Challenges Facing Religious and Intellectual Specialists and Developing Their Skills in Confronting Intellectual Extremism

Challenges Facing Religious and Intellectual Specialists and Developing Their Skills in Confronting Intellectual Extremism

A working paper presented to the Conference on Confronting Intellectual Extremism: Reality and Aspirations, organised by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Kuwait, during the period: 17-19 Rabi‘ al-Thani 1438/17/15 AH, January 2016.

Prepared by Abd al-Haqq al-Turkmani, President of the Center for Studies in the Interpretation of Islam in Britain.

The paper’s problem and the importance of studying it:

“Intellectual extremism” is a contemporary phenomenon supported by voices and writers who exploit different media platforms, particularly social networks, to raise specious arguments promoting their interpretations and ideas. It must therefore be confronted by scholarly and intellectual specialists capable of demonstrating and persuading, refuting falsehoods and exposing doubts, thereby achieving the desired aim of protecting Muslim youth from destructive ideas and guiding those who have gone astray towards a methodology of balance and moderation. Various challenges face these specialists, and there is a need for them to possess the necessary skills of monitoring, understanding, dialogue and persuasion. In this brief paper, I shall therefore try to address some of these challenges and discuss certain skills I consider essential for addressing and confronting extremism and excess, skills that deserve attention and development. From God we seek assistance and success.