Extremism Has Nothing to Do with Islam
Merfah Fiulafin*, Serbia's representative in the memorization category of Iran's 31st International Holy Quran Competition, made the remark in an interview with IQNA.
Following is excerpts from the interview.
Q: Have you attended international Quran competitions before?
A: No, never, this is my first time that I am here as a memorizer. Our region's Islamic community is very small and we have just 5 Quran memorizers… unlike Iran, Pakistan and Egypt where there are thousands and thousands of memorizers. I am a professor of Islamic history and my specialization is not the recitation of Quran. I have not come here to take awards. I am happy to be here, near my Muslim brothers and this is my goal.
Q: How do you see Iran's international Quran competition?
A: Organization is very good, I see authorities who are working hardly to make us comfortable in our needs. And I see many Muslims from different countries here, and this is a great competition.
Q: When did you start memorizing the Quran?
A: I started the memorizing when I was studying in college in Cairo. But I didn't finish my memorization in college. I just memorized 10 Juzes. After college, I had enough time to memorize all of Quran in a year and half.
Q: Did learning the Quran help you in other aspects of your life?
A: Of course. In every aspects of life, if you do something constantly you will be better and better. When started memorizing the Quran and learning it by heart, its effect was little, but when I memorized more and more its effect became bigger and bigger.
Q: What recommendations do you have for young people who want to be successful in Quran memorization?
A: I recommend them to study every day constantly. Not too much, for example half an hour, one hour, they don’t need to always spend too much time, but they need to study every day, that’s enough. As a daily obligation.
Q: Let's turn to some other issues. What problems is the Muslim world facing today?
A: There are many problems that the Muslim world is facing nowadays, especially in the Arab world and Middle East. Violence in Syria and the political situation in Egypt are the main problems. And if I want to talk about the whole Islamic world, I think the main subject is unity and the Islamic countries' cooperation. Islam says that all Muslims are brothers, but unfortunately we can't see brotherhood.
Q: Who is to blame for these problems?
A: I think that Muslims in the world are good, but the main problems are the governments of some countries who hinder cooperation between Islamic populations.
Q: What should be done to achieve brotherhood? Or how can Shias and Sunnis achieve the unity? And what is the role of media here?
A: The media can play special role in bringing about unity and cooperation among Islamic countries. I think at the first step the media can take is help to promote the message of the Quran.
Q: What is your idea about religious extremism? How should it be tackled?
A: Extremism is not part of our religion. Our religion is a peaceful one and everyone who has extremist ideas is not a real Muslim. He should try to return to Islam. We can't accept that a person who kills innocent people in the world is a Muslim.
* Merfah Fiulafin is from the Muslim region of Sanjak in Serbia. He studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo in the field of Islamic history and Islamic civilization. He teaches history of Islam.
