JEDDAH: The Women’s Counseling Committee at the Interior Ministry has been successful in changing the minds of schoolgirls and teachers who harbor Al-Qaeda-like extremist thoughts and ideas, says Fatima Al-Sulami, a member of the committee.
“We found women with such extreme ideas during social gatherings and were able to remove their deviant and destructive thoughts and ideologies through counseling and awareness campaigns,” she told Al-Watan Arabic daily in a report published Friday.
Al-Sulami said lack of patriotism was the main reason for women to harbor such deviant thoughts, adding that they get these ideas from websites.
An informed source at the Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said no woman is being held in prison for crimes related to extremism. “If we find any woman enticed by Al-Qaeda thoughts, she would be given advice at home,” the source said.
The Men’s Counseling Committee was formed in 2003 at the initiative of Prince Muhammad bin Naif, assistant minister of interior for security affairs, and included many Islamic scholars. The committee, which comprises scientific, security and psychology panels, was instrumental in correcting the thoughts of more than 150 young men, the source claimed.
“When we saw that some schoolgirls and teachers were following extremist ideologies, our committee quickly acted to contain the trend by providing them with necessary counseling,” Al-Sulami said.
She said the first Women’s Counseling Committee was formed two years ago in Hafr Al-Baten. Apart from students, their mothers, teachers and administrators attended the open discussions that were held at schools and conference halls in Hafr Al-Baten and Qaisuma. Al-Sulami said counseling was provided to such girls and women in one-to-one meetings where they were provided with necessary advice in a friendly manner in order to correct their thoughts.
Al-Sulami emphasized the importance of continuing such counseling programs in order to remove dangerous ideas from the minds of those girls and women.
She emphasized the need for protecting young men and women from deviant thoughts. “If every family had inculcated the thoughts of patriotism and love of religion in the minds of their children, these girls and women would not have been exposed to such deviant thoughts and ideologies,” she said.
Al-Sulami said tribalism was partly to blame for extremism and violence. She cited an instance when she had to intervene and dissuade the mother of a student who came to attack the school principal because she thought her daughter was being maltreated at the school because of her tribe.
“I was able to cool down that woman and give her necessary advice in order to correct her extremist thoughts,” she said.
At present two awareness programs are planned for Kharma and Turba, said Saeed Al-Wadie, coordinator the Men’s Counseling Committee. Counseling is given through direct talks, Friday sermons, lectures and cultural contests in certain areas.
