5th African Conference for the Promotion of Peace: Modernizing religious institutions, training imams, key for preaching moderate Islam

Nouakchott – Religious scholars at the 5th African Conference for the promotion of peace, held in Nouakchott, Mauritania from January 21 to 23, called for reforming the African education system to include peace education, and enhancing the role of media in promoting the values of dialogue and peace in Islam. They have also highlighted the importance of adopting a pre-emptive approach against the root causes of extremism by training Imams on the genuine Islamic values of moderation.

Renowned Scholar Cheikh Abdullah bin Cheikh Mahfouz bin Bayyah, convener of the African Conference for Peace and President of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, said that Islam deserves to be called the religion of dialogue, because it has made dialogue a basic principle for communicating with others, whether they are relatives or foreigners, similar or different, friends or enemies.

He added that the Dialogue is mentioned in several places in the Holy Qur’an. In addition, the Prophet (PBUH) used to dialogue with the Quraysh even though they were among the most unjust to him!

He emphasized that “dialogue is neither a luxury nor a deviance, but indeed an essential duty of our time, which each must fulfill, each at his or her own level and according to his or her circles of influence.” Ben Bayyah truly believes that Dialogue is the only way to avoid wars and put an end to wars.  On the other hand, the refusal of dialogue only leads to more tension and unrest.”

For him, peace meets all requirements, because it is the path to development, the means of good governance and the foundation of religion and Sharia. Through peace, prayers are performed in mosques, the call to prayer is made from the top of minarets, and the five universals on which religion is based (faith, life, reason, property and family) are preserved.

It is worth to note that Muslim thinkers developed different views regarding the role of Islamin society. While few would want to restrict the application of religion to private sphere of life, others advocate the application of norms of religion as contained in religious law to all aspects of life, in particular social and public life. Regardless of the differences in approaches, one can agree that religious scholars and clerics have been instrumental in the religious education and spiritual formation of local Muslim communities throughout history. Therefore, raising capacity of imams is instrumental to preaching moderate Islam. 

Progressists imams and religious scholars at the conference see that the need for better explaining the values of Islam, its principles related to dialogue, reconciliation, tolerance, and respect of diversity, as well as the impact of the Islamic teaching on people’s daily lives, away from stereotypes and misjudgments based on lack of knowledge or ignorance. 

Religious scholars call for reforming the education system, enhancing the role of media in promoting the values of dialogue and peace in Islam

Cheikh Amadou Ba, President of the national Council of Imams in France

President of the national Council of Imams in France, Cheikh Amadou Ba told the New Africa Magazine that the present conference is crucial for religious scholars not only to exchange with their counterparts from different countries and contexts but also to collectively think about effective preventive strategies to handle the conditions conducive to violent extremism and the structural context from which it emerges. He added that individuals and groups, promote an Islam based on a political agenda and ideology rather than preaching the true values of Islam based on social and spiritual objective; thus, leading to a massive widespread of false images about Islam and Muslims.

Cheikh Amadou Ba, emphasized on the diversity of religious landscape in Africa, impacting directly political and social lives of Africans. In this regard, he called for a reconsideration of the educational system to teach children at an early age the values of religious tolerance, diversity, and coexistence. He concluded that peace education should be part of every African State’s education system.  

Cheikh Mestaoui Slaheddine, Editor in Chief of Jawhar El Islam Magazine

For his part, Tunisian Cheikh Mestaoui Slaheddine, Editor in Chief of Jawhar El Islam Magazine, and expert at the Fikh Jeddah Academy said, in an interview with the New Africa Magazine, that Islam is a religious of peace, cooperation and coexistence. However, it gets most of the time bad press due to some practices of certain individuals or groups who don’t reflect the true image and values of Islam. 

He added that Imams have a key role to play in spreading the teachings of moderate Islam while collaborating together with other key actors like Oulemas, educators, civil society in a collective response aiming at correcting stereotypes and prejudices about Islam. He concluded that education is key in this process starting from family to school and mosque and ending with the media. 

Prof Elkhidiru Abdul Baaq Mohammed, director of the Nigerian Center for Arabic Research

Prof Elkhidiru Abdul Baaq Mohammed, director of the Nigerian Center for Arabic Research also highlighted the crucial role media can play in spreading the culture of tolerance and contributing to fight against hate speech and violence. He told The New Africa Magazine that “Public opinion is constructed through what people consume in the media. Therefore, we need more spaces reserved for dialogue, tolerance and diversity for more social cohesion and co-existence

Karima Rhanem, Senior Editor, North Africa