A place to start

Tunisia decided to close down about 80 “illegal” mosques to avoid having them spread hatred and incitement to violence.

The decision, suggested by the previous Tunisian prime minister as well, came in the wake of a deadly attack in this Arab country where tourism accounts for 7 per cent of its GDP and provides direct and indirect jobs for 400,000 people.

Saturday, a beachside massacre claimed by Daesh left 38 people dead — all foreign tourists, according to eyewitnesses and officials — and prompted a major security clampdown.

The country was still trying to heal from an earlier attack on a museum in March, which took the lives of 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.

The closure of the mosques suspected of inciting to extremism may be a good start.

It has long been known that fanatic activists often use the mosque pulpit to spread their message of extremism and intolerance.

But it takes more than the closure of some places of worship to combat fanaticism.

A campaign against this evil must be multifaceted and start as early as possible in schools.

Once radical ideas and hatred of the “other” are inculcated in children’s minds, it is really hard to attempt to eradicate them.

In parallel, campaigns among communities should aim at spreading the correct values of religious tenets and demonstrate the benefits of coexistence and piety as preached by legitimate religious texts, not by the twisted minds of crazed, self-styled prophets.

Again, the fight against extremism is multi-dimensional and the decision to stop some mosques from serving as conduits for spreading radicalism is one good place to start it.

Moreover, Muslim countries should ensure that the right imams, those with solid knowledge of religion, deliver particularly the Friday sermons, which should be an occasion to teach the true message of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance.

Human life is as precious in Islam as in any other religious or moral creed. This is one message mosques have the duty to send out.

If they cannot or will not, closing them is the kindest thing to do.