Mark A. Gabriel, ex-Muslim and Islam-critic has gotten death threats and must cancel speaking appointments in the Netherlands. |
Friday, April 24, 2009
Netherlands: US Islam-critic cancel trip due to death threats
Denmark: On expectations for assimilation
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
Makkah to get second university
| P.K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab News |
JEDDAH: A university named Hudaibiya will be established as part of the Makkah Gate project, which aims to develop Makkah into a modern city with advanced living facilities. The city will also see, as part of the project, the establishment of a cultural dialogue center, a heritage village and a conference center. Spread over an area of 80 million square meters from Shumaisi checkpoint to the gate of Makkah along the expressway, the project also includes the construction of buildings for the Makkah governorate and other government offices, residential apartments and recreational centers. Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal inspected a model of the massive real estate project during a ceremony at Jeddah Hilton on Tuesday. The inspection was also attended by Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Bar, and Ayedh Al-Qahtani, chairman of the Sumou Real Estate Company, the property developer undertaking the project. Hudaibiya will be the second university in Makkah after Umm Al-Qura University, which is one of the oldest in the Kingdom. The new university will be located at the site where the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) signed the Hudaibiya Peace Treaty with the Quraish in 628 AD (8th Hijrah). Hudaibiya University will house an international center for research. It will also host a center for cultural dialogue, named after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, to promote dialogue between different faiths and cultures; deepen the values of justice, tolerance and moderation; and defend human rights. "We expect to get approval for the project within four months," said Al-Qahtani, adding that the project would be completed within 10 years in different phases. The land that is being used for the project belongs to both the public and private sectors. "A number of foreign investors have shown their interest in participating in the project, which requires billions of riyals in investment," he said. Al-Qahtani's company designed the project using the experience of countries such as Malaysia, the US and Brazil in implementing similar projects. The residential districts will be separated from service and administrative buildings in order to provide a peaceful atmosphere for residents, Al-Qahtani said. It will also have a mosque, kindergartens, primary schools, gardens and cultural clubs. Saudi Arabia has been giving utmost importance to education and training to meet its growing development requirements. There are educational quarters in the new giant economic cities that are coming up in Rabigh, Madinah, Hail and Jazan. Within the last four years, 12 new universities and several colleges have been opened in different parts of the country, increasing the number of state-run universities to 20. The government recently approved two new private universities: Dar Al-Hekma in Jeddah and Dar Al-Uloom in Riyadh. In a recent statement, Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari said Saudi Arabia requires 10 more universities for applied science and technology. He said private universities could play a bigger role in absorbing students who otherwise have to go abroad for higher studies by offering attractive courses and quality education. As many as 70,000 Saudi students have been sent abroad for higher studies in reputable foreign universities, especially in the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and India. |
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
TORTURE IN GRAVES
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Somalia Sees Imposing Islamic Law as Positive Step
Somalia's interim parliament voted unanimously on Saturday to adopt sharia as national legislation to meet major demand of conservative Islamist factions. A hard-line opposition faction in Somalia, allied with the militant al-Shabab group, has cautiously welcomed the passage of Islamic law Saturday in parliament. It is a positive development for the Somalia's fledgling unity government, which is hoping the imposition of the law, known as sharia, will remove the insurgents' main argument for continuing the war in Somalia.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Alan Hart, a man of history...his views on Late King Faisal and President Arafat.
