Somali clerics work to delegitimize radical militant group al-Shabab

[Jacpher]

Somali clerics in US, Europe, Africa work to delegitimize radical militant group al-Shabab

 

By: MALKHDIR M. MUHUMED

Associated Press

07/10/10 8:15 PM EDT

 

NAIROBI, KENYA — Somali clerics who are worried that their country could become a launching pad for global jihad are stepping up efforts around the globe to stop young men from joining a feared al-Qaida-linked group.

 

The clerics are spreading their message in Somalia and to diaspora communities of Somalis in Kenya, Europe and the United States. And they're using the same text the militants cite to back up their argument: the Quran.

 

"As Islamic scholars, we should warn people, especially the youth, against al-Shabab's destructive ideology," said Sheik Abdi Mahad, a cleric who preaches in Somali mosques in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. "What we are telling our people is al-Shabab is wrong and its members are extremists who don't represent the peaceful nature of the Islamic religion."

 

Clerics are airing anti-Shabab lectures on the Somali government's radio station in Mogadishu. They're also holding meetings for those who oppose the militant group, although such gatherings can only be held in areas outside al-Shabab's control. The militants' reach extends across much of Mogadishu, and Somalia's central and southern regions.

 

Al-Shabab seeks to topple Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed administration and install a harsh brand of Islam.

 

U.S. officials say veteran insurgents of the Afghan and Pakistan conflict have joined al-Shabab, infusing the group with bomb-making expertise and global links. The group metes out harsh punishments, not unlike the Taliban when it controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s.

 

Western intelligence officials say the group is also recruiting foreign fighters from the Somali diaspora in the United States and Europe. That global attention has prompted moderate clerics to take action.

 

Still, opposition to the militants is so dangerous that the clerics would not talk about their campaign on the record for fear of retaliation. But clerics in other countries where the message is being spread say they are actively trying to discourage young Somalis from joining the group.

 

In Minneapolis, home to the largest Somali community in the U.S., clerics at the Quba Mosque held weeklong lectures shaming al-Shabab in May, said Sheik Osman Ahmed Sheik, the mosque's assistant director. Sheik, whose mosque accommodates 300 worshippers, said the lecture sessions were held in the evening to draw as many as possible.

 

"Now parents are more enlightened about al-Shabab's danger to their children," he said. "They now know that they are people out there who want to brainwash their children."

 

Mohamed Idris, a Saudi-based Somali cleric, was among several scholars who took part in a series of recent lectures in Sweden. Some were posted on Somali websites and broadcast on satellite TV.

 

"Our message was directed to anyone who misinterprets the Islamic religion," he said. "We have urged the youth to focus on education and their life in their adopted countries and not get involved in the violence in Somalia."

 

In April, Idris was part of a dozen clerics who met in the Somali city of Garowe, the capital of the semiautonomous region of Puntland. The group issued a statement in which they said militant activity in Somalia is not jihad.

 

The statement urged the warring parties in Somalia "to stop the bloodletting, because in the Holy Quran Allah has banned Muslims from killing each other. The Muslim's blood is sacred."

 

In a clear reference to al-Shabab, it also called on Somalis to refrain from calling one another "apostates," a term that means one is no longer a Muslim. Al-Shabab fighters have often targeted Somalis who have joined the U.N.-backed "apostate government" or anyone accused of working for foreign intelligence agencies.

 

"The best way to deal with the extremists is dialogue," said Abdel Moati Bayoumi, an Islamic scholar at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the pre-eminent theological institute of Sunni Islam, the mainstream sect to which nearly all Somalis belong.

 

"What produces extremism in the Muslim world is because of people's minimal knowledge about Islam. The more the people become enlightened about Islamic teachings, the more they will steer clear of violence and killing of innocent people," he said.

 

Bayoumi said debunking extremist ideologies worked in Egypt, and it can succeed in Somalia too.

 

"We have talked to the extremists inside mosques and prisons and succeeded in convincing them to return from their ideologies," he said. "Islam calls for moderation. And if the Prophet Mohammed was asked to select between two things he always went for the moderate one."

 

Source

[Somalina]

Note that the clerics names don't start with "ibnu something"...or "abuu hebel"...

Why change the muslim name your parents gave you? pathetic excuses to join the Taliban...

