Reclaiming Our AllahuAkbar
MIDRIFT HURINET has been engaging Madrassa teachers in Nakuru and Baringo Counties on promotion of Alternative Counter Violent Extremism Narratives in Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE).
This is also mainstreamed in the Ideological Pillar objective of promoting responsible parenting, interfaith tolerance, among most at risk families & religious groups in the medium and high-risk areas of Nakuru County.
Each time a key note Madrasa teacher rises to give his remarks, they always inform none Muslim Faithful “Kindly also educate others to know Islam is not a tribe, but a religion.”
As part of the commitment, members pledged to use media literacy provided to highlight the religious nature of Islam, share the knowledge with their faithful and other spheres of influence and use the same in reinforcing the messaging.
The Islam call of Prayer “Takbir” and the response “Allahu Akbar” has been misused by terrorist groups and other proponents of violent extremism.
It’s a call to glorify Allah, loosely translated to “God is most great”
But to residents who have been victims of violent extremism or terror attacks, the term brings fear.
It’s time to demystify the myth and #ReclaimingOurAllahuAkbar.
Sheikhs present during the sensitization meeting on PCVE organized by MIDRIFT HURINET in collaboration with National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) with support from Global Community Engagement Resilience Fund (GCERF) through Act Change Transform agreed on working together as preachers in strengthening Alternative Counter Violent Extremism Narratives among themselves.
Their clarion call is “Ugaidi sio Uislamu na Uislamu sio Ugaidi” with an emphasis on radicalization cutting across all religious beliefs most recently being the “Shakahola situation”.
Key insight in the call is wrong interpretation of the Holy Book of Quran most importantly on Jihad.
The Muslim leaders are also working on modalities to have a network of Madrasa teachers to ensure those coming from other regions or Country’s are vetted before being allowed to teach in the local Madrasa and build collaborations between Public, Private and locally arranged Madrasa.
One of their key outcomes is working on Madrasa Curriculum which was approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) 2020 but not piloted in the 47 County Governments.
The approval is part of the achievements of the Muslim Education Council whose mandate was set by the Basic Education Act 2013.
They are also planning to engage the Government in harmonization of the curriculum which will ensure Madrasa teachers are employable by the Teachers Service Commission.
They also opined to;
- Work with other stakeholders like National Government Administrative Officers – NGAOS and National Police Service to share any information on Violent Extremism.
- Committed to use the knowledge and information gained to reach more of their Muslim faithful’s while leveraging on the available platforms to share the message on PCVE.
- Committed to using the developed positive Alternative Counter Violent Extremism narratives to sensitize their community members against radicalization and violent extremism
By Jacob Karani
