Secularism in Taqarrub Ilallah. Why seclude other elements of Islam?

DUSA MARREB, Somalia — From men of peace, the Sufi clerics suddenly became men of war.

Michael Kamber for The New York Times

Members of a Sufi militia in Dusa Merrab, Somalia, have taken up arms to fight against the Shabab, one of the most fearsome extremist Muslim groups in Africa.

Their shrines were being destroyed. Their imams were being murdered. Their tolerant beliefs were under withering attack.

So the moderate Sufi scholars recently did what so many other men have chosen to do in anarchic Somalia: they picked up guns and entered the killing business, in this case to fight back against the Shabab, one of the most fearsome extremist Muslim groups in Africa.

“Clan wars, political wars, we were always careful to stay out of those,” said Sheik Omar Mohamed Farah, a Sufi leader. “But this time, it was religious.”

In the past few months, a new axis of conflict has opened up in Somalia, an essentially governmentless nation ripped apart by rival clans since 1991. Now, in a definitive shift, fighters from different clans are forming alliances and battling one another along religious lines, with deeply devout men on both sides charging into firefights with checkered head scarves, assault rifles and dusty Korans.

It is an Islamist versus Islamist war, and the Sufi scholars are part of a broader moderate Islamist movement that Western nations are counting on to repel Somalia’s increasingly powerful extremists. Whether Somalia becomes a terrorist incubator and a genuine regional threat — which is already beginning to happen, with hundreds of heavily armed foreign jihadists flocking here to fight for the Shabab — or whether this country finally steadies itself and ends the years of hunger, misery and bloodshed may hinge on who wins these battles in the next few months.

“We’re on terra incognito,” said Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit group that tries to prevent deadly conflicts. “Before, everything was clan. Now we are beginning to see the contours of an ideological, sectarian war in Somalia for the first time, and that scares me.”

For two years, Islamist insurgents waged a fierce war against Somalia’s transitional government and the thousands of Ethiopian troops protecting it. In January, the insurgents seemed to get what they wanted: the Ethiopians pulled out; an unpopular president walked away; and moderate Islamists took the helm of the internationally recognized transitional government of Somalia, raising hopes for peace.

But since then, the verdict on the moderates has been mixed. In the past two weeks, the Shabab have routed government forces in Mogadishu, the capital. The tiny bit of the city the government controls is shrinking, block by block, and Ethiopian troops have once again crossed the border and are standing by. As many as 150 people have been killed, and the relentless mortar fire has spawned streams of shellshocked civilians trudging into the arid countryside, where they face the worst drought in a decade.

If Mogadishu falls, Somalia will be dragged deeper into the violent morass that the United Nations, the United States and other Western countries have tried hard to stanch, and the country will fragment even further into warring factions, with radical Islamists probably on top.

But out here, on the wind-whipped plains of Somalia’s central region, it is a different story. The moderates are holding their own, and the newly minted Sufi militia is about the only local group to go toe-to-toe with the Shabab and win.

The several-hundred-square-mile patch of central Somalia that the Sufis control is not nearly as strategic as Mogadishu. But the Sufis have achieved what the transitional government has not: grass-roots support, which explains how they were able to move so quickly from a bunch of men who had never squeezed a trigger before — a rarity in Somalia — into a cohesive fighting force backed by local clans.

Many Somalis say that the Sufi version of Islam, which stresses tolerance, mysticism and a personal relationship with God, is more congruent with their traditions than the Wahhabi Islam espoused by the Shabab, which calls for strict separation of the sexes and harsh punishments like amputations and stonings.

“We see the Sufis as part of us,” said Elmi Hersi Arab, an elder in the battered central Somalia town of Dusa Marreb. “They grew up here.”

The Sufis also tapped into an anti-Shabab backlash. The Shabab, who recruit from all clans, and, according to American officials, are linked to Al Qaeda, controlled Dusa Marreb for the better part of last year. Residents described that period as a reign of terror, with the Shabab assassinating more than a dozen village elders and even beheading two women selling tea.

“We respected the Shabab for helping drive out the Ethiopians,” said one woman in Dusa Marreb who asked not to be identified for safety reasons. “But when the Ethiopians left and the Shabab kept the war going, that to us didn’t make sense.”

Wazir’s review

It seems that nowadays Muslims have the tendency to kill amongst themselves without mercy And all fights derived from clouded reasons and ideas. From the news taken from International Herald Tribune, seems that Somalia have never been in peace from fights and tribal wars. As written from the author, now it turns out to be religious wars between 2 groups of Islamist movement that are the Shabab and the Sufis.