[Jacpher]

^And Maaddeey will tell you those names don't mean much. They sound so....Puntland.

[Mr. Somalia]

^

The Al Shabab miscreants are on the precipice of defeat; if only we were blessed with a competent federal government in Mogadishu that could do us all a favor and push these religious deviants off the brink.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Waa kuwaan wadaadada dhabta ah, wadaadadaa naqaanay. Well done to them.

 

I hope qashinkaas Barbaarta la baxay oo magaca wadaad haleeye oo dhulka ku jiiday would listen for once. But I don't hold my breath.

[NASSIR]

If you are interested some background of this shaddow group, read Duale Siiarag's article, a comprehensive analysis of the genesis and rise of this group.

 

 

The Somali clerics are doing great job. Let's save our country, our people, and beautiful culture.

[Maaddeey]

^^Dhaqanka & diinta waxa lagu badbaadin karaa in diinta laga run sheego, oo la soo celiyo sharafta Muslimiinta, wadadii Nabiga, Saxaabada, Salaaxuddiin, Axmed Gurey & Sayidka la raaco, Gumeysiga la iska difaaco.

 

Waxaa yaab leh in Soomaaliya 20ki sano oo u dambeysay aan si toos ah loo faragelin jirin ilaa 2006 dii, markey arkeen Rag u tafaxeytay iney wax walba ka hormariyaan Diintooda & Sharaftooda, naf & maalna u huray!. Waa maxay sharafta ku jirta in Amisom gabdhahayaga faraxumeeyaan, kalluumeysatadeenna dilaan, shacabkana madaafiic ku garaacaan?.

 

Xaqqa laguma garto fulaan & callaan, Diinta ayaa misaanka ah, qofkii Kitaabka & Sunnaha waafaqsan ayaa xaqqa heysta, hebel & hebel baa saa yiri micno ma sameyneyso.

 

Ogaada NIN walba oo u istaaga inuu cadaw la dagaala, diintana kor yeela waxa lagu eedeeyn jiray Takfiir, dhiigyacabnimo IWM. Taariikhda iyadaa isa soo celisa.

[Somalina]

AS qaraminimo wax la yiraahdo ma yaqaanan, Sayidka iyo Ahmed Gurey uma dhawa marka been been yaanan isku aqrinin. Maanta hadii election la qabto, i doubt iney Somali ppl dooranaayaan those hyenas marka lets not kid ourselves. Soomaliya wadan u baahan in la muslimiyo ma ahan, we need qaranimo not muslinimo (we are already muslim), hadii ay run ka tahey calan cusub ma taagteen oo maalin walba ma toogteen dadka rayidka ah. Nin Afghanistan inuu noo taliyo dadka raba aan ku qoslaa, aduun waakaas nooh. Dad ka soo horjeeda horumarka dalkeena iyo dadkeena aa leedihiin ha noo taliyaan, what a joke indeed!

[Haatu]

Originally posted by Maaddeey:

^^Dhaqanka & diinta waxa lagu badbaadin karaa in diinta laga run sheego, oo la soo celiyo sharafta Muslimiinta, wadadii Nabiga, Saxaabada, Salaaxuddiin, Axmed Gurey & Sayidka la raaco, Gumeysiga la iska difaaco.

 

Waxaa yaab leh in Soomaaliya 20ki sano oo u dambeysay aan si toos ah loo faragelin jirin ilaa 2006 dii, markey arkeen Rag u tafaxeytay iney wax walba ka hormariyaan Diintooda & Sharaftooda, naf & maalna u huray!. Waa maxay sharafta ku jirta in Amisom gabdhahayaga faraxumeeyaan, kalluumeysatadeenna dilaan, shacabkana madaafiic ku garaacaan?.

 

Xaqqa laguma garto fulaan & callaan, Diinta ayaa misaanka ah, qofkii Kitaabka & Sunnaha waafaqsan ayaa xaqqa heysta, hebel & hebel baa saa yiri micno ma sameyneyso.

 

Ogaada NIN walba oo u istaaga inuu cadaw la dagaala, diintana kor yeela waxa lagu eedeeyn jiray Takfiir, dhiigyacabnimo IWM. Taariikhda iyadaa isa soo celisa.

