The majority of Somalis have supported the Islamic Courts Union without any reservation including myself because they brought back some sanity to Somalia. They have also exposed the lack of support for the warlords while getting rid of them, atleast in Mogadishu, Kismayo and other parts of the country. Not completely though,many are part of the weak government and still enjoy a status of leadership they have no business being titled to. Very few Somalis have held their support until the courts have proven themselves. It is fair to analyze them now given their track record so far,taking into account their intended goals and actions so far. let us analyze critically their background, their financial source and their ideology because that is what defines them now and the long-term. Majority of Somalis are supporting the Islamic Courts because the Islamist have presented themselves and still argue that the only alternative to clanism and the failed Somali State is political Islam. They are using Islam as an alternative unifying factor, unifying ideology.The Stateless situation didn’t only create a fertile ground for the emergence,breeding and the development of Islamic fundamentalism but it also became conducive for the free movement of extremism and terrorist forces. For the first time in the history of chaotic Somalia, foreign Muslim extremists are present and converging into Somalia. Somalia’s anarchy has taken a whole new meaning. It is no longer the low-level militia fighting or intra-clan competition for dominance. Somalia is now the center stage for Islamic Extremism and the international Jihadist movement. If the flow of foreign fighters are not stopped or prevented, not tomorrow but now,Somalia’s neighboring countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and other East and Central African countries will pay a huge price politically and financially. Enough said,who is the ICU? Who are these Islamic Courts Union? Where did they get their inspiration? Who are their main influences? Majority of Somalis are supporting the Islamic Courts Union without having the slightest idea their goals, objectives, background, inspiration and the consequences of supporting them in the near future or even the long term. The Islamic Courts consist of three groups, each with its own goal and objective in the near future and long-term. Each group is in the Union to advance its own goal. Sheikh Sheriff heads one group. This is the moderate group. In my opinion, they have only one goal, to bring back security, and unite the country. Initially they were willing to negotiate with the weak Somali government, but now, their voices seemed to have been drowned by the other two groups, the extremist groups who have other agendas totally different than this groups.The second group is headed by Sheikh Aweys. They are the Al-Itihad, the Jihadistelements. Their ideology is a subset of Salafi ideology known as the Qutubi ideology named after Sheikh Qutubi, known for his hardline interpretation of Islam. This ideology is built upon the precepts of an existing Salafi tradition within the broader Islamic faith, and resonates in the Muslim world because of several pre-existing perceptions and environmental factors, including a sense of crisis,humiliation, impotence and resentment directed at their local rulers and powerful Western allies.This group headed by Sheikh Aweys want a totalitarian system of government in which no one is allowed to think for themselves or question their authority. They want torule people by decrees. An excellent example are their decrees banning Khat without considering the economic and social consequence to the population. Rather than stopping it gradually while introducing other economic measures to minimize the economic suffering of the millions who trade on Khat, it was done by a decree just like that. Another example is banning Cinemas within weeks of the ICU being in existence. There are many more examples of drastic decrees which shows you their hardline ideology based solely on belief without any regard to policy change consequences or modern day economics.This group is downright scary and any Somali who doesn’t share their understanding of Islam will be declared an apostate and executed. Any Somali who wants to know what the Islamic Court’s fundamentalist government will look like, contemplate theTaliban; the only State in recent memory that this group consider to have been legitimately Islamic.This group just like other Jihadist movement in other Muslim countries has such a weak and unappealing message that they have to use violence to persuade people. They claim to be saving Somalia, Somalia and Islam but they are giving it a bad reputation. They are hurting the Somali people, their own people and their country.They will wage violence against every Somali, non-Somali, governments and all economic resources and will claim as necessary, and will sanction religiously. They will vault the west, neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and IGAD and apostate regimes. Like all Jihadi movements, the Jihad cause is best served when the conflict with local and foreign governments is portrayed as a conflict between Muslims and the Christians. They claim Islam and Somalis are under siege and only Jihad can lift the siege.The third group consists of the remnants of Pan-Somalia advocates. Together withAl-Itihad, ONLF, OLF and the Eritreans, led by an increasingly paranoid, sociopathpresident, are the sworn blood enemies of the Ethiopians. Across the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are seizing the opportunity to plant their long sought influence in the horn of Africa to