The Role of Women in Peacebuilding
The month of March is known for International Women’s Month, recognizing the role of women in the world. We all know that women play a vital role in every aspect of life. In these modern times, they can keep up with men in terms of jobs or roles in society. They can also do extraordinary jobs and excel in all fields of work. One field of work that women continuously excelled was in peace and security. This is somehow connected to violent extremism and the role of women in this case.
In violent extremism, according to some studies, women are more vulnerable than men because they are the one who can detect the presence of extremism in their family or community. But this scenario thrust them to become peacekeepers and involve in preventing and countering violent extremism activities instead of supporting terrorism. According to UN Women website, the role of women in PCVE are multifaceted, these are: shaping community and family values; influencing decision making of potential recruits; identifying and intervening at early signs of radicalization that lead to terrorism; female imams preaching religious tolerance; women using different forms of media to promote counter narratives; and female police officers engaging with local communities to collect information. These roles are vital and were included in some research, that is why women’s roles are being considered now in crafting PCVE activities. More of these activities are being initiated by women and even the pattern program is being based on the capacity and impact of women in the community.
Gradually, the role of women in countering and preventing extremism are raising due to their effort of continuous involvement in peacekeeping, experienced in terrorism environment in which they belong, and their strong desire to be part of the community which they can contribute a positive change. Some examples of these are the research data about the impact of women in the peace process. According to Swedish scholar Desiree Nilsson, the participation of women in the peace process makes peace agreements 64% less likely to fail and more likely to last at least 15 years. It only means that the role of women in peacebuilding is crucial and serves as a breakthrough in terms of any conflict environment they are engaging in. That’s why the government and other peace panels are fronting women to conduct peace talks and peace agreements.
In the end, we can never underestimate the role of women in all aspects and in terms of peacebuilding. Like others, they can also do impossible tasks, promote peace, and continuously engage in PCVE activities, and bring positive change and impact to the society in which they belong.
Kilifi County’s New PCVE
The Kilifi County publicized a new action plan on preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE). Its name was Kilifi County Action Plan (CAP) focused mainly on its 8 pillars to combat violent extremism which are ideology, politics, economic issues, media and internet. This action plan was developed through the Peace and Stability Program of The Office of the Governor, County Commissioner, National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), and Kenya Community Support Center (KECOSCE) that aimed to lessen violent extremism and other related conflicts in the county.
According to County Executive Committee member for Gender, Social Services, Culture and Sports, Cyrilus Mwangom, the government initiated the mechanisms in CAP to curb terrorism and develop peace. He also hailed the stakeholders and highlighted the role of security agencies that will be the key in implementing the CAP. In addition, as stated Kilifi County Commissioner Kutswa Olaka, that action plan was holistic in nature in all aspect involving religious leaders, their followers, and community to curb religious-related/motivated act of terrorism. Moreover, according to KECOSCE organization Executive Director Phyllis Muema, the CAP was developed to effectively respond to security threats.
The joint leadership of the Governor and County Commissioner of Kilifi County will implement the CAP under the cooperation of stakeholders to promote and implement the program daily also with the help of Country Engagement Forum (CEF).
Public Relations and its effect on PCVE programs
There is a need for preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) programs to engage in public relations (PR) to promote transparency and proper communication. It is observed that PCVE programs are limited only to counterparts such as potential institutions and stakeholders, for example, police, other intelligence agencies, and judicial and education bodies which are sometimes considered as “public relation”. The real nature of this consideration develops a challenge that the PCVE implementer needs to address and that is to spread information regarding the programs in order to attract and show the greater involvement of civil society and government in public.
The utilization of PR in PCVE differs from that of the PCVE of government and private institutions/organizations. In private-run PCVE, they are more likely using PR to boost their donations and recognitions to gather funds, aside from informing the public. In government-initiated PCVE, they are only within the vicinity of their partner institution and stakeholders, just to meet their goals. Although private-run PCVE seems good, they are also lacking in stakeholder partnership wherein they have limited resources for intelligence gathering unlike in government-run PCVE. The attributes for both programs are vital for the survival of PCVE. In other words, government and private institutions need to work together to improve the PCVE programs and include PR within their activities.
Moreover, PR needs to be proactive in order to disseminate accurate information and promote fair coverage of the PCVE programs. Research suggests that in the initial stages of a PCVE program, media or other PR-related bodies should be included and be utilized to promote their policies from beginning up to the end of the program. Another research suggests that having PR included in the program can establish transparency and can bolster the level of trust and support from the public. This can be achieved if the information about the program will reach people that allows them to understand the importance of it.
