The beheading of an Indiana native by the terrorist group known as ISIS, or the Islamic State, is again putting American Muslims on the defensive.
As they mourn the death of Peter Kassig, who’d converted to Islam and changed his first name to Abdul-Rahman, a Muslim name meaning “servant of the gracious,” Indiana Muslims find themselves again trying to convince those of other backgrounds that Islam doesn’t promote violence – only radical offshoots purporting to act in the name of Allah do.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Indiana Spokesman Muzaffar Ahmad says it’s incumbent on Muslims to publicly denounce what happened.
"We need to speak out loudly and that is what members of the Ahmadiyya community have been doing," he says.
Militants announced weeks ago that Kassig was the next of their captives who’d be killed. A video showing that gruesome execution was released over the weekend and confirmed to be authentic by American authorities.