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Tuesday 02 Feb 2016 - 13:25 Makkah mean time-23-4-1437
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu presides over a dialogue with Muslim preachers whose support in addressing extremism. Image from Philstar
Maguindanao, Philippines (IINA) - More than 1,000 clerics, many of them women, convened here on Monday and promised to help the provincial government prevent extremism from spreading through 36 towns in Maguindanao, Mindnao, Philippine Star online news reported.
The activity, organized by Maguindanao government, Ismael Mangudadatu and moderate preachers led by Ishaq Katambak, was meant to build consensus among participating Islamic theologians and organizers on how to effectively quell religious extremism in the country’s south.
Mangudadatu had cautioned certain groups for insinuating that the failure of the House of Representatives to approve the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) could worsen extremism in areas the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) wants to group together under a Bangsamoro government.
Mangudadatu told clerics present in Monday’s convention on Islamic teachings on peace and co-existence, held in Buluan town, it is free education for children, via mainstream and religious schools offering subjects on Islamic concepts on respect for life and religious tolerance that can effectively defeat extremism.
Katambak said it is improper for people disappointed with the non-passage of the draft BBL to beat war drums and instigate uprising, or warn of rise of religious extremism in Southern Muslim communities as its consequence.
Like Mangudadatu, Katambak is also convinced that education is a good antidote for religious extremism.
Mangudadatu said his scholarship thrust for his constituent-youth sectors, the Maguindanao Program for Peace and Community Empowerment (MagPEACE), which now has more than 5,000 college scholars, is open to children of Islamic missionaries working in far-flung areas.
Clerics present in the convention assured the provincial government of their support in addressing extremism.
A woman who had studied Islamic theology, Fatima, said extremists have alarmingly been circumventing Islamic teachings on religious solidarity to suit their vested interests.
“Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) had told his followers that he or she who kills a non-Muslim in aggression, over religious division, can never smell the fragrance of paradise,” she said.
SM/IINA
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