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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.60.12.7

How to Cite:

against bullying, extremism and aggression and

Dr., Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, College of Education in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.

This project was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University under research project

2022/01/20146

intellectual trends that carry with them

exaggeration and intellectual extremism, these

trends are old in meaning and significance. Its

impact on nations and groups varies in quantity

and quality, because human groups live in

continuous competition to achieve their goals.

Therefore, every nation makes its utmost effort

to win the conflict between it and other nations,

and works to contain other nations, so it creates

for that purpose means that will motivate others

to create counter-means in which there is a kind

of extremism and exaggeration, and even

extremism, especially if their religious scruples

are weak or confused. It is also known that the

university stage is the youthful vigor and

curiosity stage, and learning about what is new in

the field of thought and culture. Hence, the

leaders of extremism and exaggeration find their

goal in changing the identity of university youth

and altering their intellectual trends, taking

advantage of the fact that one of the

characteristics of young people at this age stage

be intellectual or behavioral. Alhaider (2002) and

Abdel-Sada (2021) also pointed out that

extremism is one of the most dangerous types of

intellectual deviation, due to its destructive

effects on the individual and society, including:

(1) sabotage of consciousness and weakening of

wills, loss of the individual's personality,

(2) entering the crucible of crime, (3) challenging

the principles and ethics of society, (4) disturbing

national unity, (5) weakening the capabilities of

the phenomenon of extremism, including:

1. Political reasons: these occur under corrupt

regimes that lack accountability and

transparency.

2. Social reasons: represented in the absence of

social justice and the spread of injustice and

corruption.

3. Economic reasons: represented in the spread

4. Intellectual and cultural reasons: represented

5. Religious reasons: represented in the

Study problem

people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, such as

the one that occurred in the city of Riyadh in the

AH. The university is one of the most important

educational institutions from which the youth of

society graduate, and through which their

attitudes, tendencies and beliefs are formed.

Therefore, it has a great role and responsibility in

preparing and graduating a generation of pure

faith, free from destructive ideas and intellectual

of Saudi Arabia.

Therefore, the problem of the current study can

be summarized in answering the following

questions:

1. What are the barriers of confronting

Literature review

Many studies have dealt with the phenomenon of

extremism from different angles, including:

Alborai (2002) conducted a study to identify the

role of universities in confronting extremism.

The researcher used the descriptive analytical

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colleges, and the study came out with results,

including: the causes of extremism are the

weakness of religious scruples, the absence of a

good role models, the spread of the phenomenon

of unemployment, the absence of societal justice,

the spread of bribes and embezzlement, and the

low economic level. The study proposed methods

to confront extremism, including: attention to

student activities, political practice, activating

religious culture, seeking justice, and developing

the spirit of belonging.

reached a number of results, the most important

of which are: the highest degrees of extremism

were with regard to the political, then religious,

economic and educational aspects. The study

also showed that there were no statistically

significant differences in the response of the

study sample with regard to the phenomenon of

intellectual and educational extremism according

to the difference in the student's annual rate or his

socio-economic level.

phenomenon, and the suggestion of a treatment

formula for it. The study sample consisted of

(157) university professors. The researcher used

the descriptive approach, the interview and the

questionnaire to collect data, and the study

showed that the psychological field came in the

first place, while the human relations came in the

second and last place. The results also showed

that there were no statistically significant

differences in the degree of manifestations

reasons for extremism are the economic

blockade, split between people, partisanship,

ignorance of the provisions of Sharia, intolerance

of opinion, lack of recognition of the other

opinion, and lack of communication between

scholars and youth.

The study of Alrababa (2014) aimed to show the

was the deans of student affairs in Jordanian

universities. The researcher used the descriptive

analytical approach, and the interview was a data

collection instrument. The study found a number

of results, including: that universities have a role

in confronting terrorism, reaching 33 roles, the

most important of which are: instilling the correct

belief in the hearts of students, raising awareness

of terrorism dangers, raising awareness of how to

deal with the media to clarify the difference

between good and bad, including courses in the

Also, the study of Alsayad (2019) conducted a

study with the aim of identifying how the

university confronts intellectual extremism from

the point of view of university students. The

study sample consisted of 301 male and female

students from Kafr El-Sheikh University in

Egypt. Using the questionnaire, the study

reached a number of results, the most important

of which is that intellectual extremism has a

Alqudah and Ashour (2019) conducted a study in

Jordan with the aim of identifying the role of the

faculties of Sharia and Education in confronting

religious extremism among undergraduate

students in Jordanian universities. Applying the

questionnaire instrument on 262 faculty

members at the university, and interviewing 15

educational leaders from the deans and heads of

departments in the faculties of Sharia and

faculties and the absence of a clear plan,

mechanism and methodology in confronting this

extremism were among the most prominent

barriers facing these faculties in carrying out

their role in confronting this extremism among its

students.

Methodology

The study followed the descriptive survey

method, using a questionnaire to obtain the

required information from the study population.

The researcher communicated with three Saudi

universities: Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz

University, King Saud University, and Majmaah

University through an official letter to facilitate

the researcher's task and distribute the web link

to the questionnaire, in order to participate in the

current study to survey the views of postgraduate

students in universities regarding the barriers that

limit confronting the phenomenon of intellectual

extremism in Saudi universities. After collecting

the obtained questionnaires, eight questionnaires

were excluded for not completing their filling,

and the members number of the intentional study

sample became 133 individuals.

