Today, the most widely read story on the website of The National, the newspaper based in Abu Dhabi which I helped to create in 2008 and still serve as a foreign correspondent, has been mine on Aqsa Mahmood, the young Scottish woman who has ruined her life and brought disgrace on her family by hooking up with the primitives of the Islamic State.
Professionally, that is gratifying. I wrote the piece with care and, in so far as this was appropriate, balance (in the sense of avoiding sensationalism and seeking her comments on such issues as the war crimes to which IS/ISIL/ISIS seems only too pleased to confess; no comments were forthcoming, though I have made clear her Twitter account was this week de-activated).
But I have to admit that the need to write so much, so often about jihad, western jihadists, conflict, alienation from civilised values, stolen youth and broken families is profoundly depressing. I spend a lot of my working time looking for events, projects or people that present Islam in a positive light. I use my limited powers to fight racism, discrimination and hatred. If Aqsa's revolting glorification of IS barbarism does not diminish that effort, it makes life a lot more complicated.
So may I just say that I have great sympathy with her poor family up in Glasgow? What she has put them through is despicable, however she dresses up her justification in medieval, pseudo-religious rhetoric.
In a statement, her parents - Muzaffar and Khalida, Pakistani immigrants who have striven to make the most of their lives and bring up their family, Aqsa and three siblings, in Scotland - have had this to say:
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. You have torn the heart out of our family and changed our lives forever. Please come home.
I am not entirely sure of the sequence of the comments made in the statement - which was read out by Aamer Anwar, a well-known human rights lawyer in Scotland - but it continued something like this:
"She may believe that the jihadists of Isis are her new family but they are not and are simply using her.
"Aqsa was always a very sweet, peaceful, intelligent child and inquisitive about everything.
"We had high hopes for her and would have loved for her to be a doctor and to save lives.
"We dreamed that one day we would see her married with children but sadly that no longer looks likely.
"As parents we would have liked for her to listen to us but we gave her everything possible in terms of love, freedom and education and she chose the path which we could never approve of.
"All parents want to be proud of their children but sadly we now feel nothing but sorrow and shame for Aqsa.
"We are not in denial and do not make any excuses for her and absolutely condemn her involvement in Isis and recent comments.
"But she is our daughter and we still love her, fear for her life and would urge her to return home whilst she still can.
"If our daughter, who had all the chances and freedom in life, could become a bedroom radical, then it is possible for this to happen to any family.
"IS are killing in the name of religion and claiming to defend the weak, but by joining with them our daughter is brainwashed and deluded and helping those engaged in genocide.
"There is no smoking gun, no family member, no fundamentalist preacher that can be blamed for her radicalisation.
"Aqsa, like many young people in our community, was naturally angry and frustrated at the loss of innocent life in the Middle East but this is not the way to help.
"We are concerned that a growing climate of fear in this country means that children will not discuss how they feel with their family and friends, and this will only spell disaster for society.
"We know that in the days and months ahead we will be scouring social media for clues of whether our daughter is still alive.
"As we try to hold back the tears today, we feel we have lost our child."
The Mahmoods are entitled to our sympathy and respect.
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