[ChicasCams]

Flawed curricula to blame for takfir mindset: Scholars
Friday, 23 September 2011

Madinah, September 23: A defective education strategy was a major factor in the spread of the “takfir” ideology among young Muslim men and women, according to two scholars who spoke at a seminar on the phenomenon in Madinah.

On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif opened the three-day Conference on the Phenomenon of Takfir (the practice of branding those who don't agree with one's beliefs as infidels) on Tuesday.

More than 150 scholars from Muslim countries discusses the causes and consequences of takfir and its remedies at the event organized by the Prince Naif International Prize for the Sunnah of the Prophet and Contemporary Islamic Studies.

Ahmad Hassan Al-Qawasima and Abdul Shafi Ali of Egypt said they found in a study that most students believed that unscientific education was the cause of takfir tendencies among youths. The two researchers said they surveyed more than 300 students at King Faisal University for the study.

While many students attributed the spread of the takfir ideology to teachers, others blamed the school environment and the curriculum for breeding the mindset.

King Abdullah said in his inaugural speech read out by Prince Naif that Muslims never resorted to violence or extremism to spread the message of Islam. The king said any reader of the history of Islam learns that one of the strong attractions of Islam was its moderation.

“Anyone who does not believe in the moderation and peacefulness of Islam is burning himself with the instruments of extremism,” the king warned.

The king reiterated the government’s determination to continue hunting down deviants and bringing them back to the right track.

Egyptian scholar Ahlam Farhoud presented a detailed review of the growth and decline of takfir in her country.

Algerian scholar El-Arabi Al-Farhati said in his paper that all religions basically divided mankind as either believers or infidels since the early times.

Saudi woman researcher Afaf Mukhtar attributed the phenomenon to the wrong interpretation of Islamic texts.

Moroccan academic Ahmad Bou Oud traced the origin of the phenomenon to the Age of Ignorance prior to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Egyptian participant Riza Amin said the advancement in information technology and irresponsible journalism had a considerable role in the spread of negative ideologies, such as takfir, among Muslims around the world.

“One of the major reasons for its spread is the absence of wise writers who can steer the public away from the takfir ideologies, especially in the present-day world that resembles a village in terms of communication,” he said.

Insaf Al-Maymouni of Jordan stressed the role the media can play to protect the growing generation from the menace of takfir.

On the other hand, Saudi researcher Aliyah Al-Qarni pointed out in her paper the close resemblance of current takfir groups with the Kharijites who fought against mainstream Muslims in the early period of Islam.

-Courtesy: Arab News

[BoattyGonm]

No matter how bad ahle saud are I have to say that in this day and age they are the best regime whose rulership is the closest to the quraan and sunnah. If anybody can think of a country which rules closer to the quraan and sunnah than present day saudi arabia I would like to know. This does not justify ahle saud allowing kuffar bases into their lands and many other such faults but still the truth is the truth

[BoattyGonm]

the saudis do not blindly follow their government otherwise usma bin laden would not be so popular in saudi and saudi would not produce the most mujahids in the world outside a warzone. The celebrity mashaikh in saudi are not the only people how about the likes of ibn jibreen, ibn uqla rh etc? Whatever you have said applies more to other countries than saudi arabia....

[JasminBerkova]

No matter how bad ahle saud are I have to say that in this day and age they are the best regime whose rulership is the closest to the quraan and sunnah. If anybody can think of a country which rules closer to the quraan and sunnah than present day saudi arabia I would like to know. This does not justify ahle saud allowing kuffar bases into their lands and many other such faults but still the truth is the truth

London786.... have you ever lived in Saudi Arabia?... if not then i would suggest you do.. and you will see if it is the closest to the quraan and sunnah!... i have spent a few months living here.. not just in makkah and medina but the rest of the country... and let me tell you.. there is not quraan and sunnah in the laws of saudi arabia.. .. Islam is used to oppress people for the benefit of the sauds... women have no rights... anyone who is none saud has no rights... people are treated like slaves... small things like after eating the sauds walk off and expect and cheap asian to clean up after them... the law is only for the poor.. and like any ohter oppressive country they use islam when it suits them...

