The Rabat-based Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Rabita Mohammadia of Ulema launched the 2nd and 3rd volumes of “The Encyclopedia on Deconstructing Extremist Discourse” in Rabat on Friday.
Like the first volume, the encyclopedia’s two new works aim to develop intellectual and cognitive tools designed to promote a culture of moderation and justice, and to present new cognitive approaches that tackle the intellectual and cultural roots of extremism.
The encyclopedia’s three volumes include a series of specialized studies and researches that seek to dismantle the intellectual system on which extremist discourse is based, using in-depth analysis of texts and ideas to uncover the distortions and misinterpretations used by extremist discourse to justify violence and terrorism.
The encyclopedia also aims to strengthen dialogue between cultures and highlight the role of educational, religious and intellectual institutions in building a value system based on mutual respect and scientific methodology with forward-looking dimensions.
The launching ceremony for these two parts of the encyclopedia, attended by Moroccan and foreign experts as well as representatives of several diplomatic missions accredited in Rabat, was marked by a presentation on the main lines of the second part of the encyclopedia and its methodology for refuting the mechanisms of extremist thought, as well as on the main themes of the third part, focusing in particular on ways of strengthening the immunity of societies to extremist ideology.
Speaking at the event, ICESCO Director General, Salim Al Malik, stressed the importance of such “intellectual projects calling for moderation and the rejection of violence, especially in a global context marked by the spread of violence and hatred”.
For his part, Secretary General of the Rabita, Ahmed Abbadi, emphasized that “this encyclopedia will help to clarify the authentic narrative of the religion in the face of aberrations”, explaining, in this sense, that ignorance and distortion of the meanings of the texts has led to the spread of extremism and violence.