Mosque preachers, schoolteachers and students, college students and women are the target of two workshops in Aqaba and Amman designed “to fight the takfiri ideology” on the basis of the Amman Message. Arab Bridge Centre for Human Rights and Development President Amjad Shammout said these segments of society are the most effective tools in combating extremism if they receive the proper education that empowers them to fight the ideas extremists try to disseminate. “Mosque imams, for example, can be very useful in these efforts because they deal with ordinary Muslims on a daily basis,” Shammout told The Jordan Times yesterday.The Aqaba workshop, which is funded by the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, is scheduled for today and tomorrow and will host university professors specialised in Islamic law, “who will refute the basic arguments of the takfirists.” The lectures will be followed by discussions of the topics raised.
“We understand that some people might sympathise with certain extremists,” said Shammout, a lawyer by profession. “The discussions will be open to all points of view. At the end of the day, we hope this effort will help eradicate extremism from our society. We know that the security approach alone is insufficient to address this phenomenon.”
The Amman workshop will be held on May 21-23 at the City Hall, with support from the Greater Amman Municipality. The two events, which are coordinated with the ministries of education and awqaf, will also focus on the “fatwa [religious edict] chaos.” Speakers are expected to call for the establishment of a local council of Muslim scholars to serve as the sole authority on fatwas. The panellists “will suggest the requirements needed for any scholar to be allowed to issue fatwas for Muslims, Shammout said.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Amman last year, His Majesty King Abdullah called for a relentless war on takfiri ideology. Takfiris believe contemporary Muslim society has reverted to a state of unbelief (kufr) and thus consider both rebellion against the state and acts of violence against Muslim citizens as legitimate. In July last year, over 170 Muslim scholars, thinkers and historians agreed to forbid takfir and decided to work out criteria for issuing fatwas in an attempt to unify the eight schools of Islamic law and put an end to violence carried out in the name of religion.