counteract what they see as an Ethiopian dominance. In response, they are providing cash through Islamic charities to their Islamic comrades.This radical group also believes that Islam is not simply an ideological alternative for Muslim societies but a theological and political imperative. Because it is God’s command, implementation must be immediate, not gradual, and the obligation to implement is incumbent on all true Muslims. Therefore, those who hesitate remain apolitical, and those who resist—individuals and governments—are no longer to be regarded as Muslims. They are atheists or unbelievers, enemies of God, against whom all true Muslims must wage holy war in the form of jihad.Now that we understand whom we are dealing with and a brief background of eachgroup, what are the real threats of the Islamic Courts Union? All Somalis,neighboring countries and the international community, initially hailed the emergence of the ICU. But as soon as they presented their real ambition, long-term political goal, they have presented a frightening threat not only to Somalia, but also to neighboring countries, the East and Central Africa region and to the international political scene. They have introduced a new phenomenon similar to the Taliban of Afghanistan into East Africa.The ICU has exploited the long suffering of the Somali population. Althoughtraditionally clan loyalty is more important than any religious loyalty in Somalia,war weariness, desperation, eagerness for peace and order as well as widespread poverty seem to have attracted the youth to join the fundamentalist camp. That is why Islamists in Somalia target the youth more than any other group for terrorist activities. Have you seen the images and photos of their militia? They are training and recruiting teenagers as young as 9 years old. Is this Islamic? Absolutely not.According to Islamic teachings, people younger than 17 are not allowed in the battle
field. What they are doing is absolutely immoral and un-islamic. But they sanction all their decisions religiously. This should give us a preview of what is in-store for unsuspecting and unprepared Somalis. However unable to avoid the influence of traditional Islamic and clan leaders in Somalia, Islamic extremists use money to bribe a lot of them and promote their agenda. Thus, the stateless situation and poverty is pushing clan leaders and Islamic clerics in Somalia to join the fundamentalist camp. Almost every mosque in Somalia is being led by ulamas either bribed or convinced by extremists. The teachings in the mosques are not purely religious. Most of the teaching is centered on criticizing the corrupt influence of warlords, individualistic, hedonistic, and permissive western and Christian culture.Like in many other parts of the world, Islamists in Somalia are pursuing a new,ideological and non-traditional approach to Islam. They speak of their movement asan ideology and not a religion; the target is purely political, they have their eyeon the state and not the clergy and espouse an Islamic republic as an end goal. Worse, Islamists in Somalia control almost all business and political structures. They have laid a solid structure and foundation for the past 20 years while keeping
a low profile. Every lucrative and strategic business in Somalia is run by a rotating fund of Islamist forces. Clearly fundamentalists are slowly but steadily controlling Somalia. The method is very effective because it follows a bottom-up approach of multi-faceted process of state-formation unseen before in other parts of the world.They are using a grass roots approach and a combined struggle of using ideology, business, and military expansionism in a typical state formation applied in the past to create the modern states. If this process reaches its final stage which the ICU has been pushing for it for the past two months by capturing and controlling the whole country, they will become highly regimented, formidable and a hard nut to crack.The ICU’s hard elements are no less dangerous than the Taliban if they continue on
the current path they have chosen. They have both the intent and the capacity to destabilize the region and international order at large. Distinguishing between moderate ICU groups that participate within society and violent revolutionaries is critical to understanding and containing the ICU resurgence. Many opponents of political Islam have charged that all Islamic movements are extremist groups thatseek to “hijack democracy” and manipulate the political system in order to gain power and impose their will. However, I will argue that this type of reaction contributes to the radicalization of moderate Muslims and in this case, the moderateICU wing headed by Sheikh Sheriff.The record of Ethiopia shows that it has both the political, organizational andmilitary capacity to deal with Islamic terrorist groups and their supporters in theregion. But the world should give it serious attention, political backing and value it as part and parcel of dealing or containing the Islamic Courts Union hard elements and anti-Ethiopian opposition groups. Ethiopia should be also careful not to be seen as anti-Islamic force. How Ethiopia handles the ICU’s hard elements will determine winning support from its own Muslim majority and among Somalis or creating opposition to it self both domestically and internationally. Somalia’s neighboring countries should take the ICU very seriously, they should engage, demand dialogueg with the weak interim government and when necessary use a decisive, overwhelming force to disband the ICU. The road ahead is tough but we can’t afford to waiver or we will live with the consequence for a long time.
