Showing posts with label Wahhabism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wahhabism. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Militant Islam in Somalia and Kenya
The Rift Valley Institute ran on 7 October 2014 a ten minute video interview between Rashid Abdi and Nimo-Ilhan Ali on militant Islam in Somalia and northern Kenya. It discusses traditional moderate Sufi Islam in Somalia and the rise of Wahhabism and Arab influences in Somalia and Kenya.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Somali Writer Takes Aim at Wahhabi Influence in Somalia
A Somali analyst, Abdul Ghelleh, takes direct aim at the harmful Wahhabi influence in Somalia in a 8 November 2012 piece in Pambazuka News. He draws parallels with the situation in northern Mali and northern Nigeria. He is also critical of U.S. policy to contain extremism in the region.
Click here to read the analysis.
Click here to read the analysis.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Islam and Ethiopia
The Pambazuka News on 19 July 2012 ran a piece by Elyas Mulu Kiros titled "Ethiopian Muslims and Their Struggle for Rights." It strikes me as a balanced and informed account of this controversial subject.
Click here to read the article.
Click here to read the article.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Insecurity in Mauritania
I normally confine this blog to the Horn of Africa, East Africa and China-Africa relations. I have included an analysis of Mauritania because of the high quality of the analysis and the fact that it brings back memories of my assignment to the U.S. embassy in Nouakchott from 1974-1976.
Anouar Boukhars, an assistant professor of international relations at McDaniel College in Maryland, wrote the April 2012 study titled The Drivers of Insecurity in Mauritania for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Boukhars reported that the trans-Saharan region is emerging as a hotbed of instability and insecurity. A confluence of forces, from the revolts in North Africa and the proliferation of weapons to transnational trafficking of illicit goods and terrorist activity led by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, are generating acute interest in this part of the world.
Mauritania epitomizes the risks that these unstable states with weak capabilities pose to regional and international security. Three stresses emerge as critical to Mauritania's current state of insecurity: the weakness and corruption of state institutions; sociopolitical tensions rooted in old tribal structures and historical ethno-racial divisions; and the growing radicalization of Mauritanian youth.
For Mauritania to break the cycle, the government needs to bolster its anti-corruption initiatives, professionalize its security apparatus, promote social justice, and improve the plight of those at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid.
Click here to read the entire analysis.
Anouar Boukhars, an assistant professor of international relations at McDaniel College in Maryland, wrote the April 2012 study titled The Drivers of Insecurity in Mauritania for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Boukhars reported that the trans-Saharan region is emerging as a hotbed of instability and insecurity. A confluence of forces, from the revolts in North Africa and the proliferation of weapons to transnational trafficking of illicit goods and terrorist activity led by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, are generating acute interest in this part of the world.
Mauritania epitomizes the risks that these unstable states with weak capabilities pose to regional and international security. Three stresses emerge as critical to Mauritania's current state of insecurity: the weakness and corruption of state institutions; sociopolitical tensions rooted in old tribal structures and historical ethno-racial divisions; and the growing radicalization of Mauritanian youth.
For Mauritania to break the cycle, the government needs to bolster its anti-corruption initiatives, professionalize its security apparatus, promote social justice, and improve the plight of those at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid.
Click here to read the entire analysis.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Ethiopian Muslims Protest Government Actions
Aaron Maasho of Reuters recently asked for my views on charges by Ethiopian Muslims that the government is trying to impose Al-Ahbash ideology in the country. His article titled Ethiopian Muslims Protest Government 'Interference' contains one of my comments at the end. Click here to read Aaron's piece.
I am including below my longer 1 May 2012 email response to Maasho:
From this distance [Washington], it is impossible to determine if the EPRDF government is playing a role in encouraging the Al-Ahbash ideology in Ethiopian Islam. In the past, the government has tried to stay out of religious affairs. If this policy has changed, it would be significant. But I have no evidence it has changed. For the most part, Islam in Ethiopia has been based on Sufi values. As a result, it has never been seen as a threat to the government. In fact, if you look at voting patterns in the controversial 2005 election, I believe the EPRDF did well in predominantly Muslim constituencies. The government has done a pretty good job over the years in ameliorating religious differences where there are potentially serious conflicts among Ethiopian Orthodox, Protestant (including fundamentalists and Pentecostals) and Muslims. Catholics, animists and others are too few to constitute a political bloc.
The government has been concerned for more than 15 years about the activities of Wahhabi proselytizers from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. They have funded numerous mosques in Ethiopia. In the 1990s and up until about 2005, before the Saudi Arabian government cracked down, several of the Wahhabi charities such as al-Haramain operating in the Horn of Africa had connections to terrorist groups. This activity seems to have ended in recent years. Although I am not aware that groups like al-Haramain were active in Ethiopia, they were very active in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. Wahhabi influence in Ethiopia did result in some localized conflict between it and followers of Sufi beliefs. Many Muslims in the Oromo community have, for example, grave stones above ground that are sometimes painted in bright colors. The Wahhabi do not accept this practice and are believed to have been responsible for destroying some of them. This caused some serious tension between Sufis and Wahhabis, but to the best of my knowledge the government stayed out of it.
You can be sure that if the government believes any mosque is spreading extremism, it will take measures to end the extremism. I believe it would work through the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs rather than interact directly with the mosque. I doubt that it would push a particular Muslim ideology such as that of the Al-Ahbash group.
I am including below my longer 1 May 2012 email response to Maasho:
From this distance [Washington], it is impossible to determine if the EPRDF government is playing a role in encouraging the Al-Ahbash ideology in Ethiopian Islam. In the past, the government has tried to stay out of religious affairs. If this policy has changed, it would be significant. But I have no evidence it has changed. For the most part, Islam in Ethiopia has been based on Sufi values. As a result, it has never been seen as a threat to the government. In fact, if you look at voting patterns in the controversial 2005 election, I believe the EPRDF did well in predominantly Muslim constituencies. The government has done a pretty good job over the years in ameliorating religious differences where there are potentially serious conflicts among Ethiopian Orthodox, Protestant (including fundamentalists and Pentecostals) and Muslims. Catholics, animists and others are too few to constitute a political bloc.
The government has been concerned for more than 15 years about the activities of Wahhabi proselytizers from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. They have funded numerous mosques in Ethiopia. In the 1990s and up until about 2005, before the Saudi Arabian government cracked down, several of the Wahhabi charities such as al-Haramain operating in the Horn of Africa had connections to terrorist groups. This activity seems to have ended in recent years. Although I am not aware that groups like al-Haramain were active in Ethiopia, they were very active in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. Wahhabi influence in Ethiopia did result in some localized conflict between it and followers of Sufi beliefs. Many Muslims in the Oromo community have, for example, grave stones above ground that are sometimes painted in bright colors. The Wahhabi do not accept this practice and are believed to have been responsible for destroying some of them. This caused some serious tension between Sufis and Wahhabis, but to the best of my knowledge the government stayed out of it.
You can be sure that if the government believes any mosque is spreading extremism, it will take measures to end the extremism. I believe it would work through the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs rather than interact directly with the mosque. I doubt that it would push a particular Muslim ideology such as that of the Al-Ahbash group.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
