The Tabah Foundation’s study on religion and extremism in 10 Arab countries makes concerning reading. Particularly worrying were the minority who thought the “beliefs and ideas” of groups such as ISIL were correct, even if their actions were wrong.
Those who thought that were dwarfed by the overwhelming majority who believed their ideas and beliefs were wrong and misguided, but that minority, which varied between 1 and 6 per cent across the countries surveyed, could be significant in terms of the spread of extremism.
That these results showed up in countries as diverse as Algeria, Sudan and Oman points to an issue that is clearly bigger than any one country. The response, therefore, needs to be as big as well.
What is it, for example, that Iraq and Yemen, two countries with lower numbers of people expressing challenging views on extremism in the survey, are doing, that Lebanon and Oman, with slightly more challenging views expressed, are not? Are there differences across society, in terms of socio-economic class? Is the education system playing a role?
These are all difficult questions to answer, but they must be answered in order to gauge where these views are coming from. From that, more concrete policy descriptions can be created – and, crucially, shared. As Habib Ali Al Jifri, chief executive of the Tabah Foundation and a Muslim scholar, noted: “There must be a genuine feeling that this is a shared responsibility between educators, imams and scholars in all countries.”
The second aspect is to look at what views across society may be exacerbating these tensions. In the Arab world, criticism of extremism is hardly rare. Barely a day passes without a newspaper, television discussion or radio call-in show holding a discussion about the issue and the havoc wreaked by it across the Middle East.
It cannot therefore be a lack of messaging. It could perhaps be that the messaging isn’t getting through to the right people – young people tend to consume news on the internet.
Or it could be something else. Another analyst noted that there was a normalisation of radical discourse – and so when impressionable people saw that discourse being put into practice, they believe it was acceptable. Sectarianism is only one aspect of this, but it has become more prevalent in the region.
There are many aspects, therefore, which need to be considered. In doing so, it is worth looking at the experience of the UAE.
The UAE, which wasn’t included in the list of countries surveyed, is taking extremism seriously, but, crucially, is also tackling the possibility of it much earlier in the chain. There are potentially some lessons there for other countries.
The first is that, of course, a focus on extremism at home and abroad, and the taking of robust action, is necessary. But the UAE, through the Sawab Centre and Hedayah, a counter-extremism think tank, and Al Muwatta Islamic Research Centre, is also targeting the messaging behind extremism, particularly on social media, where many of the messages of ISIL are promoted.
Extremism is much easier to stop before it develops into action. If you can reach those who may fall prey before they even from ideas in their mind, so much the better. Hence the UAE’s more general focus on tolerance, at home and abroad.
By creating a general atmosphere of tolerance, young people can see it expressed in deed and word, and the divisive rhetoric of ISIL becomes significantly less powerful.
There is not one single answer to the challenge of extremism. But piece by piece, this is being dismantled.
