Mohamed Aissa: “There Are No “Daesh” Elements In Algerian Prisons”

The Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments (Wakfs), Mohamed Aissa, confirmed that the imams of the Ministry of Religious Affairs met with armed terrorist groups in prisons and carried out intellectual reviews.

He said that the imams of Algeria met with armed terrorist groups in prisons and conducted intellectual reviews to analyze the intellectual and religious reference for which the misguided young man carried the weapons.
The Minister added that a special program to this effect had been worked out and approved by the Ministry of Justice.

During a meeting of the National Scientific Council of Imams or Religious Preachers, held on Saturday in Dar El Imam, in Algiers, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments (Wakfs), Mohamed Aïssa tackled several current issues facing his sector. But the most important one he referred to during this broad-based meeting was that of “moderate discourse and the middle path”.

From the onset, he recalled the deep attachment of Algerians to a moderate Islam and their constant concern to move away from religious extremism and radicalization.

He pointed out that “the fundamental problem lies in religious practices and not in sacred texts”.

And it is through this that the preferred approach is to “intellectually arm” imams in order to “shake the ideological foundations of terrorist propaganda and deviant speech and ideas, foreign to our society”, he stressed

Continuing his statement, Mr Mohammed Aissa referred to “Wahabbism” and its variations as well as other adverse trends that sow the seeds of fitna or discord and promote hatred and violence.

Using the lofty example of the Prophet’s model behavior Mohamed (God’s Blessings and Peace Be Upon Him), the Minister urged the imams in attendance, to raise awareness among the new generations about the imperious need to focus on the middle path followed by Algerian Islam, and to reject the deleterious foreign religious ideas and trends sown in the country which trigger hatred and division among the ranks of the Algerian people.

On the other hand, he also called on imams to pay close attention to the preaching that circulates on social networks.

He acknowledged, however, that “we cannot fight or stamp out this nefarious thought that preaches radicalization and religious extremism on the Internet.

“As a remedial solution, we ordered the officiating imams to open accounts on facebook and other social networks to fight and combat “Salafism” and violent extremism and to shift to the action stage and not to confine themselves to mere reactions,” Mr. Mohamed Aïssa underscored.