| Alan Hart — a man of history Shabana Syed | Arab News | ||||||
If King Faisal had been allowed to live, the Middle East would not be in the dangerous mess it is today." That is the view of Alan Hart, a former ITN and BBC Panorama correspondent and the author of "Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews" — a two-volume book that tells the real story of how the Zionist state of Israel became its own worst enemy and a threat, not only to the peace of the region and the world, but also to the best interests of Jews everywhere and the moral integrity of Judaism itself. It's also the story of how American support for Israel right or wrong has generated Arab and other Muslim hurt, humiliation, anger and despair. Alan Hart was the first Western correspondent to interview King Faisal on film. More than four decades later, Alan says he can remember as though it were yesterday the conversation he had with King Faisal when they talked privately with only an interpreter present. Alan explains: "I took a deep breath and said: 'Your Majesty, may I ask you a straight question and please don't be offended by it?' He nodded his approval. 'You answered my questions on camera for more than one hour and in all that time, you didn't make one newsworthy or quotable statement. Why do you speak in such riddles?' With his piercing eyes, HM undressed me to my soul. From that moment on I could understand why US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was never comfortable in his presence. Eventually HM replied: 'You must understand the difficulty of my position. If I say the wrong thing, or even the right thing the wrong way, the Middle East will go up in flames.'" Even though Alan applauds King Abdullah's strides to make Saudi Arabia an important entity in world politics today, he believes that King Faisal could have accomplished much more if he had been allowed to live. Alan explains: "HM King Faisal was the one Arab leader who was not prepared to be intimidated by the Americans. Kissinger, for example, used all his influence to try to prevent Arafat being invited to address the UN General Assembly in 1974, but Faisal won that particular battle of wills. If he had been allowed to live, he would have won others and Lebanon would not have been torn apart by civil war and foreign interference and many of the disasters that followed would not have happened." Alan Hart has been engaged with events in the Middle East and their global consequences for many years. "The souvenirs I most treasure from my television reporting days are signed photographs of the two greatest opposites in all of human history — Golda Meir, Mother Israel, and Yasser Arafat, Father Palestine. Arafat signed with his 'best wishes'. Golda's inscription in her own hand was 'To Alan Hart, a good friend.' I think I must be the only person on Planet Earth to have enjoyed intimate access to both of them." Because of this special relationship with the Palestinian leader, Alan wrote his first ground breaking book — "Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker?" It was because of his special relationships with both leaders that in 1980 Alan found himself sucked into the covert diplomacy of conflict resolution. Alan explains: "President Carter had been prevented by Prime Minister Begin from involving the PLO in the peace process, an opening made possible because Arafat had signaled secretly that he was ready to make peace with an Israel inside more or less its pre-1967 borders. Carter was in despair and said, in private, that events had once again proved that it was impossible to advance the peace process by institutional diplomacy because of the Zionist lobby's influence on Congress. It was then suggested that I should undertake an unofficial, diplomatic mission to get an exploratory dialogue going between Arafat and Peres." The expectation at the time was that Peres would win Israel's next election and deny Begin a second term in office. According to Alan: "We made enough progress to get Peres and Arafat into public dialogue in the event of Peres winning the 1981 election. Unfortunately, he did not. You can find the full story in the second volume of "Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews." This experience confirmed to Alan that Arafat the pragmatist was ready, willing and able to make peace on terms which any rational government and people in Israel would have accepted with relief. It also assisted Alan to understand why it might be impossible for any Israeli leader, even a well-motivated one, to be able to make peace on any terms the Palestinians could accept. A decade later, Alan's initiative became the Oslo peace process, which might have delivered peace if Prime Minister Rabin had not been assassinated by a Zionist zealot. At present Alan is looking forward to the April publication of his book in America in three volumes. "Getting it published there", he says, "is a miracle because almost all publishers, the majors and the minors, are terrified of offending Zionism, either too much or at all." He adds with a smile: "It would be great to have an Arab publisher." |
An Audience with Yvonne Ridley (I)
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
British journalist and prominent Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley, pictured above, was in the news a while back leading a convoy of British vehicles containing £1 million in aid to Gaza.
I have some personal experience of this woman. In 2005, whilst I was attending the University of Kent and completing a degree in Politics & International Relations, she came to the campus to deliver a talk on her time in captivity in Afghanistan and her (then) recent conversion to Islam.
The talk was organised by the university's 'Muslim Society', and I decided to attend along with three friends, two male, one female. We were all quite interested in current affairs, and thought we were simply in for a good story.
At the time I knew almost nothing about Islam, at least compared to what I know now. The talk occurred just a few months before British-born Muslim suicide bombers slaughtered commuters during London's morning rush hour on the 7th July 2005.
Like the vast majority of the civilised world, I was distressed and upset by the events of 11th September 2001, but I did not realise the inherent nature of Islam and Jihad at that time; I was more concerned about the lax immigration policies which exist in most Western countries, and which 9/11 highlighted quite mercilessly.
