Mohawk
Do you remember when Dalmar the crazy Kiwi spilled the names of the members of the different Islamic movements in Somalia on these pages, and how it became a serious litigation issue? Then if you remember that post, let us not lump all these organizations together, and ask ourselves why are these Muslim organisations divided into many sects and operate differently from each other? Doesn’t this indicate they have major differences and hatred towards each other? And whose interpretation of Sharia Laws would be adopted? The strongest among them is the so called "Islamic Courts" led by Dahir Aweys. The later never accepted the last Nairobi established regime due to the bad blood between his group and the former Puntland regime, and in part is due for his support and solidarity with his tribal cousin Abdiqasim Salat who was unseated by Af Biijo. Like Afbiijo and the warlords, he is a blood thirsty maniac whose only intention since he was a colonel during the Afweeyne era is rule to Somalia. No place will be safe from his thugs. If he gets his way, he will close Mogadiscio University as his adversaries established and operate it, and he doesn't believe in Universities and teaching other than the Qura'an and his sects intrepretation of Islam.
The competing Islamic groups in Somalia are;
Harakat al-Islah
Itihaad
Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a
Majma' 'Ulimadda Islaamka ee Soomaaliya (Shaafici scholars)
Salafiyya Jadiida
Jama'at al-Tabligh
Read this link.
By Anouar Boukhars
Somali Islamism can be traced to a common source, the Waxda al-Shabaab al-Islaami and the Jama'at al-Ahl al-Islaami (also known as the al-Ahli group). These Muslim Brotherhood-inspired groups developed in the 1960s and strove to be key players in liaising with the state and the setting of its mixed ideological agenda [1]. The rise to power of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1969, however, deprived the Islamists of their status. Al-Ahli was forced to disband and al-Wahdat and other Islamist groups went underground or fled to the oil-rich states of the Gulf to join the Somali diaspora. By the 1980s, the Somali Islamist movement had grown considerably. Nevertheless, it was the ouster of the Barre dictatorship that gave a major boost to Islamic associations and organizations.
Harakat al-Islah
Harakat al-Islah originated in the late 1970s as a loose network of affiliated underground groups [2]. Today, al-Islah publicly professes its commitment to the basic tenets of democracy and cultural pluralism. Its stated commitment to this philosophy of inclusion is enshrined in the organization's social make-up and mode of action. The organization's forward-looking views on religion and politics and attempts to reconcile the tenets of Islam with the modern notions of democracy are apparent in its internal structure, where members of its "High Council" are elected by the Majlis al-Shura for a maximum of two terms. Al-Islah's leading members include the organization's chairman, Dr. Ali Sheikh, president of Mogadishu University [3]. Prior to the demise of the Barre regime, the organization operated as a clandestine integrated structure of clusters under the leadership of Sheikh Mohamed Garyare, Dr. Ali Sheikh and Dr. Ibrahim Dusuqi.
With the overthrow of the Barre dictatorship and hence the elimination of the organization's main enemy, al-Islah came out of the shadows and was operated exclusively for the promotion of social and humanitarian activities. Al-Islah members play prominent roles in the state's educational apparatuses. Al-Islah has always been suspected by Somali and foreign security services of involvement in radicalism and association with al-Itihaad. There is much evidence, however, of a power struggle between and within al-Islah and al-Itihaad's competing ideological authorities about the relationship between religion and politics. There are also ideological differences and strong divergences on strategies, tactics and religious interpretations. Al-Islah's leaders, for example, condemn violence and takfir (declaring as an infidel) as un-Islamic and counterproductive. They have long called for building a shared future that transcends the extremism and bigotry embodied in al-Itihaad's and Takfir wal-Hijra's Salafi-Jihadist ideology [5].
Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a
Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a (ASWJ) is another modern Islamist group created in 1991 as an offshoot from Majma' to counter the influence of the most radical Islamist trends. The movement brings together politically motivated sheikhs whose primary goal is to unify the Sufi community under one unified leadership capable of consolidating the powers of the three primary Sufi Tariqas—the Qadiriyya, Salihiyya and Ahmadiyya—into one front whose sole mission is the rejuvenation of the "traditionalist" interpretation of Islam and the de-legitimization of the beliefs and political views of al-Ittihad and other radical Islamic movements.
Majma' 'Ulimadda Islaamka ee Soomaaliya
Majma' 'Ulimadda Islaamka ee represents, as its name denotes, an assembly of Islamic scholars who follow the Shafi'i madhhab and whose main goal is the establishment of a Sharia-based government. The organization has been led by Sheikh Ahmed Abdi Dhi'isow since the death of its founding chairman, Sheikh Mohamed Ma'alim Hassan, in 2001 [6].
There are differences of views among Majma' 'Ulimadda Islaamka ee, Ahlu Sunna wal Jama'a and Harakat al-Islah about the nature of the state, but a general consensus seems to have developed among the different factions about the need to apply a certain interpretation of Islam within a modern framework of government.
Missionary (Da'wa) Islamism
Missionary Islamists largely eschew political activism—even if their brand of activism has some political objectives and implications. The movement is represented by Salafiyya Jadiida (the new Salafis) and the most structured movement in Somalia, Jama'at al-Tabligh.
Salafiyya Jadiida
The Salafiyya Jadiida current is best exemplified by Sheikh Ali Wajis, an example of a prominent Salafi ideologue who has gone from supporting and briefly leading al-Itihaad to opposing its violent dogmatic theology. Wajis' qualified repudiation of the irrational jihadi ideology of Salafi-Jihadists and his re-examination of its theoretical position in light of a rational reassessment of Islamic rules of warfare and the prevailing realities on the ground exemplify the fractures rocking the jihadi and Islamist movements. It is also an encouraging sign of the debate occurring within the new Salafis and Salafi-Jihadist circles about the need for contextualized understanding of the issues of jihad and political violence.
Jama'at al-Tabligh
The Tabligh movement, launched in India in 1926 by the Jama'at al-Da'wa wal-Tabligh (Group for Preaching and Propagation), as an apolitical, quietist movement constitutes the largest group of religious proselytizers in Somalia. Tablighi missionaries' aggressive and dedicated peaceful and apolitical preaching tactics are part of the reason for the explosive growth of Tablighi sympathizers and supporters. This notable success in recruitment and significant increase in membership left the movement wide open to infiltration and manipulation by radical groups. Out of the 500 to 700 foreign sheikhs present in Somalia, many are from the Arab world but they also come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya and other countries [7]. Given the size and heterogeneity of the movement, its infiltration by jihadi elements should come as no surprise. What is troubling, however, is the denial of the movement's leadership of any such infiltration despite mounting evidence of the group's involvement in murdering foreign aid workers in Somaliland. The movement, as the International Crisis Group reported, "lacks any system of screening its members for prior involvement in jihadism and so is poorly equipped to respond to allegations that some may be involved in fomenting extremism and violence" [8].
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news ... id=2369999