In the end, PR based on transparency should be included in the PCVE program from the start up to the end. It is recommended by the researchers that PR should also be included in the program design of PCVE and not only by tapping them when the program starts. This can lead the PCVE to be more proactive and transparent in the community where they can reach out more people and disseminate their information effectively. However, to advance the capability of PR in PCVE programs, researchers collate more evidence and weigh the negative and positive results of PR to craft a suited PR-based program for the PCVE in community.
Etidal and Telegram’s Joint Effort in PCVE
On February 21, 2022, The Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) together with Telegram confirmed their commitment to bolster their partnership in preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE). Their agreement and commitment will last for three years that focuses on the removal of Arabic extremist contents in Telegram.
During their implementation, 672,972 extremist contents and links were removed on Telegram and public Telegram channels that were ranging from PDF files, videos, and audio recordings. Those content came from the main focus of the agreement on three major terrorists’ organizations which are the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Hayat Tarir al-Sham (A Sunni Islamist militant group), and Al-Qaeda.
Etidal Secretary-General, Dr. Mansour Al-Shammari, underscored the center’s support and commitment for Telegram in countering extremist content on its platform. Meanwhile, a Telegram representative said that terrorism and propaganda of violence have no place in their platform and they are continuously improving their tools and procedures for their platform to stay free of abuse.
The ISIS Caliphate is a Sham: Breaking Away from ISIS
Muslim religious organizations, Muslim scholars, and activists has strongly condemned the establishment of ISIS and its motives to use Islam for their wrongdoings. Given the fact that its top officials and current leader was neutralized during the US operation in February 2022, ISIS will definitely persist, especially its violent and barbaric set of acts and ideology, but now, with its tainted reputation as a terrorist organization and the realization of its supporters of the group’s perverted interpretations of Islam and the fact that the Caliph and Caliphate are both a fraud, the challenges that this organization faces grows bigger.
During the peak of its operations, ISIS was condemned by Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, which used to be the center of the golden age of Islam, by saying that its establishment of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria is a “big mistake” and “damages the reputation of Islam.” The leader of the terrorist group cannot be considered as a caliph, therefore, this Caliphate is a sham.
In addition, top religious leaders from other Arab countries said that the organization was a threat to Muslims (wilsoncenter.org). In relation to this, large Muslim organizations from all over the world gathered to show their condemnation of the atrocities and ideology of the ISIS. For example, in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) which has over 90 million members, continuously condemned ISIS; Muslim Imams, scholars, and Muslim communities in the US rallied and show their protest to end ISIS extremism; US President Biden said that they will continually hunt down the ISIS and continue their battle against terrorism; and in the Philippines, youth and Islamic communities gave their efforts through community lectures, posts on social media, and seminars to end extremism and to rely the message of condemnation to those who are committing terrorism. Even other major religions like Catholics, Christians, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism show their criticism by citing principles, laws, commandments, verses in their holy scriptures supporting the message of condemnation by Muslims of ISIS and other extremist groups.
ISIS can continue its operations in the follow years according to some counter-terrorists’ experts, but the true Muslims and their respected leaders worldwide will continue their the fight against this group. Uncovering the lies brought about by this group is slowly taking over mainstream media and Muslims around the globe show their support by encouraging the ISIS supporters to breakaway from this group, seek for repentance and embrace the true meaning of Islam.
Hijrah and Violent extremism
Hijrah, “migration” or “departure” in English, is an Islamic term that refers to the journey of Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Medina. According to some Ulama (Muslim scholars) and historians, Hijrah served as a turning point in Islamic history where it is considered as a beginning of new era in humanity and the start of widespread Islamic-based belief. In addition, according to the History of Islam website, Hijrah, like migration, signified a “transition” from one phase to another in terms of Islam as an act of worship becomes a way of life; From being surrounded to having regional power and strong central leadership; From simple Islamic group of believer to being Islamic nation; From regionalism of Da’wah to universalism; From the position of weakness to the position of security; and from spreading Islam through individual Da’wah to being institutionalized. To summarize, Hijrah highlighted the point that wherever Muslims go, they should bring goodness to the land; material and goodness of society and not spreading fear like those who are involve in violent extremism and terrorism.
