New Approach Needed to Fight IS Ideology

New Straits Times

17 August 2016

Mohamed Bin Ali

THE spate of terrorist attacks across Asia claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group during Ramadan has marred the spiritual victory enjoyed by Muslims during the holy fasting month.

Spanning cities across the Muslim world like Istanbul, Baghdad, Dhaka, Jakarta and even Islam’s second holiest city, Medina in Saudi Arabia, the terror attacks appear coordinated.

The deliberate attacks by terror groups like IS were probably motivated by their fallacious claim that Ramadan is a month of armed struggle for Muslims, which is another misuse of the notion of Jihad in the Islamic legal tradition.

While efforts to step-up counter-IS ideology is necessary, it is more critical to dispense accurate counter-extremist prescriptions that reach its target audiences.

… The writer is an assistant professor with the Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies Programme at the S. Rajaratnam S hool of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is also a counsellor with the Religious Rehabilitation Group.

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