EXTREMISM, a pioneer school investor said, has unfortunately been a product of education. Therefore, he said, there must be a comprehensive pre-admission observation of individuals at pedagogical colleges which prepare them to be future teachers. Farida Farsi spoke to Saudi Gazette about encouragement earlier accorded to students bragging about their efforts in smashing a television set at home, or cutting what they believe is indecent clothes of their mothers and other female family members. Such practices, she said, resulted in enhancing extremism. Schools focused on implementing extreme thoughts rather than imparting essential teachings of Islam. She added that private schools observe their newly recruited teachers for their behavior. However, what is more essential is to monitor the behavior of people who register for pedagogical colleges and want to work as teachers in public schools. Ali Badahdah, a religious scholar, said that based on his observations and review of some 22 studies conducted on extremist individuals, various efforts to negotiate with them have provided positive effect. He said nothing stands impossible and these people can still have room to come back and change their views. People from different academic and research backgrounds took part in the tenth national dialogue in Jeddah Thursday. While some believe that extremism is not a phenomenon, Najla Matari, a member of Jeddah Literary Club, said that any denial of the issue will not solve the problem. Rather, she noted, it will create a bigger gap between reality and methods to study and solve the problem. “Internet itself and other social media tolls can clearly demonstrate the existence of extremism,” she said. Nida Al-Harthi, professor at Umm Al-Qura University, explained that each member of the society has a “small Daesh (self-proclaimed Islamic State group) within him/her.” This, she said, is seen as each person does not accept anything other than his/her own thoughts. “We have to focus on accepting others as they are and seek happiness for all.” Al-Harthi believes that the national dialogue is an achievement as it provides a platform for people coming from different backgrounds and carrying different believes to sit at the same table and respect each others' views. There is a trend now, said experts among youth. This trend, they said, has two extremes. While a group pushes toward extremism in religion, others push their extremism to atheism. Both use these methods to attract attention of the public, they noted. Participants called on providing a realistic solution to extremism rather than just taking a reaction against it. The chairman of the board of trustees at the National Dialogue Center Abdullah Al-Motlaq said that the Islamic nation needs now more than any other time to sit for a dialogue. This, he said, is essential because terrorism incidents that have been attached to Islam came only from extremism. Faisl Bin Muammar, secretary general of King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center, noted that the absence of a family role has led to extremism. He said youth are left unmonitored while they explore the Internet and communicate on social media.
