Misguided people are fodder for terrorism, Islamic scholar says

Abu Dhabi: Individuals and groups who resort to violence and terrorism are acting against the principles of Islam, a visiting Islamic scholar said in the capital on Wednesday, warning that more must be done to rein in extremist preachers.

Dr Naji Rashid Hassan Al Arabi, assistant professor at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Bahrain, was talking about the emerging threat of terrorism at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, and how best to understand and cope with the challenge.

“Terrorism is not confined to a time, geography, or religion. Terrorism has been happening throughout history and is therefore something that is not new. It is only carried out by people who do not have proper guidance,” Dr Al Arabi said.

“Islam constantly tries to warn us against the dangers of terrorism, and the dangers that can arise from fighting one another because this only leads to chaos and destruction,” he added.

Fuelling the fires of extremism, Al Arabi said, are unvetted persons issuing rulings in the name of religion.

“These days, many people take someone to be a scholar when in fact that supposed scholar is neither a professional nor qualified to issue fatwas [religious edicts]. This is an area we definitely need to look into and regulate,” he said.

Al Arabi explained that genuine Islamic scholars must join forces to provide an intellectual response to extremism.

“We need to devote scholars to protect our youth and keep them from being entrapped by the message of extremists,” he said.

Several studies have shown that it is often young people who get recruited into extremist organisations. Al Arabi said this is the root of the problem.

“Unfortunately, terror recruitment shows that there is a problem in how are we are raising our children. We are not doing enough to properly educate them. So there is much room for improvement in educating our youth and making sure they are on the right path,” he said.

Part of that improvement must also come from Islamic scholars, he added. “We have weaknesses that we must overcome. We need to bridge the gap between scholars and the people. The youth in our society thirst and want to find the answers, and we have to be there ready to help them.”