page_title: Yasser Harrak
section_title: Counter Extremism Efforts
hierarchical_section_title: Yasser Harrak / Counter Extremism Efforts
caption_attribution_description: English: Yasser Harrak at Laval University. Quebec City 2013.
context_page_description: Yasser Harrak is a Canadian writer, commentator and founder of the Middle East Seminar forum. He has written dozens of peer reviewed articles in Arabic published by Almothaqaf Political Daily and Annabaa Institution for Media and Culture, in addition to a book titled: The Predicators, and another titled: Shiaphobia and the Iranianization of Shiism, both published in Arabic. In 2016, Yasser Harrak appeared in the Oximity News list of selected writers joining some of the world's most respected authors and human rights activists like Noam Chomsky and Robert Reich. He wrote and edited articles on Middle Eastern culture, security issues and current affairs for Oximity until its acquisition by reading subscription service Scribd in November 2016. The author is also listed as top contributor to Unpublished Ottawa, Canada's only social media website dedicated to current affairs. In a study published by the Center of Studies for Arab Unity, Dr. Abdelatif Hannachi cited Harrak'a article "Salafi Revisionism" in his research on Islamic movements in the Arab world.
context_section_description: Harrak's anti-extremism literature has been translated from English and Arabic, his writing languages, to several other languages. The Italian magazine Ilguastatore translated to Italian and published his article "Understanding why Saudi State Clerics Offer Prayers for ISIS". 
  The author has been known for openly criticizing political Islam and its prominent figures. He often publishes articles exposing radical scholars and activists calling on Canadian politicians to ban them from entering the country. In 2015, Badil Info, a famed Moroccan news agency, qualified Harrak's activism as a form of lobbying. In an interview with the London-based Fadak TV, Harrak suggested that the only way to trounce modern extremism is to denounce extreme acts of violence committed by the Muslim Caliphs. Violence, according to him, cannot be denounced in the present and glorified in the past. In August 2015, Chouf TV reported that Harrak campaigned to have Sheikh Abdel-Bari Zamzami expelled from Canada in the start of his 6 months visit to his daughter. He published articles accusing Zamzami of being anti-Semitic preaching hatred against Jews and Shiites. He also accused him of using Canadian health system urging prime minister Stephen Harper to expel him from Canada. In October 2015, Harrak campaigned to have Mohamad al-Arefe, a Saudi Islamist theologian, banned from entering Morocco after a visit plan was announced on his website. He accused al-Arefe of planning to recruit Moroccan youth to join radical movements fighting in Syria. Several news outlets published Harrak's article including Al Etejah TV.  Arefe later cancelled his visit to Morocco.
caption: Yasser Harrak at Laval University. Quebec 2013
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