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Polanyi

Can a fatwa solve Somalia's problems?

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Polanyi   

Riazat Butt

 

Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been busy of late. This weekend he is attending a summit in Dubai, along with an international cast of scholars and clerics, to refute the ideologies of groups that "abuse the name of sharia by imposing their own literal, ill-informed interpretations onto others". Organised by the Global Centre for Renewal and Guidance (GCRG) the summit will clarify the orthodox position on jihad and takfir – judging a Muslim to be outside the fold – and analyse the religious motivation of group of violent Islamists in Somalia, known as al-Shabaab. The meeting will result in a fatwa condemning them.

 

 

Several thoughts spring to mind. It should not take a summit to state the obvious and it will take more than a fatwa to end the chaos and destruction wreaked by al-Shabaab. Previous Cif blogs have attracted a variety of opinion on the success or otherwise of fatwas against terrorism. So where does this leave the summit? According to Anna Rader, of the Royal United Services Institute, Somalia is a deeply religious country but most citizens are appalled by al-Shabaab's extreme interpretation of Islam and that the cultural strictures it seeks to impose are onerous to say the least when the country is struggling with poverty and insecurity. Other Islamist groups in the country – such as al-Ittihad al-Islami and the Islamic Council Union – have balanced the implementation of sharia with law, order and attempts to address social welfare issues. Al-Shabaab, she adds, has made no effort to connect its form of "justice" to broader issues, "calling into question whether it really has any clear programmatic goals or any sense of what a truly Islamic state would look like for Somalia".

 

 

Both al-Shabaab and the Somali president use religious rhetoric to establish legitimacy and authority in the eyes of the international and domestic community. Both lay claim to being the true guardians of Islam. It could be that, by allying himself with people such as Salman al-Awadah, the Saudi Arabian scholar who set up Islam Today, and Abdullah Omar Naseef, president of the Muslim World League, that the Somali president is more interested in bolstering the transitional federal government (TFG) than trying to influence al-Shabaab, which has made it clear it is not interested in winning support among Muslim leaders.

 

 

Sharif's efforts may backfire and strengthen anti-TFG feeling among other Islamist groups or strengthen opposition to al-Shabaab. It is difficult to assess how effective a fatwa will be in a country where material, rather than spiritual, resources are so sorely lacking. The GCRG has invited me to Dubai to report on the conference, so I hope the assembled dignitaries will be able to shed some light on the motivation for a religious strategy, rather than a political one.

 

At a summit in Dubai, scholars and clerics are gathering to destroy the Somalian rebels' religious credibility

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Polanyi   

SATURDAY 13 MARCH

9.00- 10.00 Opening Session addressed by: HE President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the President of Somalia and Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayah, President of the Global Centre for Renewal and Guidance

 

SUNDAY 14 MARCH

9.30 am

Session Chair:

Shaykh Muhammad Sultan al Ulama

Speaker 1:

Amr Khaled

Speaker 2 :

Shaykh Mohammed Garibullah

Speaker 3:

Abdullah Ali Salem

Speaker 4:

Shaykh Qaribullah Nasir Kabara

 

Islamic scholars will hold a conference between the March 13-14 to call on the Somali people to back president sheikh shariff.

The summit will draw upon the expertise of Muslim scholars such as:

Hamza Yusuf (USA)

Amr Khaled (Egypt)

Shaykh Tijane Cisse (Senegal)

Shaykh Mohamed Gharib , (Sudan)

Shaykh Habib Ali Al Jifri the General Director of Tabah Foundation

 

All who will clarify the orthodox position on Jihad and Takfir (judging a Muslim to be outside the fold of Islam).

 

The event under the Chairmanship of the President of GCRG Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayah will focus on the refutation of the ideologies of violent Islamists in Somalia who abuse the name of Shariah by imposing their own literal, ill-informed interpretations onto the innocent population.

