ADDIS ABABA - Police on Friday killed five protesters,
including an elderly scholar, in Assasa town in central Ethiopia in the
ongoing Ethiopian Muslim "anti-Ahbashism" protests that have spanned 13
weeks.
In the Ethiopian capital on Friday, the major mosques of Addis Ababa
and the streets were taken by a wave of protesters that chanted “We want
our rights! Stop Ahbashism campaign! Allahu Akbar!!” Sources also confirmed the death of at least five Muslims in Assasa town
of Arsi province in central Ethiopia.
An elderly scholar was among the
dead.
he protestors strongly denounced the continued
government interference in the religious affairs and said “We must elect
our religious leaders by ourselves. The current leaders of council of
Islamic Affairs should be brought to justice for what they were doing on
the Muslim society”. The Ahbashism campaign was aimed at enforcing the
Muslims to accept the belief of a new sect called “Ahbash”.
Massive Protests
The number Muslims protesting against the government orchestrated
Ahbashism campaign is increasing from time to time. The small protest
started at “Aweliya Mosque” three months ago has spread beyond Addis Ababa and reached towns like
Dessie, Dire Dawa, Harar, Shashemene, Assela, Gondar, Alaba, Baddessa,
Assasa, Chagni etc. Haji Abdurahman Sadiq and Mr. Kemal Nuri, two
community leaders living in Addis Ababa, say “All what you see is a
result of a long time oppression of Ethiopian Muslims. The government
proclaimed in its constitution that it has no right to intervene in our
religious affairs. At start, it has allowed Muslims to preach freely, to
publish Islamic books, to build Islamic schools etc.
We were hopeful
then and thought that we were beginning a new era. But as time elapsed,
the government started to oppress our people brutally. We face a big
bureaucratic challenge whenever we demand to build our mosques. Our
children couldn’t express their faith freely in government owned
colleges and universities. Muslim charity organizations are falsely
accused of expanding ‘Wahhabism’ and closed down. The leadership of the
Majlis didn’t say anything when these illegal measures were hurting the
Muslim society” pointing to the Higher Council of Islamic Affairs in
Ethiopia.
All parts of the Muslim society, including women and children, have
participated in the Friday protests. Viewers say the recent speech made
by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had aggravated the tension
between Ethiopian Muslims and the government. The rigid stance of the
government was highly criticized by Muslim members of the ruling EPRDF
party when they gathered for a training on religious tolerance and
development. However, the government authorities said the critiques came
from misconceptions and they launched more training programs in rural
districts.
Five Muslims Killed in Assasa town, Arsi Province
Meanwhile, five Muslims are reportedly killed on Friday by Federal
Police Security Forces in Assasa town in Arsi province of Oromiya
regional state. The incident happened when the security forces
surrounded a mosque and tried to arrest Sheikh Su’ud Aman, a
well-respected Muslim scholar of the town on accusations of promoting
terrorist ideology. When all people in the area opposed the arrest of
Sheikh Su’ud, the securities opened fire and killed five people. Sources
add that many others are wounded. An old man called Sheikh Kedir is
among the dead.
The religious leaders of the town say “What wrong did we do? How dare
they open fire in our mosque? Isn’t this disrespecting our faith? They
killed five innocent civilians and wounded many others. Sheikh Su’ud was
a well-respected scholar of our town. He was serving the community for
many years and taught hundreds of people. Nobody can suspect him of
teaching terrorism ideology. He only refused to participate on the
training arranged by Ahbash faction in Shashemene town last week. That
may be the reason for which he was accused as ‘teacher of terrorist
ideology’”.
The tragic news has spread to the whole of the country and caused a huge
rage. The leading religious scholars of Ethiopia are planning to meet
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to discuss a country wide prosecution of
Muslims.In his recent speech to the Ethiopian Parliament, Meles was heard saying
“We caught an Al-Qaida cell in the provinces of Arsi and Bale. All of
those whom we caught are adherents of Salafi School. This can justify
that at least some Salfis of our country are promoting an Al-Qaida type
ideology and work to topple the state by force. However, we can’t say
all Ethiopian Salfis are members of Al-Qaida”.
However, many scholars and commentators say Meles fabricated this claim
in order to silence the Muslims and all others who demand their right.
They add “Ethiopian Muslims have asked to only to give their right to
elect the leadership of their Majlis and to stop imposing the ideology
of the Ahbash on the mass. Nobody has asked a political power. No one
was heard promoting an establishment of a state lead by Shari’a law. The
government should stop terrorizing Muslims by bringing a nightmare of
Al-Qaida to our country”.
Why Do Ethiopian Muslims Protest?
Witnesses says that the current protests are part of an ongoing
resistance movement of Ethiopian Muslims who react against a plan of the
government to indoctrinate them with the ideology of Ahbash faction.
