Under the headline “Extremism 'alien' to Islam” the Jakarta Post reported on the speech of leading British Imam, Abduljalil Sajid, to the Islamic State University in Jakarta, Indonesia. Imam Sajid, who is active with the Agenda for Reconciliation programme of Initiatives of Change was visiting Indonesia with his wife Jamila on the first leg of an IofC-sponsored tour of the region – going on to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The Imam met leaders of several Muslim organizations in Jakarta, including the two largest, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah (with 30 million and 29 million members respectively).

The Jakarta Post article, by Ary Hermawan, reported Sajid as saying that extremists were gaining support in Islam from disenfranchised Muslims and hurting what has traditionally been a moderate faith. Sajid quoted the Prophet Muhammad: "Beware of extremism in your religion as people before you were destroyed because of their extremism".

The article continued:

Sajid said he was aware of the verses in the Koran that could be interpreted by some Muslims as giving them the right to impose their views on others.
Verses did prohibit Muslims from living without the guidance of the Koran, he said, and some had interpreted this as meaning that all Muslims should be forced to believe.
However, "those kind of verses should have been understood within their context (in ancient times)," he told The Jakarta Post after the lecture.
He said growing religious extremism and terrorism were triggered by social and political problems.
"They are symptoms of a problem, not the actual cause," he said. "In order to combat and eradicate these evils totally, our long-term goal should be to eliminate the underlying social and political causes that breed them."
He said the rising racism, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in the Muslim and western worlds had given rise to terrorism.
He said moderate Muslims must make vigorous efforts to bolster freedom, human dignity, justice and humanitarian values to fight terrorism.
He called on Muslims worldwide to unite to promote a peaceful Islam and warned them of the danger of sectarian and political divisions. "The world cannot be changed by violence and aggression. It has to be changed by communication and cooperation," he said.
He disagreed with the notion that Islam in Southeast Asia and Europe was more tolerant than in the Middle East. "I think Islam is one," he said.
Muslims should join forces to tackle social problems in the Islamic world, including a lack of access to education and health and the preservation of culture.
Terrorists and other extremists might claim to be Muslims but if they tried to forcibly impose their views on others, they were not true believers, Sajid said.
"By God, he is not a true believer, if from whose mischief his neighbors do not feel secure," he quoted the Prophet Muhammad as saying.