The Shabab are labeled as pro Al-Qaeda and supposedly if they are, of course their ideas with Al-Qaeda are the same : Building an Islamic State through Jihad. As the Sufis movement, we know that most of the Sufis sect, focus non other than dzikir and uzlah(pulling oneself out from the society and politics). Looks like the focus of sufi sects in Somalia have made them widely known worldwide as ‘moderate’ kind of muslims, and this perception not only accepted to sufi sects only in Somalia, but worldwide. As US always ‘love’ Syeikh Hisyam Kabbani for his ‘moderate’ approach in portraying Islam to the west and the one that help to warn the US government by accusing Al-Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks (which clearly proven that they didn’t).

Clearly, these war by means religious, is a war of wasting blood amongst Muslims. Of course Shabab, had their own reasons of being anarchic, and their actions are wrong in Islam. Islam forbids Muslims to attack and slaughter among themselves since they’re tied upon the one and only kalimah of LAILAHAILLALLAH MUHAMMADARRASULULLAH and it is haram for them to execute others by their views, blasphemic or deviated from the fundamental teachings of Islam. And it is wrong for them to create chaos in Somalia as most of the people there, if they are either secular, democratic, Sufis or whatever you wanna call it, are Muslims. The only war, sacred for the Muslims and worth fighting for is Jihad, and Jihad only applied to Harbi ( non-Muslims that clearly being anti-muslims) like Israel, US and its allies. Waging war against other Muslims or sectarians is forbidden, until proven that others are really strayed from the teaching of Islam like Ahmadiyah teachings in Indonesia. Even proven, Shabab, does not have the authority to execute others by their own hands, unless judiciary proceedings be held by the courts of Daulah. So as we can see, though some may see them as fighters, their methods are totally against Islam.

As for the Sufis, their uprising is based on the wrong platform. “Clan wars, political wars, we were always careful to stay out of those,” said Sheik Omar Mohamed Farah, a Sufi leader. “But this time, it was religious.” Clearly stated that somehow they’re secluding themselves from taking part of any political activities. And I believe, this happens around the world. The sufi syeikhs has never brought themselves to public bringing political ideas in Islam, rather than endless taqarrub ilallah, whih for them are non other than dzikir and munajat. Never in any political platform rise a sufi syeikh bringing up political ideas of uniting the muslims around the world in 1 state, that encompassing from Africa, Middle East and South East Asia. Never in any platform, a sufi syeikh, bringing up the matters and the urgency to uphold syariah as the only code of law, ways and solutions to life.

Most of the Muslim groups, fighters or political figures preaching only to 1 side of Islam, or trying to uphold Islam, neglecting the balance between fikrah and thariqah. They preach Islam, but against hudud. They want to uphold a state, but through force and bloodied wars. They stresses dzikir, but denying Islamic state and Muslim unity. Alas, we see the total confusion amongst them.

Why seclude the elements of Islam?

It is obvious that our Qudwatun Hasanah, Rasulullah SAW have shown us his methods and thariqah. It was crystal clear that Rasulullah did not neglect the spiritual and the political part of Islam. In fact, Rasulullah did not neglect even a single word from the Quran, be it politically, economy, education, international affairs, Jihad, administration, and spiritual as aside Quran, he does not speak, other than what is given to him by Allah.

Why must we, the ummah of Muhammad, seclude the elements and being syeikhs of this part and syeikhs of that part, straying from his method of implementing Islam as deen and way of life? Is it wrong or committing sin that professionals are ulama’? Is it wrong or a sin condemned to hell that sufi syeikhs should start talking political, firing an uprising within the ummah that is so recklessly slaughtered, tortured, oppressed by the west and its ideologies?

Are being only a soldier, waging anarchic wars would solve the matters of the ummah? Are being the most holy sufi syeikhs and saints, secluding himselves and its jamaah deep in the woods would solve the matters of ummah? The answer is in broad daylight.

Both sectors are fighting for no good. Giving a disgrace to Islam. And these, are just some examples that we Muslims, are fighting for the wrong cause. That goes the same for those who didn’t fight by lifting M-16, but by democracy and any other method, aside that what’s shown by our beloved Rasulullah – that is da’wah in forms of sira’ul fikri, kifahus siyasi and tholabun nusrah.

Why are we choosing to waste our time going against each other, by being politically secular or religiously secular? Don’t squeeze the meaning of taqarrub only by dzikir. Upholding and implementing the Quran in whole aspect of life is taqarrub. Upholding Khilafah is taqarrub, Jihad is taqarrub, Islamic economy against riba and oppression is taqarrub, dakwah is taqarrub.

Why choose to confuse and conflict when you already have the answers? Aren’t we ashamed of ourselves, fighting amongst each other while the West are laughing at us? A clear answer – AREN’T WE SUPPOSE TO FOCUS OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST THEM(KUFFAR), THE REAL ENEMIES OF ALLAH? AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO STAND UP AGAINST THEM, THE ENEMIES OF ALLAH THROUGH THE THARIQAH OF RASULULLAH?

Fikir…soal