Muslim Scholars on Religious Extremism: "Living for the Sake of Allah is our Best Wish"
12 August, 2015KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)—The community members, especially the youths, have to correct their erroneous understanding of the faith and put in order and change their priorities. They must place their motto of "living for the sake of Allah is our best wish" before the motto of "death for the sake of Allah is our best wish".
This was essence of the opinions of scholars who took part in a forum on religious extremism among the youths, its motives and solutions.
The American thinker, Dr. Imam Mohamed Hag Majid** and the head of the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, Dr. Isam Ahmed al-Beshir, who participated in a forum that was co-organized by the Afro-Arab Youth Council and the US embassy here, concurred that there is a misunderstanding of Holy Koran verses on the jihad by many Muslims, especially the youths, driving them into adopting extremism and violence.
Dr. Majid said the prevailing belief that the faith and piety are the reason for joining the fundamentalist movements, including ISIS, is incorrect, but, rather, it is the opposite that may be quite correct.
He added that the misunderstanding of the faith is one of the primary reasons for pushing the youths towards extremism and joining ISIS, for instance. Dr. Majid said debates he had with a number of youths who adopted this path of fundamentalism showed him that some of them are incapable of reading the simple Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Holy Koran, in a correct way, and others are new converts to Islam.
The American Muslim thinker said, from discussions with those youths, he concluded that their intellectual concept of the faith is based on an erroneous interpretation of the Sharia texts, giving meanings which are contrary to the principles and concepts of the faith.
He noted a misunderstanding of the jihad verses in Bagara (The Heifer), Nisa'a (The Women), and Tawba (Repentance) chapters and in the entire Holy Koran.
Dr. Majid further noted that those youths are in short of a correct understanding of the methods of advice and guidance in Islam and are suffering from problems of allegiance, affiliation and identity, beside problems of self-assertion and comprehension and achievement of the needs of the nation.
"The common denominator among those youths is their desire in change and reform but this desire lost the way and deviated from it," Dr. Majid said.
He said his personal experience of dealing with those youths showed that they are in need of defining for them a correct understanding of the religious texts besides establishing a direct relationship with them through the internet. This method was effective with many youths who admitted that it was the first time that they apprehended those concepts and they ultimately deserted the terrorist groups, the American Muslim scholar said.
Dr. Isam al-Beshir said, as Muslims, we have to understand that one of the reasons for the jihad for Muslims is the protection of the freedom of belief and faith for non-Muslims. The West has to appreciate this notion so as to cease defining Muslims as terrorists and fundamentalists and to be fair in dealing with issues of terrorism.
He said the priority of a Muslim is to live for the sake of God and to rehabilitate, develop and reform the earth and to spread justice and freedom and then come the defense and death for the sake of God and for achievement of all that.
The two scholars believe that distancing the youth from the faith and piety is not the right solution to extremism as some people believe, but it may provide the beginning for adopting violence and extremism.
They think that the right thing is to encourage the youth into adopting the true piety and faith and to set proper priorities and rally their energies for reform, development and construction of the earth and to play, as Dr. Majid put, "the role of ambassadors for mercy, peace and construction."
However, according to Dr. Beshir, there are dimensions for extremism other than the faith and its comprehension. He noted that the imbalance between the freedom and its application as advocated by the West is one of the main reasons for extremism. The West, Beshir went on, calls for an absolute freedom but does not apply it in an absolute manner, placing red lines its citizens should not cross.
The West calls for observance of democracy in its countries and at the same time backs the tyrants and oppression in many other countries of the world, Dr. Beshir said.
"The west should be honest in its values if it aspires for stability within its countries and in the world at large," Beshir said.
The west should understand that the freedom in Islam is accompanied by the responsibility which implies respect and defense of the rights of non-Muslims by refraining from abusing their faiths and beliefs, said Dr. Beshir.
He suggested that the international community should prohibit and incriminate abuse of the symbols of all religions in the world.
** Imam Mohamed Hagmagid is a Sudanese-born American who came to the United States in 1987. He attained his religious education in various Islamic disciplines as a Resident Scholar at Al-Medina Institute. He helped establish exemplary religious services for Muslim communities across the United States. He is currently serving as the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Imam Magid strives to create and foster dialogue and increase understanding about Islam. He lives in Virginia with his wife and daughters.
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