Anyway, my friends and I arrived at the lecture theatre in which Ridley was to speak. Three large Asian men, who wouldn't have looked out of place as nightclub bouncers but for their long beards, stood blocking the door. Next to them stood a long table, upon which were stacked scores of green-bound books, which turned out to be free, English-language copies of the Koran.
We approached the men and explained we wished to hear Ridley's talk. Their stony faced demeanour changed - they smiled and opened the door whilst wishing us As-Salāmu `Alaykum السلام عليكم.
The lecture theatre was fairly full, and I was surprised by the number of Muslims in the audience. There were also some lecturers and other students, but the vast majority of people seemed to be Muslims and Left-wing activists from outside the university staff and student body.
We found four seats next to each other and filed in. However, as we sat down, a bearded Muslim man cleared his throat and explained that 'sex segregation' was in force - women sat to the left of the aisle and men to the right, as in a mosque.
Two of the large men from the door came over, and explained again that my female friend would have to move across the aisle. She didn't particularly want to, so I told them that we were staying put - if we'd chosen to go in a mosque then I would within reason respect any requests they made, but this was a lecture theatre in an English university.
One of the men looked angry and told us we would have to leave, but the other suggested a compromise - that she sit in the aisle seat of the men's side. We agreed to this, and duly shuffled around, but by now I was wondering what on earth was going on.
It got worse, however - we were told by the president of the Muslim Society, a Muslim girl wearing a headscarf, that the car that had been sent to collect Ridley had become stuck in traffic - so to pass the time, we were going to listen to pupils from an Arabic-language Koran 'Sunday school' in Canterbury recite prayers and passages from the Koran.
The menacing bouncers shut the doors, and we resigned ourselves to sitting there and listening to one child after the other take the podium and chant in Arabic. I'm as tolerant and open-minded as the next person, but I found it an unnecessary imposition, in all honesty. I had not gone to a religious event, and even a few of the lecturers and aging Leftists looked a little uncomfortable.
After about 20 minutes of incessant chanting, the doors burst open, and the president urged our applause - Yvonne Ridley was there, wearing a pink headscarf.
She's not an imposing woman to look at or speak to - she has the air of a teacher at a polytechnic, sort of a cross between someone with an academic air of authority, and someone who just wants to be friends and buy you a pint (well, not anymore, obviously).
She sat rather than stood, and spent about an hour and a half telling us about her journalistic career, her determination to get into to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and expose the treatment of women, her subsequent capture by the Taliban and her treatment, and her conversion to Islam after her release.
Something was not quite right, though. Although she admitted she was scared when the Taliban found her wearing a burqa in the back of a taxi, that was as far as it went. She talked of gazing into the green eyes of the bearded maniac who disrobed her at the roadside, as if they were strolling along the Seine together. As it was, she was actually being arrested by one of the most fearsome and misogynistic Islamic regimes the modern world has known.
Foreigners at that time were banned from Afghanistan on pain of death. The idea of an infidel, a woman at that, trying to sneak in to reveal the plight of ordinary Afghans should have been packed with notions of courage and honour - but it simply fell flat.
It fell flat because it was obvious as soon as she opened her mouth that she had some sympathy for the Taliban - and had even before her conversion.
The rest of the story was less James Bond and more Mills and Boon; 'they were so polite, so courteous, they didn't rape me or murder me or force me to convert to Islam...' etc etc etc.
Big of them. It seems she spent some time locked in a palatial room with a Taliban big-wig - the deputy leader, their interior minister or some such. She seemed far more interested in his 'beautiful white clothes and bejewelled turban' than the medieval barbarities he was almost directly responsible for, however.
He asked her to convert to Islam, or as she put it, 'revert to Islam'. She refused, but promised him that when she was released, she would read the Koran, study its message, and make up her own mind. She also promised she would help the Taliban get 'a fair hearing' in the British media.
She kept her promise, liked what she saw, and became perhaps Britain's most famous and prominent Muslim convert. Unfortunately, instead of whiling away her days in purdah reading the Koran, she decided to proselytize and spread Islam's message.
Here's where the talk completely parted company from reality (and, let's be honest, it had been touch and go before); Islam, you'll be surprised to learn, is a religion of peace, truth and beauty. Bush, Israel and the American media distort these simple realities.
