countries and distract them through conflicts, violence and internal strives, in order to give the enemies of the nation more excuses and pretexts to interfere in our internal affairs and direct them according to their interests.
In dealing with the issue of extremism through security agencies, it only represents the confrontation of the "criminal" aspects emanating from extremism, not the "reasons" behind it. It faces only the physical activities of the extremist thoughts such as murder, violence, and sabotage, i.e. the results of the extremist ideas that endanger the societies, not the reasons of the "movement" and the spread of these thoughts. Limiting our action to security agencies the confrontation of extremism may represent a motive for extremists to continue with the conflict through the cycle of action and reaction, in addition to its effect of expanding the struggle from generation to generation.
Extremism, when suppressed by force, motivates the thinking of, and preparing for, a long time of struggle in an exhaustingly retaliatory manner that would be fed by parties benefiting from its consequences; and with the help of such parties, extremism would seek to strike back with serious and destructive blows.
Wars between states and extremist groups cannot be ended only by armed forces for many reasons, and police tactics alone could cause paying attention to, and sympathizing with, such groups by other parties. Therefore, correct concepts must be spread among the ordinary people by all possible means, such as television programs, radio, mosques, seminars, lectures, etc., so that the society becomes immune by virtue of the right religious knowledge with which it can differentiate between moderation and extremism. To sum it up, preventing the spread of extremist ideas and expanding the reach of the moderate concepts through the right people give tremendously effective results provided they are continuous and ascending in pace.
No matter how numerous the techniques extremism is confronted with, in order for them to prove successful, they must not be void of religious enlightenment (with a rising pace) that exposes the extremist ideas and their dangers in front of the Muslim peoples and spreads out The the moderate principles of Islam; they must also stress the following: The importance of adhering to Islam and its right, moderate principles importance of combating the spread of extremist ideas that threaten Muslims' homes and institutions, in addition to public institutions.
In order to succeed, things have to be named and addressed according to their actual reality; names of extremist leaders must be made public, exposing their radical ideas and proving that they have no logic behind them but misinterpretations; their books must be banned and lifted off the shelves of mosques, schools, universities, and libraries.
The principle of unification with the public when confronting the extremists is a useful factor to win the war against them, as well as giving the space to non-governmental organizations and societies to express condemnation of the acts of extremists to exhibit that they are not publicly welcome and that their problem lies with the people that do not accept them, removing the governments out of the picture. This is important because the extremists always benefit from any rift between the "peoples and governments".
So it has to be clear that the struggle is between the extremist groups and the people, making use of the fact that such groups do not save the people in their horrendous acts, as they use them for pressuring and embarrassing governments, with the aim at reaching a stage where the peoples may ask the governments to have a dialogue with the extremists and let them share the power.
In fact, extremism is not caused only by one reason; there are many psychological, social, historical, and political reasons behind it. They may sometimes be complicated and intertwined. So when we are dealing with it, we should not deal with one reason and leave the other. We have to deal with these reasons with wisdom and courage, bearing in mind that ignorance is fought through knowledge, extremism through moderation, and wrong through right.
In the end, we have to acknowledge the usefulness of resorting to the fountains of truth and sticking to the sources of the Sharia without distortion, as the right religious knowledge safeguards the people from all forms of extremism. The Prophet (the prayers and blessings of Allah be upon him) was indeed right when he said, "0 people, you learn; knowledge comes through learning and scholarship through studying", related by AI Tabarani in AI Mu'jam AI Kabir with good authentication.
We want religious piety as a solution to the hateful fanaticism that spreads in the societies, supporting the unjust to be even more unjust, feeding on anger, and living on hatred. It shall only be conquered by the sublime approach by sticking to the pure religious piety. That only shall defeat our watching enemy, shall bring together the scattered lines, and shall strengthen back our one resolve. So, come and walk in the path of the prophets and follow the way of Allah's messenger's, for there is the happiness and there is the peace.
And may Peace, Mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.
Home 
