As part of its “Towards an Azhari Approach to Combat Extremism” initiative and in light of its endeavours to counter extremist ideologies and immunize youth, Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism presented an interactive awareness lecture in the faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Kafr El-Sheikh. AOCE’s lecturers elaborated on many issues related to combating extremism and reviewed AOCE’s recent productions, initiatives, and activities.
Exploring the characteristics of extremists and the mechanism of recruiting, AOCE’s lecturers emphasized that religious fundamentalism, absolute superiority and pessimism are some of the most prominent and common features among extremist groups. These ideas push them to clash with societies and feel a constant sense of persecution, which may lead them to violence and murder. However, the genuine teachings of Islam call for dialogue, respect, and acceptance of diversity.
Concerning the mechanism of recruiting, AOCE’s lecturers reviewed the strategies used by extremist organizations to recruit individuals, including exploiting the victim's weaknesses, isolating them from their social environment, brainwashing them by questioning their firm values and instilling alternative values, distorting and decontextualizing religious texts, and triggering emotions to provoke anger and exploit feelings of prejudice. Moreover, AOCE’s lecturers illustrated that domestic violence fuels extremism as the sense of insecurity facilitates the way for extremist thoughts and enforces violent behavior. Particularly, extremist organizations utilize such a sense to give their victims a fake sense of belonging.
After discussing various topics, AOCE emphasized that maintaining identity is the priority to confront extremism, emphasizing that identity is not a mere slogan, but rather the driving force behind individuals' productivity in their societies.