Mauritania calls to fight religious extremism

Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott is hosting a religious extremism meeting for the Minister of Religious Affairs of the Arab Maghreb Union on Monday. This is considered the first meeting of its kind and falls under the slogan “Moderate Sunni Islam and Its role in Intellectual and Cultural Protection for Maghreb Communities." The Secretary-General of the Mauritanian Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Education Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Sid Abat said: “This meeting represents an opportunity to study the phenomenon of extremism that raised the whole world’s concern and produced a new way of thinking that is full of hatred, violence, and allows shedding Muslim blood as well as attacking Muslim property and honour. He added that Nouakchott’s meeting will help in forming a unified vision to deal with this phenomenon and eliminate it from its roots." He pointed out that this phenomenon has spread everywhere, and even in the Maghreb region, which is necessary in forming an effective intellectual approach. The meeting is to highlight several points that include reviewing the security problem in the Maghreb, in terms of religion and ideology. Abat confirmed that there is a need to bring out the positive image of Islam instead of the contrary