In relation to this, extremist groups misinterpret and exploit the real concept of Hijrah to achieve their goal of spreading terror. According to Counter-Extremism Project website, Hijrah used to describe the foreign fighter’s journey from their country of origin to terrorist-held territories. This is the basis for other extremists to be called “muhajir” or “muhajirah” to any foreign fighters who are persuaded to join the cause of terrorism to a particular terrorist place in which they will go. Moreover, since the real meaning of Hijrah was misused, this led to the wave of terrorists migrating from one country to another to continue and revive their terroristic ideology and spread it to places and nations in which they will come. One of the great examples of this is ISIS in the Middle East and in some parts of Asia. They jump from one country to another when allies capture their bases and territories and when they try to expand their operations. This is also one of the reasons why we heard other foreign fighters, especially Filipino Muslims, involved in ISIS-related activities abroad.
This seems like a noble cause to them, a fulfillment of their duty to Islam. However, if you examine and know the real meaning of Hijrah, you will know that it is done to spread goodness to the land. This definition strengthens the fact that extremist groups or people behind the misused meaning of Hijrah are not morally correct.
The Death of the Leader and the future of ISIS
On February 3, 2022, ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi alias Haji Abdullah was killed during the US counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria. During the raid, al-Qurayshi detonated a suicide bomb when the US troops approached the compound. The blast resulted in multiple civilian casualties including the wife and two children of al-Qurayshi. In addition, a senior deputy of al-Qurayshi and his wife and a child were also killed when they attacked US forces and because of a gunfight. The Biden Administration considered this event as a success that will lead to the downfall of ISIS. In connection with this, according to Nick Schifrin, an American journalist and foreign affairs and defense correspondent of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the raid conducted by the US was a risky move that will not stop ISIS ideology, but it eliminates most of its senior leaders. The said ISIS leader replaced the deceased Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after his death during the same US operation.
In relation to this, counterterrorism experts said that the ISIS leadership is prepared for this event to replace and appoint a new leader. According to them, the identity of the next ISIS leader will be kept secret to protect his name. Due to the consistent raids by the counterterrorist forces that led to deaths of more ISIS leaders, the leadership are being cautious now on what will be their next move. In addition, the experts said that the next leader of ISIS will be from Iraq also like the two former leaders, al-Baghdadi and al-Qurayshi. According to Dr. Daniel Milton, director of research at the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point, the possible leader will have knowledge in “Islamic jurisprudence” and has experience in battlefield. Moreover, the experts’ estimated propagation time of ISIS to appoint a new leader and to be fully operational is about three years. They said that the leadership are expecting this to happen and it is all planned that is why they are prepared for this.
The Ignorant Mujahiddin are Cursed
We are all human beings enthroned with reason, the ability to identify what is true from what is not, with a goal to seek for the truth when we encounter contentious issues and challenges in this life. The ISIS article in Dabiq titled “The Wicked Scholars are Cursed” continue to confuse our fellow Muslims into thinking that scholars are solely to blame for the lack of proper knowledge, especially pointing out acting upon and implementing Jihad. With this, we are clarifying the process of seeking knowledge as a Muslim with evideces from our religion - the Holy Quran and the Hadith.
Islam has given great importance the process of seeking knowledge. The first verse that descended on the Prophet Muhammad Was Iqra, meaning "read,” opening the door to read, write, and ponder. The Quran urges mankind to think, ponder, reflect and acquire knowledge that would bring them closer to God and his creation.
Another important component of seeking knowledge is by acting on it because knowledge without action is useless. But acting upon knowledge does not translate to Jihad per se but a general term that used to translate any Islamic knowledge into action. In the Dabiq article released, the correlation between knowledge and fighting is absolute in which a person should join the fight whenever he learns knowledge. But this is not always the case, there are several Hadith stating action upon acquiring knowledge but this applies to all Islamic knowledge not only in fighting. Fighting is just a part of these Islamic knowledge that are only applied when needed. And Islamic scholars laid down several conditions before joining a fight that are based on Prophets ﷺ teachings and his companions. One example is when man asked permission from the prophet to join Jihad. Abdullah b. 'Amir reported that a person came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and sought permission to participate in Jihad, whereupon the Prophet said: Are your parents living? He said: Yes. Thereupon the Prophet said: You should put in your best efforts in their service.
Furthermore, action without knowledge will be an affliction and misguidance for a person. Why? Because actions should always be based on how the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions understood it. The Prophet ﷺ said “Whoever does an action which our affair is not in accordance with, then it will be rejected”[1]
Al-Imam Al-Ghazali in his book Minhaj Ul-‘Abideen, tells us that in order for us to perform our acts of worship and to be safe from error, we must first know God before worshiping Him. How can we worship Him without knowing His Divine Names, Qualities and Essence?