Not 9/11, not rape and forced marriage, not forced conversions, honour killings and acid attacks, not suicide bombings, not treating women like cattle, gang rapes and violence. Just Bush, Israel and the US media.
At the time, I felt angry. Not only had I been lured to the talk under false pretences, but she was taking me and every non-Muslim in the room for an idiot, a complete dupe. I gritted my teeth through the rest of it, then left speedily at the end, but not before asking her an awkward question about women's rights and taking a free copy of the Koran.
That night, I sat down and read - and I began to understand. However, the picture I formed was very different to Ridley's. But then, maybe she was always inclined that way. For who is Yvonne Ridley, this woman I am almost indebted to for helping me to discover the truth of Islam?
http://islaamdoon.blogspot.com/
Part two to follow shortly.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Prof Ethan II on "Why Hamas is no ‘extremist'"
| Big C, the Germans had lived in east Prussia for 800 years; and the same was true in Bohemia. Is that not long enough for you? The Germans were the indigenous population, from time immemorial, of eastern Pomerania, from which they were also expelled, this becoming part of post-1945 Poland and settled by Poles. I'm not taking Erika Steinbach's side; she's a repulsive character. But those are the facts, the expellees number in the millions and they and their descendants are an important German pressure group, and it is also a fact that the construction of a museum to expellees in Berlin, in Germany (not in Poland!) was enough to send the Polish govt into a rage. And to Mr. Calder I then say: I see you are on the side of the angels in wanting everyone to just get along. But the Middle East is not the EU, and even in the EU it is difficult on some topics, including expellees. It would be great if we could all just get along, but the Israelis have to have someone to talk to. All there is on the other side is hatred, fueled increasingly by Nazi-like anti-semitism and genocidal fantasies. This isn't limited to extremists, this has become mainstream. Show me that it isn't, and I might come around. And, assuming both Big C and WC are British, I urge you to read the chilling article "Jihad Chic Comes to London," from Newsweek March 23, 2009, to find out what's going on in your own backyard. |
Ethiopian kangaroo court postponed trial of Canadian citizen
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Bashir Makhtal, an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen, was among a group of at least 150 who were detained by Kenyan forces on its border with Somalia as they fled Ethiopia's war with Somali Islamist rebels in late 2006. The 40-year-old, who faces the death penalty if convicted, is accused of being a senior member of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front as well as supporting the Islamic Courts Union before the group's ouster from Somalia by Ethiopian troops two years ago.Makhtal has pleaded not guilty to all charges since the start of his trial late last year. Ethiopia's high court adjourned the trial to April 20 after prosecutors failed to present witnesses at a hearing in Addis Ababa. Rights groups have accused Addis Ababa of denying him legal counsel and holding him in solitary confinement during most of his time in jail before Canadian politicians held talks with the country's leaders. Adem Ibrahim, who presided a three-man panel of judges during the trial, stated that Makhtal was entitled to consular access and asked prison officials to grant him the privilege whenever it was sought. Rights groups say Makhtal was arrested alongside men, women and children from more than 18 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in late 2006 to prop up the country's weak government and soon ousted an Islamist movement that briefly controlled large swathes of the country. The Ethiopian army is also involved in a crackdown against ethnic-Somali rebels in the southeastern Ogaden region. |
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — An Ethiopian Monday, March 23, 2009
Wales: Headmistress awarded £400,000 in Islamophobia case
| Wales: Headmistress awarded £400,000 in Islamophobia case |
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
Ethiopian man in Portland convicted of bank robbery
U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty imposed a mandatory seven-year (84-month) term for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and a consecutive 30-month term for the robbery, for a total of 114 months. Gilani has been in federal custody since the day of the robbery.
The robbery occurred at the Rose City Branch of Bank of America, located inside a Safeway store at 6901 NE Sandy Boulevard. Gilani pointed a pistol at tellers and customers, pulled back the gun's slide, and demanded money. He received $6,903.00 in cash and fled from the building. Portland police officers apprehended Gilani driving alone in a car a short distance away. In a pants pocket they found a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, loaded with a round chambered. Investigation showed that Gilani had robbed the same bank on April 27, 2007.
