Extremism was not absent on the day when Cain killed his brother Abel. But today it is persistent. Humanity finds itself face-to-face with new and rising waves of extremism. It is a two-fold war. The first of which is military battle which depends on political, military and sovereign decisions of the participating countries. The second field is intellectual whereby this war extends far beyond the military one. In our beloved country we experience the two wars and the two battlefields. Not a day goes by without receiving one invitation or more to take part in a demonstration, a forum or even a conference which calls for “fighting extremism,” blocking it emergence or even extirpating it.
Extremism and its offshoots--hatred, terrorism, bigotry, narrow-mindedness and attempts to eliminate the others--are merely a thought before becoming a practice. They are mentally created before transforming into a tangible act.
From this premise, the current stage calls for massing all social, scientific, cultural, religious and political endeavors to cleanse the human “brain” of dysfunctional thoughts or rather destructive and debilitated mentalities. The road is undoubtedly long and arduous. A motley of gatherings and alliances have been formed recently. This is good. But we have not yet reached the stage of concluding a “working document” that scientifically unveils the kinds and shapes of the extremist mentality as well as the ways to confront it scientifically, intellectually and through educational practices.
Among the mental issues which are currently taken into consideration is reforming the religious discourse, renovating it, or rather to making it adapt to the people’s prevalent conditions. The call made by the Egyptian president recently had global reverberations whereby “it is time to present religion in a more humane way rather than “stuffing” the human mind with victories of the past and the impression that it is always victorious and superior to others.” This very “renovation” does not necessarily imply abandoning basic tenets of religions. It implies presenting everything in a modern and more humane way as well as presenting religions as not being fearing hell and desiring the bliss of heaven. The love of God expresses itself through brotherly love, namely love of God and love of the neighbor—or rather of relatives. It is time to highlight civilian partnership among the religious components—rather than minorities and majorities—that join ranks under the principle of citizenship as well as the constitutional and legal equality, rather than under the principle of minorities and majorities.
Among the important issues to be taken into consideration is reforming the education curricula in a way that nourishes the generations with the culture of humanity, respect for others, love and cooperation with the others rather than eliminating them, expelling them from their homes and viewing them with the concept of enmity and elimination.
In the wake of Muaz Kasasbeh’s tragedy and martyrdom, we have to firmly stand by each other in the confrontation of extremism and the elimination of others particularly in the intellectual field. As the first option concerns the military institution, to which we harbor respect and appreciation, the second option applies to the diversified components of society with no exception.
