The world's largest Muslim organization admitted that the problem of extremism sprang from the Islam teachings, which need to be revised to become in accord with the modern world.
Yahya Staquf, an Indonesian cleric affiliated with the Nahdlatul Ulama, said many Muslims have evolved from traditional opposition to supremacist Islamism, according to CNN.
His admission reinforced former Pope Benedict's statement that had strained the relationship between Muslims and the Vatican when he said that Islam is not a religion of peace.
At the international meeting of moderate Islamic leaders in Jakarta, the Indonesia-based organization strongly condemned their fellow Muslims particularly the Islamic State (ISIS) and the al-Qaeda.
"We keep on denying the source of the problem, namely some ailments within Islam itself," Staquf said, adding that bad elements of Islam are indeed part of the extremism problem.
Participants of the conference praised the group's admission of some ailments within Islam, and urged Muslims leaders to institute modifications into their laws to make it in consonance with the modern world.
Magnus Ranstorp, a counterterrorism expert from Sweden, said these issues have to be resolved by among the Muslims themselves with no intercession from the West.
"I don't see any other Muslim leaders coming to Europe standing up like a tower and saying, 'Look, we are prepared to take this on,'" he said.
Effect of extremism is evidently destructive in the Middle East. Millions of Syrians and Iraqis lost their homes and loved ones by the atrocities of the ISIS. Women were raped and killed, and families were stripped of their belongings.
Staquf said Islamic teachings are being used by terrorist to justify the use of violence.
"To be able to combat the global jihadi movement, world leaders and the general public must recognize the fact that extremism originates from Islamic teachings," he said.
He said even in Indonesia Muslims are hurting fellow Muslims, and we need to find a way on how to protect them.