Upon completion of the prison sentence, immigration authorities will determine whether he is allowed to remain in the United States.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen F. Peifer.
Department of Justice Press Release
Karin J. Immergut, U.S. Attorney
District of Oregon
Contact: (503) 727-1000
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
What the Qur'an teaches: Abraham’s great sacrifice
| What the Qur'an teaches: Abraham's great sacrifice Commentary by Syed Qutb |
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| In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful We gave him the happy news that he will have a forbearing son. When the boy was old enough to work with his father, Abraham said: "My son! I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you. Tell me, then, what you think." (Ishmael) said: "My father! Do as you are bidden, and, God willing, you will find me to be patient in adversity." When the two of them had surrendered themselves to the will of God, and Abraham laid him prostrate on his forehead, We called to him: "Abraham! You have already fulfilled the dream." Thus do We reward those who do good. All this was indeed a momentous trial. We ransomed (Ishmael) with a noble sacrifice. (Ranged in Rank, Al-Saffat: 37: 101-107) As we discussed Abraham's story last week, we looked at the way his people tried to punish him by burning when they realized that he had destroyed their idols in their absence. He tried to counsel them against continuing with their folly of worshipping such idols which could not protect themselves when he levelled his ax against them, smashing them right, left and center. Rather than listening to sound logic and looking at what they worshipped, they built a pyre and lit up a great fire to burn him, but God changed the nature of that fire, making it a place of coolness and comfort for him. He praised God for saving him and prayed him to give him a righteous son. God answered his prayer and gave him a forbearing son. We will now look at the glorious attitude that Abraham's life story represents, drawing from it an inspiring lesson as presented by God Almighty to the Muslim community. "When the boy was old enough to work with his father, Abraham said: 'My son! I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you. Tell me, then, what you think.' (Ishmael) said: 'My father! Do as you are bidden, and, God willing, you will find me to be patient in adversity.'" What effect will faith not produce? We see here Abraham in his old age, cut off in a foreign land, having deserted his homeland and his people, being given a child. The child turns out to be a model son, with his forbearance confirmed by God Himself. Hardly had Abraham enjoyed his son's company and seen his youth blooming so as to become his companion and assistant, when he sees in his dream that he should slaughter him. He understands that it is a sign from God requiring sacrifice. What is his attitude now? He does not hesitate for a moment. The thought of disobedience does not even occur to him. He thinks only of submission. It is true that the dream was only a signal, not a clear and direct order issued through revelation. It was a signal by his Lord though, and that was enough for Abraham to comply, not to delay, and not even to ask why. Moreover, his compliance did not betray any feeling of distress, horror or panic; it was marked by calm acceptance and reassurance, reflected in his words as he put this most grave matter to his son: "My son! I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you. Tell me, then, what you think." These are the words of a man in full control of himself and his feelings, knowing that he is only doing his duty and trusting that it behoves him to comply. We do not see any element of panic driving a person to do even what he feels to be repugnant, in order to get it done and finished with. That it was hard for Abraham is beyond doubt. He was not required to send his only son to war, nor to put him to a task that would end in his death. Nothing of the sort. Instead he was required to undertake the task himself, by his own hand. And what task was that? It was to slaughter his own son by way of sacrifice. This was the order he received calmly, the one that he put to his son and asked him to consider carefully. He did not take his son by surprise and do what was bidden. Rather, he puts the question to him as if it were both normal and familiar. To Abraham, the question was one of obedience. Since his Lord wanted something, so be it, without hesitation. His son should also know and accept it willingly, with submission so that he too would earn the reward of obeying God and experience the pleasure of submission to Him. He himself had known that pleasure and now wants his son to feel it as the pure goodness that surpasses all else that life can offer. What does the son say as his father proposes to slaughter him in fulfillment of what he saw in a dream? The son also rises to the sublime standard his father had earlier attained: "He said: My father! Do as you are bidden, and, God willing, you will find me to be patient in adversity." This is not a response of mere obedience and resignation. It is a response marked with acceptance and certainty. His reply begins with, "My father!" The prospect of his death does not cause him to panic or to forget his manners and love of his father. "Do as you are bidden." He also feels the same as his father, taking the dream as a signal, which means an order. This is sufficient to make him willing to carry it out without hesitation. Furthermore, we see in Ishmael's response proper manners with his Lord, and recognition of the limits of his ability in the face of hardship. Therefore, he seeks his Lord's help to overcome his weakness. He attributes to God the grace of helping him to obey and make the sacrifice: "God willing, you will find me to be patient in adversity." He does not press the matter as a heroic act on his part. Nor does he describe it as facing the danger and caring little for the consequences. He does not give himself any credit in the matter; he simply attributes it all to God who has helped him in carrying out His orders with patience in adversity. This is an example of perfect humility before God, trust in Him, combined with complete obedience and submission to His will. |
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Russia: Mufti asks to expand Islamic finance
| Chairman of Russia's Mufti Council Ravil Gaynutdin considers the Islam financial system as an efficient alternative option to the world financial system and hopes to expand it within Russia. |
Somalia: Nation's Contending Islamic Ideologies
Somalia: Nation's Contending Islamic Ideologies
Michael A. Weinstein
20 March 2009
analysis
With the decision on March 12 by the cabinet of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG.) to approve the adoption of Shari'ah as the country's legal system, it has become a near certainty that Somalia's new cycle of civil conflict will be framed ideologically by one or more variants of political Islam.
