DawnOKARA: Sultan Mehmood Gujar was a solid supporter of militants and even donated money to them, until he attended an innovative 40-day lecture series by a moderate cleric aimed at countering violent extremism.
The course, given to the public at an Islamic school in a hotbed of militancy in Pakistan, had a profound effect on the 46-year-old property dealer, convincing him the militants were wrong to claim they were waging holy war, or jihad, justified by the Quran, the religion’s holy book.
”I was shocked to discover that what the militants were doing was against Islam,” said Gujar, sitting on the floor at the madrasa in Okara city where the lectures were delivered. ”Now I call them terrorists, not jihadis.”
Fazal ur Rehman, the cleric who runs the 400-student madrasa, recorded each of the two hour lectures he and others gave this past summer and would like to distribute the DVDs to reach a wider audience. But he lacks the money.
The US has created a new unit in Pakistan that aims to leverage such grassroots efforts by working with local moderates to counter violent extremism —the first of its kind set up by an American embassy anywhere in the world, according to US officials here. The existence of the unit has never before been reported.
Rehman and other clerics attempting to challenge extremism in Pakistan recently met with US Ambassador Cameron Munter in Islamabad, though the 50-year-old Rehman says he has not yet received support from the Americans.
a simple solution:
Tune in to MTA – Muslim Television Ahmadiyya!
Yes. So very true. They are reinventing the ‘wheel’!