Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
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Written By: Yemen Observer Staff
Article Date: Feb 5, 2012 - 7:53:20 PM
‘To raise the level of awareness and protect the youth form the risks and dangers of religious extremism” this is the message the author of the newly published book Scream, wants to convey to people in and outside Yemen.
As the book title entails, Scream wants to send a “wake-up call” to the young generation, educating them on the risks and pitfalls of extremism in all its forms by highlighting the devastating effects it could have on a society. The book calls for the promotion of tolerance, denouncing violence and fanaticism especially when it uses religion as a media.
The author of the book, Saeed al-Edreesi, urges people through his book to engage into a constructive dialogue with those they disagree with, encouraging them to lay down their differences of opinions.
Using Holy Scriptures from the Quran, the Bible and the Old Testament, al-Edreesi tries to enforce the message that all monotheist dogmas advocate non-violence and tolerance as opposed to war and spiritual repression. The book is characterized by its moderate thinking, leaving aside extremi
sm, calling for more flexibility. The book dedicated an entire chapter on religious men, encouraging people to have a good hard look on whom spiritual leaders they chose to follow as many were using fear and hatred as a platform for their preaching. Al-Edreesi writes of the dangers of misconceptions, stressing that many were coming from a simple failure of religious teaching methods.
Through his book, the author wants to remind religious men that it is very important for their fatwas to be based on the principles of love, peace, and other qualities that can enhance and strengthen the connection between Man and God.
The author also tries through the course of his book to make young people familiar with the concepts of accountability, punishment, forgiveness and mercy, highlighting that they were are all in the hands of Allah the Almighty.
Al-Edreesi reminds readers that Allah is the only guardian and protector of His servants and that no one not even His prophets were asked to act as guardian of His flock but that every single being is responsible for its own faith and actions.
In the concluding chapters of the book, al-Edreesi tried to convey the message that Islam is a religion of peace, and that therefore all those who in its name kill, bomb and justify atrocious acts are not deemed to call themselves Muslim. Finally, the author said that Islam’s religious scholars should concentrate their efforts on promoting tolerance amongst youngsters rather than spread anger and hatred.
The book comes in 170 pages with pictures of several activities that were conducted by its sponsor organization, Dar al-Salam Organization (Peace House in Yemen) for Peace and culture of Tolerance, founded in 1997.
Saeed al-Edreesi, the author is the media officer of Dar al-Salam Organization, won the shield of Peace and Forgiveness from Dar al-Salam. An advocate of religious dialogue, al-Edreesi participated in a number of conferences and discussions forums on religion, produced and presented several TV shows and programs in addition to several articles he wrote for prominent newspapers.