‘More Scots will emerge as jihadists’

The Muslim chaplain at the university where ISIS bride Aqsa Mahmood studied fears more Scots will join the brutal regime.

Shaykh Amer Jamil is chaplain at Glasgow Caledonian University where Mahmood studied radiography before dropping out to flee to Syria.

He says it is inevitable there will be more Scottish volunteers swelling the ISIS ranks.

And controversially he claims the blame for Mahmood’s radicalisation lies at the feet of Glasgow’s Muslim community.

The scholar said: “A lot of people on campus will be scratching their head as to how this happened. Sadly, I’m sure it will emerge other Scots are part of ISIS. But Mahmood is a strange case. She doesn’t fit the profile of a jihadist. There is no criminal history or troubled background. And it seems she was purely radicalised online.

“It is not the responsibility of religious leaders to govern what our young are doing on their computers. However, in saying that, what we can say is as a community we’ve failed to adapt to deal with the pitfalls of social media and how it can radicalise the Muslim youth.

“We are moving into a new era but mosques are still operating 30 to 40 years behind. Things need to change.”

Last year, Mahmood abandoned her university studies and fled to Syria to join fanatic Islamic State fighters. Since then, the 20-year-old has tweeted a series of radical messages, including a call for others to commit atrocities in Britain.

At a press conference earlier this week her parents Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood looked shattered as a statement was read out on behalf of the family.

It said: “We still love you Aqsa but we now have to put your family, your brother and sisters first as you have betrayed us, our community and the people of Scotland when you took this step.

“All parents want to be proud of their children but sadly we feel nothing but sorrow and shame for Aqsa. Aqsa, you have torn the heart out of our family and changed our lives forever, please come home.”

They have since revealed their daughter’s final words to them were: “I will see you on judgement day.”

Mahmood’s father built up a lucrative businesses after coming to Scotland from Pakistan and his daughter was sent to exclusive £3,500-a-term Craigholme School. But the jihadist dropped out of university to travel to Syria after becoming radicalised online and married a jihadi fighter in February this year. Since then, she has sent a series of tweets under the pseudonym Umm Layth describing a humdrum life of cooking, cleaning and caring for children.

But shockingly, she has also posted jihadist propaganda, including one message in June this year saying: “Follow the examples of your brothers from Woolwich, Texas and Boston.”

The university chaplain believes the speed of her transformation is down to the mystery ISIS man she married.

He added: “We need to give the young enough knowledge to navigate through their youth without falling into a life of radicalisation. My feeling is Mahmood was driven by love. She’s fallen for someone online who has radicalised her.”

On Friday, religious leaders urged Muslims across Scotland to reject extremism.