Gradual modernisation

His Majesty King Abdullah has recently engaged a number of officials, scholars and academicians in a thought-provoking dialogue on the occasion of the launching of the “National strategy for combating extremism”, stressing the importance of instilling Islam’s true values of moderation in the new generation.

The King told his audience that the strategy for this purpose needs to be comprehensive, comprising religious, cultural, educational, media and security dimensions.

The King’s interlocutors are now expected to come up with a formula or plan of action for doing just that.

Jordanians of all walks of life can be also expected to join this timely and challenging debate by expressing their own ideas in a disciplined and focused manner.

The first thing that comes to mind is the urgent need to overhaul the entire education system, beginning with the preschool all the way up to the university level.

In theory, one should start instilling a sense of moderation, fairness and reason in the minds and souls of the children at home.

Education can be modernised gradually, as most teachers have already developed their own hardened ideas and cannot be expected to change overnight.

To get to the stage where teachers can be up to standard for the purpose of the suggested plan of action would require crash orientation courses.

Admittedly, even such an “emergency” endeavour would be of limited success.

In a democratic environment, as we in Jordan enjoy, there is a limit to what the government can do to push for the desired revolution in educational system without facing religious and cultural along obstacles the way.

There are those who call for the reopening of the “door of ijtihad” in Islam to accompany the educational revolution.

This is the same theme that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi proposed at the start of the new year, without succeeding in provoking positive reactions from the Arab and Muslim worlds.

The Arab and Muslim cultures and values are organically linked to the way Islam is being interpreted. They are the two sides of the same coin and cannot be separated or dealt with independently of each other.

Short of resorting to the forceful and undemocratic kind of action that Turkish leader Mustafa Ataturk introduced to modernise his country and people, instilling Islam’s true values in the minds and souls of the Arab and Muslim peoples will remain an uphill battle. Against this backdrop, the road to moderation in the spirit of Islam is long and can only be achieved in a gradual manner.