A moderate Yemeni cleric is leading a campaign to fight Islamic hardliners with a message of peace and tolerance in one of the hotbeds of religious activism.
Umar bin Hafeed is one of the five leading scholars in Yemen helping a government drive to "re-educate" hardliners, mainly prisoners held for planning attacks on Western and Yemeni targets. Hafeed, who teaches at the Dar al-Mustafa Centre for Islamic Research in the eastern Yemeni town of Tarim, said Islam had greatly suffered from acts such as the September 11 attacks. "Islamic militancy has not only created a gap between the West and Islam, but has caused an even greater split within the Muslim community itself," he said in an interview on Tuesday. "It has come to a point where Muslims are now afraid of each other," he said.
| Even the barely rational fear the irrational... |
Hafeed said the "re-education" campaign employed tapes and other media to persuade activists to abandon violence, as well as discussions about the interpretation of the Quran. "They are violating scriptures. The Prophet opened his town and mosque to people of all religions. Even when he held power over other people, he tolerated them," said Hafeed. Hafeed said the gap between the West and Muslims could only be bridged through respect for each other's differences. "We need to work to spread the understanding of tolerance and respect for opinions," he said. |