ABU DHABI // Governments must better educate young Arabs about religion and extremism, scholars say, after a major study found a significant level of support for the theology – but not actions – of radical groups.
A poll of 7,000 young people from 10 Arab countries found that about one in 10 said the “beliefs and ideas” of groups such as ISIL were correct, but their actions were wrong.
The Tabah Foundation study also found that a small number of Arab millennials, including 5 per cent in Algeria and 3 per cent in Oman, said extremist movements were “correct and follow a rightly guided religious path”.
Most said such groups were “misguided and tarnish the image of Islam”.
“These numbers are horrifying,” said Al Habib Ali Al Jifri, a renowned Muslim scholar and chief executive of Tabah Foundation, the Abu Dhabi think tank that spurs discussion and teaching of moderate Islam.
“We should not take it easy. There are 1 to 6 per cent who agree with ISIL – this means we have potential suicide bombers. So firefighting measures to counter this should be taken.”
The 10 countries chosen for the Tabah Futures Initiative study this year did not include the UAE but covered a cross-section from the Middle East and North Africa.
Oman had the highest rate of those aged 15 to 33 – 20 per cent – who believed extremist movements were right but their actions were wrong, followed by Lebanon with 14 per cent.
The grey areas where some young people even partly agreed with terrorist groups was no less alarming, Mr Al Jifri said.
“We have serious, significant work to do to face this problem. Many will ask us scholars ‘what have you done to face this?’
“We should focus on correcting our internal understandings of religion.”
Steps have been taken to tackle the spread of extremist theology online, such as the establishment of the UAE-US Sawab centre and Hedayah in the UAE.
But government and educators across the region need to be more responsive.
“There must be a genuine feeling that this is a shared responsibility between educators, imams and scholars in all countries, not only the UAE,” Mr Al Jifri said.
Abaas Yunas, head of Tabah’s Futures Initiative that designed the survey, said government leaders had to be realistic that groups such as ISIL would attract some support.
“This confirms something that we’ve always known – there is support for these groups,” Mr Yunas said.
“It confirms that we cannot be in denial that the ideology is present within our societies, as much as we hate it and wish it was not there.”
Extremism continues to attract even passive support from some for a variety of reasons, including normalisation of radical discourse and violence, he said.
“Such views have become so normalised that when people see someone put them into practice, they think ‘OK’,” Mr Yunas said.
A key argument that needed to be addressed was that governments and state rulers were illegitimate because they did not follow a hardline ISIL system and were not entirely based on Sharia, said Mr Yunas.
When ISIL began to emerge, images abounded of young Muslims around the world tearing up their passports because they did not believe in the legitimacy of their states, he said.
“This has been buried in the public space, unchallenged, so when they see a group come and put those ideas into practice they think it is OK,” said Mr Yunas.
“This places a huge burden of responsibility for us in the religious sphere.”
The study also asked young people if they were sceptical about religion and its teachings. Among those who were, it found terrorism and the “unethical behaviour of religion’s representatives” were the main reason in all 10 countries.
“I think the religious scepticism is mainly having doubts in religion,” said Mr Yunas.
The findings were worrying because religion was an important part of Arab culture and many youth’s identity, he said.
“So when young people start to face an identity crisis, this is what extremist groups like ISIL try to exploit,” said Mr Yunas.
Sultan Al Darmaki, an Emirati social commentator, said scepticism about religious teachings was an important part of a young person’s spiritual development. “It helps young people understand how not to be fooled. It is part of growing up,” he said.
“Hopefully that means that when someone tries to push a misguided message, or some sort of false promise or a justification of violence, they can see through it.”
hdajani@thenational.ae