You would have thaught as a country and the amount of money that they sauds have they would have really spent a lot on the country.. and sadly i must say its a bit of a dump... no infrastructure.. eg trains.. roads etc... the truth of the matter is the sauds are there for the benefit of themselves... their money is used to attack all other muslim countries by the oppressers of the world... you know who they are..

So before you blindly follow people really look at them and how they behave... "the custondian of the holy mosques"... what is that? where in an islamic state would that person sit??? ie what authority is he? as a matter of fact he is no one.. its just a made up title to give him legitimacy... and fool the rest of us into thinking he is something he is not... eg.. he recently recovered from illness and married a very young morrocon girl to celebrate!!....

Anyway brother.. or sister.. go live in Nejd and see for yourself...

Allah knows best..

[ChicasCams]

London786.... have you ever lived in Saudi Arabia?... if not then i would suggest you do.. and you will see if it is the closest to the quraan and sunnah!... i have spent a few months living here.. not just in makkah and medina but the rest of the country... and let me tell you.. there is not quraan and sunnah in the laws of saudi arabia.. .. Islam is used to oppress people for the benefit of the sauds... women have no rights... anyone who is none saud has no rights... people are treated like slaves... small things like after eating the sauds walk off and expect and cheap asian to clean up after them... the law is only for the poor.. and like any ohter oppressive country they use islam when it suits them...

You would have thaught as a country and the amount of money that they sauds have they would have really spent a lot on the country.. and sadly i must say its a bit of a dump... no infrastructure.. eg trains.. roads etc... the truth of the matter is the sauds are there for the benefit of themselves... their money is used to attack all other muslim countries by the oppressers of the world... you know who they are..

So before you blindly follow people really look at them and how they behave... "the custondian of the holy mosques"... what is that? where in an islamic state would that person sit??? ie what authority is he? as a matter of fact he is no one.. its just a made up title to give him legitimacy... and fool the rest of us into thinking he is something he is not... eg.. he recently recovered from illness and married a very young morrocon girl to celebrate!!....

Anyway brother.. or sister.. go live in Nejd and see for yourself...

Allah knows best..

brother i am here in saudi since last 6 years (and while I am a strict Hanafi deobandi sufi), I can say you r exaggerating a lot. Yes there is racism, corruption, consumerism, lots of israaf, etc but still there is also a lot of khair and ahle khair here. still better than most other muslim countries.

[55TRATTERENRY]

Brother sy78600 is really exaggerating there...I've lived in Saudi for over 10 years and yes, many un-Islamic things do exist but that country is more Islamic than any other out there. Yes, there are more Islamic communities in different countries. There may be a better environment for Islam in some villages in India and Pakistan, in some areas of Malaysia and Indonesia, in some areas of Yemen and Syria, but as far as the overall picture is concerned, there is not any other country that can be seen as being close to Islam than Saudi Arabia.

Afghanistan used to be better than Saudi but it is not anymore due to the murtadd regime.

[JasminBerkova]

brother i am here in saudi since last 6 years (and while I am a strict Hanafi deobandi sufi), I can say you r exaggerating a lot. Yes there is racism, corruption, consumerism, lots of israaf, etc but still there is also a lot of khair and ahle khair here. still better than most other muslim countries.

Where in Saudi are you brother?... and i apologies I did try and take my post down as it came accross a little harsh...but for some reason the system didnt remove it... yes you are right maybe i was a little over the top.. however i think its because of the dissappointment of being here... and the expectation was a little too high on my part.. i thaught i would find somewhere that was a good example of what a muslim country should be... but unfortunately apart from when you are in a mosque there isnt much else to the place.. if you know more then please enlighten me...