Extremism has become a phenomenon affecting many people, hindering advancement and evolution, and pushing countries to self destruction. Tasamoh Academic and Cultural Organisation organised a seminar addressing extremism and Afghanistan, and invited religious figures. Eshraqol Hussaini described extremism as a relatively new phenomenon and stressed that extremism is superficially viewed as growing out of Islam, and dangerous.
Now the Question is what is extremism?
Mubarez Rashidi, former deputy in Ministry of Information and Culture, who was a keynote speaker at the event, said extremism is a misconception that many Muslims have towards religion and stressed that putting Islamic history into practice in such fragile conditions is cumbersome and while some will debate the issue, others will act violently against it.
Spreading Causes of this phenomena
Experts assert that causes of extremism in Afghanistan and the world is interference of intelligence agencies as well as internal causes. They believe that some western countries and regional countries such as Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are supporting extremist groups disguised as religious in the pursuit of their own benefits. Abdul Hafiz Manssor, university lecturer and MP in parliament, said that Islamism is a good and desirable ideology but stressed that it has had proponents and opponents in different societies. The relation between extremism and gender discrimination also figured on the sidelines of the seminar. Shah Gul Rezai, MP, asserted that extremist groups do gender discriminatory acts in order to create terror and fear among people and assert their dominance over them hereafter. Ustad Mohaq, an Islamic scholar, believes that the mentality of some in our country is that if you are not wearing traditional clothes and speak of modernism, you are irreligious, which is not right. Mr. Mohaq said that some madrasas (Islamic teaching centres) are trenchant critics of modernism and this should be resolved soon. He added that the few “ real” Islamic scholars are way better than the vast majority of amateur mullahs (preachers). Participants of the programme asserted that the curriculum of educational institutions in Afghanistan should be changed and government must pay serious attention to the issue. Fighting against extremism is a hotly debated controversial issue nowadays.