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Raamsade   

The unelected and therefore unaccountable should never be entrusted to solve anyone's problems. Who gave these Shiikhs/Imaams the authority to issue fatwas anyways?

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Jacpher   

The masked dogs don't have the ears to understand the importance of the message. I am afraid all this effort is going down the drain.

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Polanyi   

Originally posted by Raamsade:

The unelected and therefore unaccountable should never be entrusted to solve anyone's problems. Who gave these Shiikhs/Imaams the authority to issue fatwas anyways?

There are plenty of "unelected" people who solve or help try solve problems in the world. Scholars are no different to community workers, elders and other groups who try come up with solutions to societal problems. Of course, these are only their opinions and nobody is forcing you to agree with them.Besides, I don't remember SOmali people electing Sheikh Shariff and his cronies.

 

Personally, I believe that these so called "scholars" are abusing the Islamic religion. They are like magicians trying to decieve the unsuspecting eye. Khasaro.com.

 

Shariff also needs all the support(money makes the world go round and all that) he can get, although this fatwa is likely to have the same impact as David Beckham will in the world cup.

 

ps. you should be happy with this fatawa. Basically, they said Shariff is the caliph of SOmalia and all Somali people are required to pledge allegiance to him.lol. I am sure Raamsade would be the first to give allegiance to the emirul muslimeen :D

 

GCRG1.jpg

 

Prominent international Islamic scholars and figures also in attendance included Amr Khaled (the foremost anti-extremist tele-preacher in the Arab world), Shaykh Habib Ali Jifri and Dr Abdullah Omar Nassief. Scholars from Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Yemen, Libya and UAE were also present.

 

 

 

The religious declaration is significant because:

 

 

The scholars represented at the conference have global Islamic influence representing major Muslim organisations and movements with millions of followers across the world.

This is the first global religious declaration on the issue of Somalia.

 

It directly challenges and undermines the religious justification for violence that is used by extremists in Somalia (and globally).

 

The declaration emphatically condemns all forms of terrorism including the horrific inter-Muslim violence in Somalia.

 

It makes unequivocally clear that terrorists are destined for hellfire.

 

It makes clear that obeying legitimate state authority is an Islamic obligation. This principle applies in Somalia where the current Somali TFG government is based on the consensus of the Somali people and recognised by the international community.

It is a religious obligation to recognise the legitimate authority of the government.

 

Any legitimate dissent must be through dialogue and discussion. Islam categorically condemns dissent through any form of violence, murder and subversion.

The current violence in Somalia is against the Somali people and its government and cannot be considered to be a jihad.

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Malika   

^Oh yeah,between starving,bullet showers,walking for miles to find security,sleeping under trees the people took time to vote.. :rolleyes:

 

*reaching out for the buckett to vomit*

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Polanyi   

Originally posted by Malika:

^Oh yeah,between starving,bullet showers,walking for miles to find security,sleeping under trees the people took time to vote.. :rolleyes:

 

*reaching out for the buckett to vomit*

Edo, was that a rant against me or the celebrity wadads? I hope it is the latter. icon_razz.gif

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Malika   

^Waa bila Eedo iyo icon_razz.gif ,I am fed up with your likes and the likes of 'opposition' am feed up of seeing brothers and sisters children starving,wounded, living in chaos,mayhem etc etc..

 

Would it be really so bad to put arms down and come to an agreement? Bloody egocentrics..uff!

 

I am fed up, marka dinacaas iga mar.

 

:mad: :mad:

 

ps. smile.gif

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Castro   

Originally posted by The Zack:

^Sorry Yaa murtad, Somalia is a Muslim nation and yes the scholars' fatwa will always be respected.

Somalia is a clan nation and no 1-800-BUY-A-FATWA will solve its problems.

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Johnny B   

^I think he is doing good by seeking a 'fatwa'.

He has blood-thirsty killers, who declared him & his Government and every Somali who doesen't agree with their policies, Non-Moslims.

 

Now' he's entitled to fight back and Islamically. :D

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