Shamso Omar is a PHD candidate in Economics.
can be reached at shamsoomar@hotmail.com
field. What they are doing is absolutely immoral and un-islamic. But they sanction all their decisions religiously. This should give us a preview of what is in-store for unsuspecting and unprepared Somalis. However unable to avoid the influence of traditional Islamic and clan leaders in Somalia, Islamic extremists use money to bribe a lot of them and promote their agenda. Thus, the stateless situation and poverty is pushing clan leaders and Islamic clerics in Somalia to join the fundamentalist camp. Almost every mosque in Somalia is being led by ulamas either bribed or convinced by extremists. The teachings in the mosques are not purely religious. Most of the teaching is centered on criticizing the corrupt influence of warlords, individualistic, hedonistic, and permissive western and Christian culture.Like in many other parts of the world, Islamists in Somalia are pursuing a new,ideological and non-traditional approach to Islam. They speak of their movement asan ideology and not a religion; the target is purely political, they have their eyeon the state and not the clergy and espouse an Islamic republic as an end goal. Worse, Islamists in Somalia control almost all business and political structures. They have laid a solid structure and foundation for the past 20 years while keeping
a low profile. Every lucrative and strategic business in Somalia is run by a rotating fund of Islamist forces. Clearly fundamentalists are slowly but steadily controlling Somalia. The method is very effective because it follows a bottom-up approach of multi-faceted process of state-formation unseen before in other parts of the world.They are using a grass roots approach and a combined struggle of using ideology, business, and military expansionism in a typical state formation applied in the past to create the modern states. If this process reaches its final stage which the ICU has been pushing for it for the past two months by capturing and controlling the whole country, they will become highly regimented, formidable and a hard nut to crack.The ICU’s hard elements are no less dangerous than the Taliban if they continue on
the current path they have chosen. They have both the intent and the capacity to destabilize the region and international order at large. Distinguishing between moderate ICU groups that participate within society and violent revolutionaries is critical to understanding and containing the ICU resurgence. Many opponents of political Islam have charged that all Islamic movements are extremist groups thatseek to “hijack democracy” and manipulate the political system in order to gain power and impose their will. However, I will argue that this type of reaction contributes to the radicalization of moderate Muslims and in this case, the moderateICU wing headed by Sheikh Sheriff.The record of Ethiopia shows that it has both the political, organizational andmilitary capacity to deal with Islamic terrorist groups and their supporters in theregion. But the world should give it serious attention, political backing and value it as part and parcel of dealing or containing the Islamic Courts Union hard elements and anti-Ethiopian opposition groups. Ethiopia should be also careful not to be seen as anti-Islamic force. How Ethiopia handles the ICU’s hard elements will determine winning support from its own Muslim majority and among Somalis or creating opposition to it self both domestically and internationally. Somalia’s neighboring countries should take the ICU very seriously, they should engage, demand dialogueg with the weak interim government and when necessary use a decisive, overwhelming force to disband the ICU. The road ahead is tough but we can’t afford to waiver or we will live with the consequence for a long time.
Shamso Omar is a PHD candidate in Economics.
can be reached at shamsoomar@hotmail.com
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