The Jordanian state has been governed by a constitution since its inception. The constitution states that the religion of the state is Islam, and it also states that citizens are equal before the law regardless of religion, race, etc., and there is no contradiction between the two. The state—as the Interior Minister said—protects the citizen by law, whether they are Christian or Muslim. A Christian does not pay the Jizya as one of the Ahl al-Dhimma, but pays taxes as a citizen in accordance with the law.
A writer launched a sweeping attack on the Minister, accusing him of infringing on religion and those specialized in Sharia, and several accounts shared his article. I went back to his account and found that he had not said or written a single word about the Karak crime that shook Jordan; he was completely absent from the topic until he returned to attack the Interior Minister?!
We do not generalize; rather, we specify. We have seen Islamists consoling the victims' families with deep emotion, expressing their sincere sadness, indignation, and anger at the heinous crime. We expect them to be active partners in exposing the deviant group that fuels extremism, feeds hatred and tendencies toward violence and criminality with mental and psychological fuel, and awakens sleeper cells and lone wolves. We expect them to be a party in deterring the voices that represent the second line of defense for extremism by deliberately blurring the line between attacking extremism and attacking religion; between attacking a sermon promoting hatred in a mosque and attacking mosques, Quranic study centers, schools, and curricula in general.
The subject is not religion or religiosity, but the Daeshism that is criminal against the homeland and the religion. The criminal operation has stirred national fervor among Jordanians and placed the issue of combating the extremist ideology that produces violence, crime, and terrorism on the agenda of the state and all societal actors. We see the second line of defense for extremism emerging to launch a counter-attack, accusing calls to confront extremism, Takfirism, and obscurantism of being hostile to religion, mosques, curricula, and Quranic study centers in general. It is an intimidatory discourse par excellence that invokes religious zeal to create confusion and obstruct progress, while the true duty of those who are genuinely jealous for the sake of religion is to push away the affliction from it through a relentless war against currents of extremism and Takfirism, which have caused the greatest harm to all the meanings of moderation and centrism that characterize the true religion.
We have seen leaders and officials in the Ummah Party and many figures of the Islamic movement playing their correct role from the very first moment of the horrific crime, and we want to see a continuation of this role in reaching understanding and solidarity around a comprehensive national plan to combat Daeshism and remain vigilant toward the second line of defense for extremism that some are building within their ranks.
Let us be clear; Islam is not under accusation. Islam is the religion of 98% of citizens, and our people are conservative and religious by more than 90%, a religiosity saturated with national spirit, tolerance, and moderation, as evidenced by the comprehensive, overwhelming, spontaneous, and authentic reaction to the heinous crime. This is what should be built upon and invested in.
In reality, terrorism does not distinguish between people; its goal is to destroy societies and terrorize everyone. It previously targeted the entire society in the hotel bombings, and it has targeted the state and security forces more than once. Now, after its comprehensive defeats, it has awakened again to strike through whatever tools are available in the place and manner possible. While this time it targeted Christians in the vilest way (attacking mourners in a church), perhaps the goal was to showcase the utmost ugliness possible to inflict the maximum harm on the image of society, the image of Jordan, and the image of His Majesty the King personally as he performs the great role of exposing Zionist extremism and terrorism.