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Table 2.

**Statistically significant at significance level α = 0.01

Table 3 shows that each phrase has a statistically

significant correlation at significance level of α =

0.01 to the barrier to which it belongs,this

indicates the validity of the study instrument

through the phrases and its association with its

barrier.

In addition, the researcher also calculated in

Table 4 values of the correlation coefficients of

the barriers of the questionnaire and the total

degree of the questionnaire using the Pearson

correlation coefficient.

Table 4.

** Statistically significant at significance level α = 0.01

barrier of the absence of courses topics that

address the phenomenon of intellectual

extremism, where the correlation coefficient

reached (0.980), while the barrier of the

weakness of legislation on negative intellectual

phenomena reached the highest correlation

coefficient with the barrier of the weakness of the

complementary relationship between the

university and society, where the correlation

coefficient reached(0.965)

university and society, followed by the barrier of

weak legislation on negative intellectual

phenomena, and finally the barrier of the

weakness of activating the role of the intellectual

awareness unit at the university.

Second: reliability of the questionnaire

To verify the reliability of the study instrument,

the researcher calculated the reliability

The absence of courses topics dealing with the phenomenon of

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Table 5 shows that the reliability coefficient of

alpha Cronbach for the questionnaire as a whole

was (0.994); The coefficients of the

questionnaire axes ranged between (0.972-

0.988), which are considered high reliability

coefficients, and an indicator of the reliability of

the barriers of the questionnaire, and the highest

reliability coefficient came for the barrier of poor

purposeful entertainment methods in universities

(0.988), and the lowest reliability coefficient in

favor of the barrier of the weak activation of the

For the purposes of judging the phrases

accurately, and after taking the opinion of

specialists in the field of measurement and

evaluation and arbitrators, each phrase was

judged according to the following categories

• (1-1.80) The presence of very low degree of

• (4.21-5) The presence of high degree of

Results and Discussion

intellectual extremism in Saudi universities

from the point of view of postgraduate

students?

To answer the first question, the means and

Table 6.

Table 6 shows that the most barriers that limit

confronting intellectual extremism in Saudi

universities from the point of view of

postgraduate students were ranked in the

following barriers: not activating the role of the

intellectual awareness unit at the university with

an arithmetic mean of (4.207), then the poor

means of purposeful entertainment at the

university with mean of (4.125), and the absence

of courses topics dealing with the phenomenon

of intellectual extremism with mean of (4.070),

and the weakness of the complementary

relationship between the university and society to

confront intellectual extremism with mean of

(4.055), and weak legislation on negative

intellectual phenomena with mean of (3.947).

Table 7.

Table 7 shows that the low number of courses

and workshops offered by the unit is the highest

among the barrier’s phrases “weak activation of

the role of the Intellectual Awareness Unit in the

university” with an arithmetic mean of (4.353),

followed by poor use of social media in the unit’s

work with an arithmetic mean of (4.173). Also,

in the third place is the phrase of the lack of

clarity of the unit objectives for its workers with

an arithmetic mean of (4.165), and in the last

comes the phrase of incompetence of the workers

in Saudi universities from the point of view of

postgraduate students. Intellectual awareness

units have a growing role in combating

intellectual barriers. Therefore, all Saudi

universities included them in structuring their

organizational structure. We note that the

weakness of its role has been represented in the

phrase lack of courses and workshops, which

came in first place among the phrases of the

barriers. So, it was necessary for the units to

increase the rate of workshops and awareness

leaflets they implement and provide solutions to

goals of the unit and its work mechanisms.

Table 8.

Lack of elective courses on issues of intellectual

The courses of social subjects do not refer to the

From Table 8, it is clear that the phrase of “lack

of elective courses on issues of intellectual

extremism” was the first with an arithmetic mean

of (4.083), while the phrase of “the courses of

social subjects do not refer to the negative effects

of extremism on the development of the

homeland and the security of citizens” came in

second place with an arithmetic mean of (4.068),

and the phrase of “Islamic studies courses do not

address the phenomenon of intellectual

has come in third place among the barriers to

confront intellectual extremism in Saudi

universities from the point of view of

postgraduate students; and the phrase "lack of

optional courses on issues of intellectual

extremism" ranked first among the phrases of the

barriers. It is known that most universities

develop a package of elective courses for

students; so it was important to have courses that

address the phenomenon of intellectual

extremism. It is also noted that social studies

in Fatwa and religious fanaticism.

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Table 9.

From the table (9), it is shown that the phrase

“shortcomings of university legislation on

negative phenomena” came in first place with an

mean of (4.038); while the phrase “Weak

place came the phrase “the absence of laws and

legislation related to intellectual phenomena in

universities” with an arithmetic mean (3.880),

which means that there are laws, but there is a

weakness in their activation.

From the tables 6 and 9, it is shown that the

weakness of university legislation on negative

phenomena was one of the barriers confronting

intellectual extremism in Saudi universities from

add articles and content that enhance its

authority; and it also needs to the help of

regulatory and monitoring associations that deal

with negative intellectual phenomena. All of this

will not serve its purpose unless those

legislations and laws on extremist intellectual

phenomena are activated.

Table 10.

care for the activation of entertainment in

universities” came in first place with an

arithmetic mean of (4.150); and the phrase “Poor

weakness of purposeful entertainment is one of

the barriers that affect a lot in confronting

intellectual extremism in Saudi universities from