He then continued saying that we must know what is necessary to perform the religious duties and to know that which requires us to abstain from what is prohibited.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. [ The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr. He will say: You have lied - you did but fight that it might be said [of you]: He is courageous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.[2]
Remember that not all died martyr will enter the paradise absolutely, especially those entered Jihad without prior knowledge of what they are fighting for, there will a lot of martyr who will enter the Hell-fire mainly because they did not follow the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ.
Seek Islamic knowledge first before entering into something you do not know, it may bring you harm nonetheless failure on the Day of Judgement. When a group of the Companions passed a ruling, without knowledge, to the wounded man that he should have a full bath - which eventually lead to his death, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ supplicated against them saying: "They killed him, may Allah kill them, should they not have asked if they didn’t know?! Verily the cure of all ignorance is to question! It would have been enough for him had he performed tayammum."[3]
Another emphasis that we want to talk about in this article is the injurious insult they are portraying to the (Mashaekh) Islamic scholars. The Prophet said: “It is not one of us, he who does not respect old people, shows mercy to young people, and knows the rights of scholars”. Remember that Allah gave so much importance to those Islamic scholars by mentioning them in his book. Allah says: "Allah will exalt in degree those of you who believe, and those who have been granted knowledge."[4]. And yet there are people who are dragging them down, discrediting them and humiliating their presence.
And lastly Ibn Asaakir [rahimahullaah] said: Know O my brother! May Allaah grant us and you His Pleasure and make us from those who have awe and fear of Him as He should be feared. Indeed, the flesh of the scholars is poisonous and Allah’s way of disclosing the hidden affairs of those who diminish their worth is well known.
May Allah guide you the right path!
[1] Narrated by Al-Bukhari
[2] Narrated by Muslim
[3] Narrated by Abu Dawud
[4] Surah Al-Mujadalah:11
Youth and Family, Together in Unity
On November 23, 2021, Ms. Juhra Kilam, a Muslim lecturer from Isabela, Basilan, conducted a PCVE lecture about youth’s crucial role in preventing extremism and terrorism in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan in coordination with Bangsamoro Youth Commission. The activity was attended by 40 Muslim youths and community leaders from Al-Barka, Ungkaya Pukan, and Tipo-Tipo. During the lecture, Ms. Kilam emphasized the important role played by families in shaping the youth’s perspective on non-violence. Since family was the main focus of the lecture, the lecturer highlighted the role of mothers as a focal person in the family to identify and respond to potential threats and for them to utilize the development and training of their children on good Islamic teachings. In relation to this, the participation of religious sectors was important in providing guidance to the families and providing good Islamic teachings to prevent violent radicalization. In addition, religious leaders should integrate in their “Khutba” or sermons PCVE-related topics during Friday congregation and deliver the same in local dialects for better understanding.
During the lecture, the participants raised the following issues like; Lack of sustainable economic livelihood; Lack of engagement from the government because most of them are located on far-flung areas; Lack of opportunity skills training from TESDA since most of them are unaware of its scholarship programs; and inability to avail other school scholarship programs because they are unaware of the application process.
At the end of the lecture, the participants recommended strengthening the education system to equip the youth with knowledge and skills that can be utilized in their future careers.
VAW awareness and workshop exercises conducted in Basilan
On November 21, 2021, Ms. Juhra Kilam, a Muslim lecturer from the Yakan tribe and a leader of pro-women’s group Al Ihsaan Inc., conducted a PCVE lecture in Maluso, Basilan. The activity was attended by around 34 female Muslims from the municipalities of Lantawan and Maluso, including community leaders, representatives from Barangay Local Government Units, Municipal Health Officers, and MILF members. During the activity, Ms. Kilam discussed the importance of information awareness on their group’s campaign on Violence Against Women (VAW) up to grassroot level to promote maximum participation and implementation. Ms. Kilam also highlighted the “Referral Pathways” which informed the victims of gender-based violence on where to report complaints or grievances.
While in the middle of discussion, power interruption occurred which usually happens three to five times a day in Maluso. This prompted the lecturer to continue the discussion using whiteboard and postcards until the electricity was restored. Although this happened, the participants actively participated in the discussion and workshop exercises, underscoring the importance of their newly learned knowledge and looking forward for more information drive and activities in the future.