Posted 12/10/2002 02:57:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch: From MEMRI

The Extremists have Corrupted the Minds of Our Youth

"The extremist groups have stuffed their minds with a fanatic ideology and a faulty interpretation of Jihad and Da'wa in Islam, whereas, Jihad in reality means self-defense. They have been taught that it is a tool to oppress and dominate others."

"These misguided youth were made to believe in the ideology of dividing society into believers and non-believers, and hold that every other idea amounted to apostasy. They were taught not to accept any other viewpoint other than [the one] held by their own group, and that the whole world is full of infidels and heretics."

"The extremists have inculcated brutality, violence, and killing in the minds of their followers who blindly and thoughtlessly go on fighting without assessing the real power of their enemy."

"When the Afghan war against the Communists began, the extremists wore a religious mask to win over Saudi society's participation in the war, firstly through donations and voluntary humanitarian services, and later on through volunteer military operations. Al-Rashed said that, 'The Afghan War became a popular struggle fed by religious literature that introduced a culture of violence for the first time in the Saudi society. The call for Jihad became the order of the day and the society was politicized through preachers in mosques and universities, something unknown before. The golden rule was further broken when young men were allowed to go abroad to fight against the Soviets.'"

"This is the most apt diagnosis of the problem of our society. To regain its peace and innocence and reconciliation with the world, our youths must be reeducated and violence – a concept alien to our society – must be discarded."