Milwaukee Muslim leader visited London prior to attack

The spokesperson is trying to fight radicalization
Posted at 6:39 PM, Jun 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-05 19:39:10-04

MILWAUKEE, WI—The recent terror attack in London that killed seven people and injured 48 hit home for one local man who recently visited the city on a mission to prevent the radicalization of young people.

“Often times we see that people who are committing these heinous acts have strayed away from the teachings of Islam,” said Rizwan Ahmad.

“It’s always pain to just see that somebody can take [an] innocent life like that,” he continued.

Ahmad is a local spokesperson for the nation's oldest Muslim organization, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Ahmad recently visited the city of London with 300 men from across the U.S. His goal is to end youth radicalization in the Muslim community.

“Boys on our trip were as young as seven years old,” Ahmad said.

“The whole idea is to have them firmly believing and understanding the teachings of Islam from that young age,” he continued.

Ahmad is confident that if young people understand the teachings of Islam at a young age they will be less inclined to fall victim to people trying to radicalize them for political gain. Although the attack Saturday in the city goes against the message Ahmad is trying to promote, he’s certain his work won’t be done in vain.

“It just shows us that there’s lots of work ahead that needs to be done,” he said.

“Slowly but surely we’ll get there,” he continued.

Ahmad is also a part of the True Islam campaign. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community launched the campaign in response to the San Bernardino terrorist attack. He says people with questions can visit the trueislam.com to get a better idea of what Islam truly stands for.