Ashraf AboArafe
Last Monday, Dr. Reham Salama, Executive Director of the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism, received a high-level Malaysian delegation headed by His Excellency Dr. Haji Mohamed Naeem bin Haji Mukhtar, Minister in the Office of the Malaysian Prime Minister for Islamic Affairs. With the aim of pursuing bilateral cooperation in the field of religious affairs and combating extremism.
During the meeting, Dr. Reham Salama presented the vision of the Al-Azhar Observatory in the field of combating terrorism and extremism, and the efforts made in this regard, including research and studies that discuss various issues related to extremism, such as the economic and social conditions in some societies that suffer from #terrorism in the world, in addition to the interactive activities that it organizes. The Observatory periodically addresses university youth and school students, in addition to its external participation in international seminars and meetings aimed at finding common ground to confront the growing extremist ideology in the world, which portends more confrontations between people of the same nation in a number of societies, as is the case in Europe currently.
While the Malaysian delegation inspected the Observatory’s 13 units in Arabic and foreign languages, the delegation learned about the mechanism by which researchers monitor the activities of terrorist organizations around the world, in addition to the latest publications that shed light on a number of diverse issues other than the issue of extremism, such as refugees. , and hate speech, as well as the recommendations reached by Observatory researchers as part of their follow-up and study of these issues.
Following the meeting, the delegation expressed its appreciation for the efforts made by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and its Sheikh, His Eminence the Grand Imam, Professor Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, through its bodies, including the Al-Azhar Observatory, to confront hate speech and extremist ideas that fuel violence and terrorism in the world.
