By Rabi Jibo Mohammed
Muslims have been advised to shun any form of violent extremism in addressing grievances or injustice.
The Head of Training Development Initiative of West Africa (DIWA), Malam Abdulmalik Abdallah gave the advice at a workshop organized by DIWA in collaboration with Da’awa Institute of Education Trust Minna to train Islamic Religious leaders on ending violent extremism in Minna, Niger State.
Malam AbdulMalik said it is important to train participants and introduce them to building resilience against violence extremism in view of the present security situation in the country.
He frowned at worded narratives used to support non religious push and pull factors in justifying violence extremism.
The Head of Training added that violent extremism is contradictory to enduring core values of the religious belief and mainstream teachings of Islam with its focus on spiritual, compassion, Justice, excellence character, social service and faith in Allah.
He explained that the ideology behind violence extremism can result in numerous narratives to suit various context and the need to focus significant attention on how to counter the foundation and the roots.
On networking and information sharing, the Head of Training advocated for easy access to information on counter narrative and offers to decentralize the responsibility of counter radicalization and empower the grassroots to tackle it effectively.
He said there is urgent need to also give scholarships to Muslim women in a bid to empower them to be active in public discourse and be more accessible to other women.
According to him, the scholarship should be rooted in balanced independent and critical thinking to allow them add to voices steering women towards moderation and true Islamic values.
