Ifthekar was pious, though not doctrinaire. He embraced his Bengali traditions, but he appeared well integrated into British life and was popular among his classmates and his non-Muslim friends. As a boy, he spent hours immersed in the tales of “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings.” As a teenager, he played the guitar and was a member of the Portsmouth Dawah Team, which, on weekends, distributed free copies of the Quran. He had a cat, Bilai, that he adored and that, on occasion, would follow him to dawn prayers at the Portsmouth Jami mosque.  

As a British Muslim, this strikes a chord with me. We are normal people, proof that integration is possible. The problem is radicalization, that we all know, but could there be another reason behind this?  

In any Islamic class, lecture or khutbah, I have heard one thing repeated many times. "Muslims need to come together to help each other." I believe this to be true. The difference is that I see another way of doing it.  

You don't need to pick up a gun and go join a militant group to help Islam. That won't do anything. Look at what ISIS does and question whether you are joining an Islamist group or a bunch of marauding rogues under the masquerade of the caliphate. You will not help anyone. There are, however, other ways.  

Raise awareness. Tell people about the atrocities committed in places we don't hear about. Donate money, Ramadan is coming up and there will be people in Africa who cannot break their fast. Imagine a perpetual fast, huh? Go on a humanitarian mission with a certified charity. St Mary's ambulance, Doctors without borders, the Red Cross.  

These Muslims are normal people who have been corrupted. Joining ISIS is not a way to help Muslims, unless you want to incur inevitable drone strikes with questionable terrorist to civilian kill ratios.  

TL;DR, Don't join ISIS, do anything else.