Prior to the T.F.G.'s president, Sh. Sharif Sh. Ahmad's request to the cabinet to transform the T.F.G.'s political formula from clan-based secularism to an as yet undefined Islamism, the major opposition movements to the T.F.G. were already Islamist.The apparent acquiescence of the coalition of international donors to the T.F.G. to the decision to adopt Shari'ah sealed the fate of secularism for southern and central Somalia, setting off a new experiment in Somalia's chronic search for a unifying national identity and a definition of its political community.
As it became clear in March that political Islam had triumphed ideologically in Somalia, the contending tendencies and actors enunciated positions that were more well defined and detailed than had previously been the case, in particular, Al-Shabaab.
In an important interview with Al-Jazeera on March 3 that deserves serious attention, Al-Shabaab's spokesman, Sh. Mukhtar Robow, provided the clearest statement to date of the movement's ideology and current strategy. Confirming a closed source on the ground who says that Al-Shabaab is the only political actor that has a coherent program, Robow presented a systematic account that moved from fixed strategic goals to flexible and adaptive tactics, nearly mirroring the Leninist theory and practice of Bolshevik revolution, with, of course, an Islamist content. Those who believe that Al-Shabaab is a collection of mindless "extremists" and "spoilers," who are simply "anti-peace" (U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's term) need to think twice.
In commenting on whether Al-Shabaab was linked to Al-Qaeda, Robow said that it was not organizationally, but was ideologically, stating that both groups shared the goals of implementing Shari'ah, rejecting "false borders and entities created by colonialism," uniting Islamic countries, and restoring the Caliphate - a succinct definition of Transnational Revolutionary Islam.
Just as Lenin insisted that goals remain fixed, but that tactics must be altered pragmatically according to circumstances, Robow said that whenever al-Shabaab considers taking an initiative, "we always think about whether it is appropriate to do it at this time." Currently, Robow explained, "we believe that we should move forward with caution." In particular, Robow stressed, it was most important that Al-Shabaab not get ahead of the people (another Leninist dictum). Using the example of alleged desecration of the graves of Sufi saints by Al-Shabaab, Robow commented that "if demolishing graves will force clans to take up arms, we need to stop and get people to understand the issue from a religious point of view."
The injunction to be cautious translates into a long march to the Caliphate. According to Robow, Al-Shabaab's capture of the former base of the transitional parliament, Baidoa, began the "right path" towards restoration of the Caliphate, which would be traveled step-wise from establishing a model Islamic administration in that town and then expanding out into the Bay region and beyond: "When you want to climb a tree, you start from the trunk; you do not jump to the leaves."
Announcing a tactical phase of consolidation and administration building, Robow remained firm in his ideological opposition to the T.F.G., which, he said, violates the Quranic injunction: "Do not mix justice with injustice." (The T.F.G., for Robow, is a hybrid of Islamists and "unbelievers.") He then went on to make Al-Shabaab's anti-democratic stance explicit: "Democracy says that the civilian population are the ones that rule and they will do whatever they want. God says he is in charge and no one else is." (Presumably, clerics will be God's "transmission belts.")
