Religious scholars denounce extremists' war on education in West Africa

Al-Qaeda's West African affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has embarked on a systematic campaign to destroy education across the Sahel region, burning and forcing the closure of dozens of schools.

The assault on education, which comes as JNIM expands across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, has shuttered hundreds of schools in northern Burkina Faso alone, according to regional reports.

JNIM's attack on education is depriving thousands of children of their fundamental right to learn, while serving its broader strategy of weakening government influence in rural areas and dominating local communities.

"Al-Qaeda shuts down schools and threatens teachers in order to drag the intellectual space of society into darkness," said Germay-based political analyst Mohammad Ali Atayee.

"For this group, someone who reads, thinks, and asks questions is a threat."

The targeting of educational institutions reflects a calculated understanding that knowledge is the greatest enemy of extremism, with informed populations proving far more resistant to radical recruitment efforts.

It is part of a strategy to remove power structures, legal frameworks and educational opportunities that might provide alternatives to extremist ideology.

"Extremists, especially those affiliated with al-Qaeda, always seek to create vacuums -- power vacuums, legal vacuums, and especially educational vacuums," Atayee said.

"They know they can recruit more effectively in an environment of ignorance and hopelessness."

Attack on the future

"The terrorists’ goal is to raise a generation that is obedient, lacks critical thinking, and is prepared to accept the ideology of violence," Atayee said. "Therefore, attacking education is essentially an attack on a nation’s future."

"These groups consciously close schools and halt education to weaken state institutions and dismantle society from within," said Ankara-based political analyst Sayed Mansoor Samadi.

"This is a silent war, not just against teachers but against the spirit of progress."

Religious scholars across the region decry JNIM's actions as a betrayal of Islamic principles, arguing that its systematic destruction of schools directly contradicts the faith's emphasis on learning and intellectual development.

"When groups like al-Qaeda exploit the name of Islam to justify violent goals, they betray the true spirit of the faith," religious scholar Mawlawi Mohiuddin Yaqubi, of Mazar-i-Sharif, told Salaam Times.

"They deceive innocent youth with distorted interpretations and use religious concepts to justify bloodshed," he said.

"It is therefore incumbent upon us, the religious scholars, to raise awareness and save Islam from the grip of extremism."

"Islam never permits schools to be burned or people to be killed simply for holding different beliefs," Kabul-based religions scholar Mawlawi Ebadullah Arsalayee told Salaam Times.

"We must be the voice of true religion and not allow Islam’s image to be stained with blood and violence."