Founded by an Ethiopian born Lebanese scholar Sheikh Abdullah Al-Harari
Al-Habashi in 1983, Ahbash preaches that the “Wahhabi” are non-Muslims
and must be combated. Thus, the western nations see Ahbash as their
friendly ally than the so called “Militant Wahhabi” school. The faction
is represented by an organization called “Association of Islamic
Charitable Project”. The Ethiopian origin of the founding scholar of the
faction gave it the name “Ahbash” (the “Abyssinians”, derived from
“Habasha”- the Arabic name of Ethiopia)
Ahbash claims to follow the Shafi’i school of law, one of the four
canonically accepted schools in Sunni Islam.It sees itself as the
propagator of the true creed of “Ahlu Sunna” (Sunni Islam) which was
canonized according to the teaching of Imam Abul Hassan Al-Ash’ari
(9-10th Century). However, the claim of Ahbash was rejected by
well-known Islamic institutions including Al-Azhar University, the most
celebrated school in the Sunni world. Further, both Sunni and Shi’a
religious leaders have warned against Ahbash mainly due to its “takfir”
(apostasy) edicts and extreme alliance with the west.
The Ethiopian government put the “Majlis” (Higher Council of Islamic
Affairs) under the leadership of Ahbash scholars three years ago. In
July 2011, the two parties together started a massive campaign of
training and promoting the Ahbash ideology through government owned
media. To lead the trainings, more than 200 Ahbash scholars were brought
from Beirut, Lebanon, where the headquarter of the faction was located.
The campaign was called “Ahbashism” by the mass of Ethiopian Muslims.
Some of the trainees say that the Ahbash scholars have went to an extent
of ordering them to submit to Islam in a new form.
The trainees add the
Ahbash scholars was justifying that practice by saying “Since the
beliefs of Ethiopian Muslims was being spoiled by “Wahhabi ideology” in
the last three decades, it is too hard for them to say ‘I am a Muslim’
unless they reject Wahhabism”.Haji Abdurahman and Mr. Nuri, the aforementioned community leaders, say
“Beginning from the heartbreaking repression measure taken on Muslims in
1995 when they denounced a pro-government Majlis leadership of that
time, we were enduring high oppression. But we faced the ugliest of all
oppressions in this year. We are asked to accept the beliefs of Ahbash
or face prosecution. Our imams are being arrested for refusing to accept
the Ahbash ideology. The problem is very serious in rural areas where
the media can’t reach.
The government has already broken the rule of the
law”.The claim of these community leaders is supported by many viewers. They
say that the government has gone against the constitution of the country
by favoring one faction and alienating the majority. They add also that
both Ethiopian Muslims and Christians have never been accused of
religious extremism although the successive governments were highly
oppressing the Muslims. This view is rejected by Dr. Shiferaw
Teklemariam, the Ethiopian Minister for Federal Affairs, who recently
spoke in government owned TV and Radio that all those who accuse the
government of oppressing Muslims are the “Wahhabis” who have no
tolerance to live with the Sufi Muslims and Christians. He said “We
support the Majlis while it was training Muslim scholars on the
constitution of the country. We work together with Majlis to eradicate
religious extremism from the country. But that doesn’t mean interference
in religions.”
Haji Abdurahman and Mr. Nuri say the government’s claim is false. They
say “This is their usual propaganda. None of us opposes the government
if it were truly seeking to teach about the constitution. It was the
Minister of the Federal Affairs who officially inaugurated the Ahbashism
campaign nine months ago. He said on the spot that the government has
allocated over 11,000,000 Ethiopian Birr in support of the campaign. In
all of his media appearances, he praises the Ahbash philosophy and
condemns the ‘Wahhabi’ ideology. In one of the stages, he told us that
the government officially recorded ‘Wahhabiya’ as an extremist sect and
works to eradicate it from the country. Few years ago, they were
terrifying us in the name of Khawarija. Now they echo about
‘Wahhabiyya”.
The Future Way
Many Ethiopian Muslim scholars say the government is taking the country
to a very troublesome situation. “The Ahbash faction”, they explain “is a
well-known extremist group in the Muslim world. There is no peace where
this deviant sect has reached. Its pro-west stance doesn’t mean it can
tolerate other religious groups. In addition to its deviance, it teaches
that stealing and looting of the properties of non-Muslims are lawful
practices. If it is left on the leadership of the Majlis, we fear it may
create a big tension between Ethiopian Christian and Muslim peoples. We
ask the government to hear our voice urgently”.
The Muslim scholars’ fear is also shared by many political commentators
who say “The government of EPRDF has planned to leap the country to a
developed nation. But it can’t go too far by neglecting the voice of the
mass. Religious extremism has never been the problem of our country. It
is only some shortsighted advisers of the government who proposed the
importation of a controversial faction of Ahbash to combat what they
called ‘Wahhabism’. So it is highly essential for the government if it
thinks for a while and revises its ill planned Ahbashism Campaign”.
Source:http://www.ethiomedia.com/2012_report/3744.html