Adi iyo manhajka qaldan ee aad aaminsantahey ayaa ka mas'uul ah joogitaanka AMISOM, waayo adaa diidey nabaddii iyo wada hadalkii.

 

Ps: Soomaaliya Jihaad ma ka jiro. Waxaa loo baahanyahey in la sabro oo diinta la barto lagana run sheego. Tabtaas un baa lagu heli karaa lib aduunyo iyo tu aakhiro.

[Cawaale]

I think you are reasoning with the wrong guy here. Soomaalinimo is such a mysterious word in his sense. why do you think they are fighting this war? and where do you think they will stop? and who they are in good terms with?

 

dadka qaar waxay la dhacsan yihiin raggaan(sheegta) in aanay qabiil ku dhisneyn, laakin aniga waxaan u arkaa sidan:-

 

Shalay:Qabiilkaygaa awood badan, aqoon badan, mudnaan mudan.

 

Maanta:Qomwkeygaa Awood badan, Alle u dhow, kugu janna tagi!

 

Bal waa kaase wax ka dhaadhici.

[Haatu]

^

[Maaddeey]

^Adigu waxaad tiri: Jihaad ma jiro,ha la iska aamuso oo ha loo dulqaato duullaanka Gaalada, Nabiguna CSW wuxuu yiri hadal micnihiisu yahay:'Haddaad Adduunyo ku mashquushaan, ood Jihaadka ka tagtaan, Alle wuxuu idinku ridayaa Dullinimo aadnaan weligiin ka bexeyn ilaa aad diinta 'Jihaadka' uga soo laabataan' sidoo kale wuxuu Xadiis kale micnihiisu ahaa: 'Waxaa soo dhow in Dadyowga Adduunka isugu kiin habarwacdaan sida dadka baahan cuntada isugu yeeraan, Saxaabada markey warsadeen: "ma yaraan baa sidaas noo keeneysa" wuxuu ugu jawaabay: "maya, e waadba badantihiin maalinkaa, balse waxaad tihiin XUMBO 'daad xoor'.

 

Haatu, ma hadalka aad ka soo guurisay Rag Adduun ku doorsaday Aakhiradooda ayaan qaadannaa mise Hadalka Alle iyo Rasuulkiisa?.

 

Cawaale, hadhow baad sidaadii cabaadi doontaaye maad iga joogtid yaa Kaddaab?

[Cawaale]

Maaddeey, i aamin hadaan qatyaan kaa taaganahay, laakin mid iiga jawaab. what will you do haddaan kaa joogi waayo? BTW afxumadaada, inkaartaada iyo indha-adeygaaga xaqiiqda waxba kama doorinayaan.

 

one more thing, i can get as low as you are, so much you would wonder "ninkan afxumada dugsi moo uga so baxay" so try me, and i mean it!

[Maaddeey]

^^Loool, ma af-xumo iyo Been intan ka badan maad soo waddaa??

 

Ps. been iyo war aanan hubin 'si qasad ah' sol uguma soo qorin, haddaad Adiga ama qof kaleba wax qalad aheen soo qoray ii sheegtaanna waan idiin mahadcelinayaaye, sidaada oo kale isma giriirixin doono IA.

 

Edit: xusuuso inaan kaa aamusay markaad comments like: 'ALshabaab website miyaad wax ku qortaa' lahayd IWM. haddii aad joogi weyso, kaama aamusi doono. thats all wax kale maaha.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

I can't believe a sane Soomaali person in this year of 2010, in this month of Luulyo, would defend kuwaas la baxay Barbaarta.

 

Only online perhaps.

 

Wax la difaaco iyo wax la amaano iyo kuwaas kala dheer.

 

Dad completely kasoo horjeedo dhaqankeena suuban, kasoo horjeeda, lana dagaalamaayo calankeena jiro. Dad maalmaha xoriyadeena aan maqli karin, naceyb iyo waxee u haayaan midkoodba la ogeyn. Kii laba erey ku dhaha aynan jecleen qoorta ka goynaayo, justified or not, completely ruling in fear.

 

Kuwaas Soomaali ma'ahee wax kale ii sheega. To me, Soomaali ma ila aha.

 

Kuwii kuwaas qeyr iyo wax kale ka sugaayana, amaanaayana, difaacaayana, both offline and online, I don't think inay yihiin dad fiyoow.