Clerics should combat militant ideology: Saudi

By Staff
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Riyadh, Dec 6: Clerics in Saudi Arabia, which is fighting a violent campaign by al Qaeda supporters, must do more to stamp out militant thinking among Saudi youth, the interior minister said.

''All our clerics must act, because it is their role to correct the convictions in the minds of youth everywhere ... and to be constructive and not instruments of destruction,'' Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said in comments shown on state television yesterday.

''Unfortunately, hostile forces have managed to infiltrate some Muslim ranks and mobilise them to do acts against Muslims, and this is regrettable,'' he said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has said it detained 136 suspected Islamic militants who were planning a series of suicide attacks and assassinations.

The government said the men, including Saudis and foreigners arrested over the past months, had secured the approval of unnamed clerics.

Officials have said that a ''correction programme'' has straightened out the thinking of over 700 Saudi men who had believed in the ''takfiri'' ideology behind al Qaeda, which launched a campaign against the US-allied monarchy in 2003.

''Takfiri'' is a term used for groups or people who brand Muslim governments or ordinary Muslims as infidels because of policies, behaviour or beliefs.

Militants in several parts of the world use the ''takfiri'' ideology to justify attacks on governments, foreigners and civilians.

A member of the committee has said young people were attracted to radical Islamist ideology through preachers' sermons and lectures, as well as religious edicts on the Internet and in books.

Clerics are a powerful force in Saudi Arabia, which enforces a strict form of Islamic law. King Abdullah has advocated cautious social, political and economic reform since he came to power last year.


Reuters

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