An American Muslim advocacy group is launching a program to help U.S. mosques identify and head off potential extremists in their midst—as opposed to simply shunning troublemakers.
The initiative was prompted by the Boston Marathon bombings, and its launch comes a year after a pair of ethnically Chechen Muslim brothers allegedly set off explosives at the finish line of the race, killing three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and injuring more than 260 others.
The program, set to be unveiled Monday by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, is voluntary and there is no telling how many Islamic communities may adopt it. The strategy represents a departure from the long-held approach by the American Muslim community to distance itself from radical strains of Islam.
While some mosques offer counseling services and try to address radical arguments, many Muslim leaders have said that the alleged actions of extremists like the Tsarnaev brothers, who briefly attended a Boston-area mosque before the bombings, reflect no more about Islam than Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's actions do about Christianity.
The plan's creators say the overwhelming majority of American Muslims have no connection to extremism. They contend, however, that the entire community is affected by the rare instances of radical violence, such as the Boston bombings, and should address extremist voices, which can reach American Muslims through the Internet.
"This question is always framed as, 'Why do we have to apologize for something that has nothing to do with us?''' said Salam Al-Marayati, president of MPAC, which is based in Los Angeles. "We're saying that you have to take responsibility…that there are Muslim extremists out there, and that they make it worse for all of us."
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim organizations in the U.S. have been investigated, surveilled and infiltrated by police informants seeking to root out potential terrorism. Fearful after that experience, the groups largely took to expelling anyone who appeared to espouse extreme rhetoric. Some mosques banned political talk. Many created closer ties to police and the federal government to report suspicious behavior.
According to a report on "homegrown extremism" from the New America Foundation, 406 extremists who are American citizens or permanent residents—including 229 influenced by "jihadist ideology"—had been criminally charged or killed in connection with extremist violence between 2001 and 2013.
MPAC's plan, called the Safe Spaces Initiative, involves directly addressing a congregant who appears to be espousing radical ideas, by arranging meetings with the spiritual teacher, or imam, a counselor and family members, possibly with the guidance of law enforcement.
The program's creators liken the approach to intervention programs established at schools to prevent mass shootings or gang violence.
"There are some individuals who are at the edge of committing acts of violence. However, not every case of extremism involving an American Muslim has to end in an arrest or someone getting hurt," said an MPAC document describing the initiative. "There are multiple opportunities for communities to protect their friend, family member or brother/sister-in-Islam from going down a dangerous and destructive path."
The program encourages mosque leaders to promote "healthy outlets" for "hot topic" issues such as politics, gender relations and drug abuse.
The second step involves direct engagement with a person who appears to be veering toward extremism. If that intervention fails, the final step is expelling the person from the mosque and alerting law enforcement.
In the months before the Boston Marathon attack, the elder Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan, began to embrace radical Islam. He occasionally attended a Boston-area mosque, where worshipers remembered two outbursts.
On one occasion, during Friday prayers around Thanksgiving 2012, Mr. Tsarnaev challenged a speaker who told members that American holidays such as Thanksgiving and July 4 could be celebrated just as the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
In January 2013, months before the bombing, he shouted at a speaker who compared Martin Luther King Jr. to Muhammad, calling him a "hypocrite."
Afterward, mosque leaders gave him an ultimatum, saying that if he ever interrupted Friday service again he would be expelled, said Yusufi Vali, a spokesman for the mosque.
The MPAC report said Mr. Tamerlan's outbursts "were more than enough cause for concern to warrant intervention from community leaders to help provide counseling" which "might have revealed other red flags that would generate greater concern" and eventually have alerted law enforcement.
Mr. Vali said he hadn't yet read the MPAC report, and declined to comment on it, "so I can't respond to adopting the initiative or whether that would have been a better approach."
MPAC officials have just begun briefing law enforcement authorities, including the Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on the plan. They also have started contacting some mosques.
"We've done things the same old way and we see it doesn't work," said Haris Tarin, director of MPAC's Washington, D.C., office. "We need to try something different."