EDITORIAL ( Halbeeg News) – Somalia has been a hub for number opposers including politicians, clans as well as different religious sects. Despite ironing out the root cause of several political differences, yet the differences between the religious sects seem to be escalating.
The country succeeded partially resolving two of the three obstacles hindered its progress and prosperity.
The first one is clan rivals: In the past, the seasoned traditional elders used to be mediators leading efforts to de-escalate hostilities between clans. The elder knew much about ways to resolve the differences between the clans.
The second one, political rivals: The political crisis has been one of the major issues the Somalis and the international community put more effort to resolve. Most of the irritating issues of the country has been resolved. The sides inked deals to iron out their differences, constitution and chapters had been drafted to guard the country’s politics.
But the third one which is the differences between the religious sects has not been resolved. It is not yet clear the way to uproot this longtime existing difference. The reason why it is difficult to end this is laxity and failure by the religious leaders who are supposed to guide the society on the right path and leave behind their differences.
Some of the fresh wounds inflict by the sects for the last three weeks are the religious arguments and disputes between the religious leaders who are supported by some politicians and public figures.
For instance, an incident which occurred after Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Umul announced his bid to hold a religious lecture at Eng. Yarisow Stadium in last month has shed light on the widespread differences between the religious sects and their lack of tolerance towards each other’s’ opinion and lack of respect for freedom of expression.
Some of the religious leaders of the Sufi sect led by Sheikh Abdiqadir Mohamud Samow has vehemently opposed Sheikh Umul’s bid and accused him of encouraging radicalization and allegedly terming the Sufi sect as idolators but Sheikh Umul who dispelled the allegations has said he stands against terrorism. The rejection by the Sufi sect has escalated and subsequently lead Sheikh Umul to drop his bid to hold the lecture.
Sheikh Umul and his fellow Salafi clerics oppose Mawlid al-Nabi al-Sharif, the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which is commemorated by Sufi Sect and the Salafi sometimes term the celebrations as shirki (associating something with God).
There was another incident in August where Ahlu-Sunna Wal Jama (Sufi sect) accused the federal government of deploying radical individuals in central Somalia.
The sect issued a statement in which they mentioned Sheikh Bashiir Ahmed Salad as a radical individual.
Salad is the chairperson of the Somali clerics Association which Ahlu-Sunna is a member of.
Notably, the guy who Ahlu-Sunna termed as radical was the forefront in the fight against terrorism. Both Ahlu-Sunna and the group led by Sheikh Bashiir cooperate with the Federal Government of Somalia in the fight against al-Shabaab and other terrorist organizations.
There are many incidents showing that the clerics in different sects are far apart.
A sentiment which attracted different reaction from Salafi and Sufi is the remarks of an opposition leader, Abdirahman Abdishakur where he talked about the role of women.
Abdirahman who spoke at an event in Germany allegedly mocked Hadiths and termed it as fake.
The remarks of this politician were being commented in different ways by the religious leaders with some of the clerics termed Abdirahman as non-believer while others said he sinned and needed to repent. Among the sheiks who commented in a contradictory way on the remarks of Abdirahman are Sheikh Ali Wajis and Sheikh and Sheikh Hasaan Hussein.
The epicenter of conflict of the sects
Somalia, whose population is 100% Muslim Sunni and practice one mad-hab (school of Islamic jurisprudence) is undergoing challenges based on differences of religious sects.
However, the question would be, is there a lesson learned from the conflicts of sects in the past so that to avoid another conflict in the future?
Many analysts claim that the Islamic Awakening in Somalia in the 1970s had set off waves of changes in the attitude of the public and the country’s politics. The move was welcomed by many who assumed the country would steer away from the secularism system.
Though the Islamic awakening which was widely welcomed had attracted many Somali youths and got protection from sympathizers and supporters, yet it is believed that the management of the spring was the beginning of conflicts that are yet to be resolved.
On the other hand, Sufism which had no direct involvement in the country’s politics at that time saw the new rise as a threat against their existence and a new struggle began between the Sufism and the leaders of the Awakening, who are majority alumni of Saudi universities.
The sides never held a debate to resolve their differences but each side went ahead to quarrel over the disagreed topics and this lead each group to open mosques and teaching centers for their respective supporters.
Between 1990 and 2006, Somali religious scholars had argued over issues with differences of opinion on religious matters.
But their argument over these topics had led the birth of radicalization, terrorism and went far to term one another as Khawarij and apostasy.
Generally, Somali scholars use the same Quran and hadiths which constitute the major sources of guidance for Muslims. From that perspective, they look like one group operating under the framework of one umbrella. But they are on different trucks when it comes to the understanding of the translation and explanations of the sources.
Lesson learnt from of religious sect conflicts
As we have mentioned in the beginning, sources and means to resolve most of the challenges affecting country had been noted but the differences between religious sects are far from resolving and rather widening with new differences phases.
In Somalia, everyday roughly one person is being targeted and killed for issues relating to religious matters. There is also an increasing number of individuals denouncing religion and disseminating their views on social media platforms.
The main question need to be asked is, what did we learn from the differences of religious sects?
The presumable answer to this question that would come into our minds is, people learned to kill each other. Remarkably, early stages of these sect conflicts on religious matters had not witnessed armed conflict but after the rise Islamist militants, many people were killed for their ideologies.
The cause of differences between sects led deadly armed conflict between al-Shabaab fighters and Ahluna-Sunna which claimed hundreds of loyal fighters from both sides. Both groups encouraged their fighters to sacrifice their lives for the sect of Allah. During these clashes, siblings who were supporting the sides confronted and engaged in clashes. Whatsoever, by witnessing all these incidents, it seems that society did not learnt lessons.
What should the clerics need to do?
– Somali clerics should have abstained from associating each other apostasy and would have looked for peaceful debate to end their differences.
– They should have stopped arguing over issues in the Islam differences of opinion on religious matters and focus on generally agreed issues.
– Somali religious leaders should practice tolerance of freedom of expression and should know that there are nations whose people believe different religions yet live in harmony.
– Society should acceptance different opinion.
– It was important to get an independent sect to guide the public and to carry out public education and awareness against struggles between the religious sects.
What do we suppose to do now?
Just like the way the political crisis was resolved, is it not the right time to organize reconciliation conference for the religious sect leaders and end their differences for good. The answer is obviously yes, it is the right time for inclusive reconciliation hold for all sects so that they discuss and analyze the cause root of their differences.
When you digest remarks of religious leaders about the challenges and conflicts affecting the society, it seems that the clerics did not include themselves as part of the challenges.
However, the case is not that way, it should be the clerics who first resolve their differences. By saying that, we should include al-Shabaab as parts of the sects needed to resolve the problems.
The clerics should do the following
- Identifying themselves to be one of the factors which influenced the conflict and challenges which Somalia faces.
- To hold a reconciliation conference to iron out the different views of the country’s different sects.
- To come up with ways to resolve their differences.
- To analyze and review the challenges cause by their differences and then lead the public towards peace and prosperity.
On the side of the Somali government, it should monitor and minimize the indigestible ideologies disseminated by these clerics. The reason is not to restrict the religious leaders but it is a way to differentiate between those spreading commandments of the religion and those who want to preach their ideologies. It is also important to know much about what is happening in the mosques. In other parts of the Muslim world, it is not easy for someone to be called apostasy.
The nation needs to get center for Fatwa and mufti (a scholar capable of making judgments on Sharia).
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