It is not the purpose here to judge whether or not Al-Shabaab can or will apply consistently Robow's "What is to be Done" interview, but just to reveal it as vintage modern vanguardist revolutionary ideology in Islamic dress. The point is that Al-Shabab has a rather sophisticated program that gives it an ideological advantage over other contenders.
In contrast to Robow's positive and considered strategy, the A.R.S.-A's Islamic Nationalism remains a resistance ideology based on national liberation. In an interview with Reuters on March 5, A.R.S.-A's ideological spokesman, Sh. Hassan Dahir Aweys, focused on opposition to the T.F.G. as a puppet of the Ethiopians and Western powers, claiming that his group were "freedom fighters" and that the T.F.G. were "traitors." Whereas Robow condemned foreign interference, but stressed the formation of an Islamic state; Aweys shifted the balance by espousing the goal of a "change is the system," but emphasizing that his adversaries were "fighting to stop any group that can employ Shari'ah law in Somalia." In traditional nationalist terms, Aweys justified armed resistance to the T.F.G. by saying that counter-force is necessary when "invaders try to force you to leave your religion, reject your nationhood and independence, and take your resources illegally." Rather than a long march to the Caliphate, Aweys made "freedom" the goal of the struggle: "The most important thing people need is freedom. The houses can be rebuilt, but a beautiful house without freedom is worthless."
Leaving aside A.R.S.-A's relative lack of traction on the ground, Aweys's version of Islamic Nationalism, centered, as it is, on liberation rather than on a program, lacks focus, leaving the future open to an unspecified range of Islamic political formulas. Aweys's vision was appropriate when Somalia was subject to Ethiopian occupation and one could speak of a resistance movement; it is less relevant in a period of civil conflict, in which actors control and attempt to administer blocks of territory as they contest them with other actors.That Aweys should say that Ethiopia's rhetorical support for Sh. Sharif, which must be coupled with its harboring and training of warlord militias, means that Addis Ababa is "still in charge," indicates his failure to adjust to the new political cycle.On March 19, A.R.S.A announced that it would form an alternative government to the T.F.G.; it remains to be seen whether it will generate a vision of an Islamic state and a program to achieve it.
In sharp contrast to Al-Shabaab's revolutionary and A.R.S.-A's resistance postures, both of which fall within received modern paradigms, Sh. Sharif's reformism is reactive, purposively vague, and seemingly expedient. In his letter to Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke requesting that the cabinet adopt Shari'ah, Sh. Sharif reportedly wrote that the action was necessary to forestall "prolonged fights," a justification that he later repeated at press conferences and in addresses. Caught between having to satisfy his clerical and clan bases, both of which favor implementation of Shari'ah, and the donor powers on which the T.F.G. is dependent financially, and which favor a secular government, Sh. Sharif, gave way to the former, but tried to mollify the latter.
Sh. Sharif's brand of impromptu reformism emerged at a press conference in Nairobi on March 12, where he began with the assurance that the Shari'ah that he had in mind for Somalia was not the strict version forwarded by Al-Shabaab, but a more modern variant that would allow women to serve in parliament (an issue raised by the armed opposition) and an acceptance of democracy, which he said "is not inherently against Islam."
As a compromise formation precipitated from the cross-pressures of base and donors, Sh. Sharif's Islamic Reformism is the weakest of the ideological contenders by virtue of its transparent use of political Islam as a means to the end of saving the T.F.G. and its resulting vagueness.
Ideology is not the determining factor in shaping political developments, but it provides an orienting vision of the future and a basis for mobilizing support and organizing action. As such, it is a form of power and an indicator of momentum. Considered in those terms, among the major domestic actors in southern and central Somalia, Al-Shabaab's programmatic perspective has the edge over A.R.S.-A, which is locked in the past, and the T.F.G., which appears to be purely reactive.
Although the analogy is only suggestive and speculative, it would be wise to keep in mind that Lenin's Bolsheviks prevailed over the populist and nationalist Social Revolutionaries, and the reformist Mensheviks in the Russian Revolution.
Scotland: Muslims offer to guard attacked synagogue
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