Somalia war 'not jihad,' concludes Islamic conference in Puntland

A week-long Islamic conference that was held at Masjid Al-Huda in Garowe, the administrative capital of Somalia's stable northern state of Puntland, ended on Wednesday evening with a substantive outcome and a public appeal from the well-respected Somali Islamic scholars in attendance.The Muslim scholars, from all corners of Somalia including breakaway region of Somaliland, gathered to discuss the history of Islam in Somalia and the methods of Da'wah, or the peaceful preaching of Islam across the population.Among the top names in the conference include Sheikh Ali Warsame Hassan, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, Sheikh Abdullahi  Dahir Jama, Sheikh Abdinasir Haji Ahmed, Sheikh Mahammed Idiris Ahmed, Sheikh Abdiqadir Nur Farah, Sheikh Yussuf Adan, Sheikh Ahmed Haji AbdirahmanRepresentatives from the Government of Puntland, including Cabinet ministers and members from Nugal provincial and district authorities, attended the closing ceremony of the conference.  Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, who is currently on an official foreign trip, addressed the conference by speaking over the phone.After the ceremony, the Islamic scholars jointly issued a 12 point communiqué that highlights the current scenarios facing Somalia, and condemning many un-Islamic practices used to fuel the escalating conflict and also warning the people.They called on the Muslims to strictly follow the Islamic way of life and adhere to the ways in which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used in reaching out to the population.
Authorities in Somalia were urged to implement the Islamic Shari'ah Law in the areas they control.
The Islamic clerics warned of legitimizing shedding Muslim blood in the "disguise of fighting for Islam" and also tagging a Muslim person as an infidel without taking the due process."Somalis are Muslims and they need to be calmly corrected in terms of their faith, culture and behavior. So, it is not acceptable for these groups fighting in Somalia to judge each other and other people as apostate," reads the communiqué issued at the conclusion of the Islamic conference in Garowe.The clerics also agreed that the war that is going on in Somalia is an "incitement"rather than a holy war (jihad), as claimed by the Islamist insurgent factions like Al Shabaab.The communique condemned the presence of foreign troops in the country, saying they are not welcomed by the Somali people. Mogadishu is home to about 5,300 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi who are serving under an African Union peacekeeping mandate.The presence of foreign troops inside the war-torn country is "dangerous to the religion and socio-political well being of the population," it adds.  Acts of piracy along the Somalia's coastline was also condemned in the communique, terming it "dangerous and shameful to Islam" and also degrading the people's way of life.The Somali Islamic scholars proposed a large reconciliation conference to be held inside Somalia, which would bring together all the Islamic scholars to discuss the way forward in the bid to find a lasting solution for the swelling problems that face Somalia at the moment.While in Puntland, the scholars held discussions with different people, including students, woman's groups and the business community to enlighten society about Islam and related religious issues.This annual conference comes at an appropriate time in Somalia' s turbulent history, as armed factions waging war in the name of Islam have created divisions among Muslims, both in Somalia and around the world, and have attracted foreign fighters to wage war inside Somalia.Somalia's Western-backed interim government is headed by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is a former chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled Mogadishu and other regions in 2006 until being thrown by Ethiopian troops, which sparked today's insurgency.The main insurgent groups fighting the government include Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, both which are splinter factions of the ICU from 2006.Both groups claim they want to impose Shari'a law throughout Somalia and to overthrow the current interim government in Mogadishu, which enjoys the backing of AU peacekeeping troops. They accuse the government's top leaders of being "puppets" of the West.Somali insurgent groups have often dismissed the declarations of the country's most respected Islamic scholars, who were in attendance at the Garowe Islamic conference.Its not clear what impact the conference's message will have on the ongoing insurgency, but observers say the conference's message has reached the public and is a counter-weight against the radical message of Islamist insurgents .