This undated file image posted on a militant website on Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the Islamic State group marching in Raqqa, Syria.The Associated Press
Three years ago, Egyptian preacher AbdelMoneim el-Shahat was taking aim at icons of pre-Islamic and secular Egypt, from Pharaonic statues – which he said should be covered in wax – to the country's most celebrated novelist, slammed for encouraging vice.
Now, Mr. el-Shahat, from the ultraconservative Salafist school of Islam, says he's directing his criticism, in articles and talks, at the group calling itself the Islamic State and its ideology – part of a regional push to undercut the group's religious message that has engaged a wide array of scholars.
The U.S. and its Arab allies have vowed to fight a war of ideas alongside their military campaign against the Islamic State, whose recruiting videos mix battle scenes with citations from the Muslim holy book. Opponents seeking to engage on the theological front, though, start with a handicap: They're often viewed with hostility by exactly the people – potential sympathizers with the militants – that they're trying to reach.
"It is very difficult for governments to work at the level of ideology," said Michael Wahid Hanna, senior fellow at the Century Foundation. "Populations that are most vulnerable to radicalization essentially view the religious institutions used to push forward these claims as illegitimate themselves."
The U.S. wants religious scholars to be part of the battle. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, after touring the Middle East last month, called for "major efforts to delegitimize [IS]'s claim to some religious foundation for what it's doing, and begin to put real Islam out there."
Mr. el-Shahat has taken flak from some of his target audience. "By God, I regret the day I respected this man," one person wrote under an online video in which Mr. el-Shahat criticizes the jihadi group.
A group of religious scholars in Saudi Arabia have spoken up against IS, following a call by Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik for Muslims to "rid people and religion of their evil and harm." He said the group's actions distort Islam and are "filled with mutilations and hideousness."
Authorities elsewhere in the Middle East have targeted clerics they accuse of fomenting violence. In Tunisia, government efforts to stop would-be fighters from heading to Syria have included keeping a close eye on pulpits, said Abd el-Sattar Badr, a senior official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Since January, 160 imams have been removed from mosques for "deviating from moderate speech" and using sermons for incitement, he said.
In Egypt, Mr. el-Shahat says his Salafist movement started trying to counter the Islamic State's ideas after noticing it was winning admirers. In much of the Islamic world, he said, young people are so frustrated that they feel "sympathy with any victory, even if it's unreal."