The BA Inaugurates “Nurturing Extremism” Conference
Posted on
The BA inaugurated the “Nurturing Extremism: A Reading of the Measures of Intellectual Confrontation” three day Conference on Sunday, 3 January 2016 at the BA premises. The conference hosted participants from 18 Arab countries with expertise in topics concerning extremism, terrorism, sociology, political science, and Islamic sciences.
The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA; Dr. Ossama Nabil, Director of Al Marsad al-Islamy representing the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar; Dr. Ahmed el-Abady, Secretary General of the Mohammadia League of Scholars in Morocco; the Libyan politician Dr. Om el-Ezz el-Faresy; and Nabeel bin Yaqoob al-Hamer, Advisor to His Majesty the King for Information Affairs.
The conference emphasized that extremist ideology and thought can only be refuted with opposite thought, and it shed light on the efforts made by Al-Azhar to propagate moderate Islamic ideas. The conference will now be held periodically to gather Arab intellectuals to discuss, research, and track the phenomenon of extremism that has infiltrated the Arab world.
The conference comes as part of the BA strategy to create partnerships with several countries to fight extremism. This strategy also included the BA organized “Refuting the Basis of Extremist Discourse” Conference in Morocco, which was held this month, and another conference to be held in Bahrain, in collaboration with the Isa Cultural Center, next May. As part of its efforts, the BA is also re-issuing the classics of Islamic Heritage in the 19th and 20th centuries and providing them online.