Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam

International Journal of Middle East Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 519-538

  Kabha, Mustafa ^a   Erlich, Haggai ^b  

^a OPEN UNIVERSITY OF ISRAEL   (Israel)

^b TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL RELATIONS; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; ISLAMISM;

AFRICA; ASIA; EAST AFRICA; ETHIOPIA; EURASIA; MIDDLE EAST; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

EID: 33947233181     PISSN: 00207438     EISSN: 14716380     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0020743806412459     Document Type: Article

References (106)

1. In Europe and the United States, it is also called AICP, the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects.
2. For an analysis of Wahhabi-Saudi inner conceptual dualities as reflected in a 1982 public argument over the significance of Christian Ethiopia, see Haggai Erlich, "The Saudis and Ethiopia Which Islam?," in Proceedings ofthe XV International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. S. Uhlig (Hamburg: In press).
3. al-Bukhari, Sahih, vol. 2., ed. al-Bagha (Beirut: 1997), 577-99;
4. Muslim, Sahih, vol. 4., ed. 'Abd al-Baqi (Beirut: 1983), 2232. The tradition about the "lean legged (dhū al-suwayqatayn) Ethiopians, they will [eventually] destroy the ka'ba" in the end of time, is widely quoted and can be found in the earliest and the most revered canonical hadith compilations, those of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
5. For an analysis of this dichotomy in Islam's conceptualization of Ethiopia, as well as for relevant sources, see H. Erlich, "Muhammad's Message: Leave the Abyssinians Alone," in Ethiopia and the Middle East (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994), chap. 1
6. and H. Erlich, "Christianity and Islam: The Formative Concepts," in The Cross and the River, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Nile (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002), chap. 2.
7. For a detailed analysis of Saudi-Ethiopian relations as of the 1930s, see H. Erlich, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia: Islam, Christianity, and Politics Entwined (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, in press).
8. "Habash," in Ibn Manzur (al-Ifriqi), Lisan al-'Arab, vol. 6 (Beirut: n.d.), 278-79.
9. See a detailed analysis in Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East, An Historical Inquiry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990);
10. see also the section "habasha" in P. Fernando de Moraes Farias, "The Enslaved Barbarian," in Slaves and Slavery in Muslim Africa, vol. II, ed. John Ralph Willis (London: Frank Cass, 1985) 36-41;
11. also Reiner Voigt, "Abyssinia," in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. I, ed. S. Uhlig (Wiesbaden: Harrassovitz Verlag, 2003), 59-65.
12. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Raf'sha'n al-hubshan (al-Suyuti died in Cairo in 1505);
13. Ahmad al-Hifni al-Qina'i, Jawahir al-hisan fi ta'rikh al-hubshan, Cairo 1902-03.
14. On Bilal bin Rabah, "Bilal al-habashi," see Erlich, Ethiopia and the Middle East, 6, 10, 37, 81.
15. The author of this manuscript is 'Abd al-Baqi al-Bukhari al-Makki. Akbar Muhammad, "The Image of Africans in Arabic Literature: Some Unpublished Manuscripts," in Willis, Slaves and Slavery, vol. I, 47-74.
16. Patricia Crone, "'Even an Ethiopian Slave': The Transformation of a Sunni Tradition," BSOAS, 1994, 59-67;
17. Lewis, Race and Slavery, 34.
18. H. Erlich, "The Wahhabiyya and Ethiopia 1936-1948," in Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007), chap. 3.
19. For the story of Harar, Wahhabi influence in the 1940s, the rivalry between the two shaykhs, and details on their lives, see also two unpublished manuscripts available in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University. The first was written by Muhammad Yusuf Isma'il in Cairo in 1997, and is titled "Qissat al-kulub" ("The Story of the Club"), 126 pp.
20. See note 41.
21. The second is titled "al-Rasa'il al-thalath" ("The Three Messages"), 148 pp., which was written by Shaykh Yusuf in Medina in 2002 in response to "Qissat al-kulub."
22. Yusuf, Al-Rasa'il al-thalath, 121.
23. http://www.alhabashi.info/
24. See more in Daniel Nassif, "Al-Ahbash," Middle East Intelligence Bulletin 3 (2000).
25. On the radio station, see http://www.namradio.com/
26. On the Ahbash usage of the Internet, see Thomas Pierret, "Internet in a Sectarian Islamic Context," The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World 15 (2005): 50.
27. On those activities, see, for example, Manar Al-Huda 93 (December 2000): 36-42.
28. http://www.metransparent.com/
29. http://www.aicp.de and www.islami.de/
30. "Some of AICP Centers Worldwide," http://www.aicp.org
31. See, for example, the English translation (and appendixes) of Shaykh 'Abdalla's "Mukhtasar al-'aqida al-sunniyya," The Summary of Abdullah al-Harari, The Guarantor of the Islamic Obligatory Knowledge, 1412 A.H.-1992 R.C. (Wallingford, PA: Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, Islamic Studies and Research Division).
32. Manar al-Huda 130 (May 2004): 3-5.
33. The high-ranking activist of the Association gave the authors the following estimate of members: Lebanon, 100,000; Jordan, 500-600; Egypt, a few hundred; East Asia, 50,000 70,000; Australia, 10,000; Europe and the United States, 50,000-70,000.
34. Harsi Muhammad Haylula, Mukhtasar al-'aqida al-sunniya li-l-'alama 'Abdalla al-Harari (Malaysia: N.d.), 13.
35. Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985), especially 94-104;
36. Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal, Kharif al-ghadab (Beirut: 1986), 284-87.
37. G. Makdisi, "The Sunni Revival," in Islamic Civilization, 950-1150, ed. D. S. Richards (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973);
38. for Shaykh 'Abdalla's admiration for al-Ghazali, see his book al-Sirat al-mustaqim (Beirut: Burj Abi Haydar Mosque, 1993), 21;
39. see also an article in the association's periodical: Shaykh Muhammad Ya'rub Basaj, "al-Imam al-Ghazali: Ash'ari, sufi, 'arif bi-allah," Manar Al-Huda 87 (May 2000): 48-51.
40. http://www.alhabashi.info/. On al-Azhar and Ethiopia,
41. see Erlich, The Cross and the River, 40, 68, 91-93, 104, 130, 186.
42. For the shaykh's relevant studies and authorizations, see http://www.alhabashi.info/
43. and Nizar Hamza and H. Dekmejian, "A Sufi Response to Political Islamism: Al-Ahbash of Lebanon," International Journal of Middle East Studies 28 (1996): 217-29.
44. al-Tasawwuf al-sahih," http://www.arabray.com/
45. Hamza and Dekmejian, "A Sufi Response to Political Islamism."
46. Haylula, Mukhtasar al-'aqida, p. 14.
47. Shaykh 'Abdalla's lecture in Amman, January 2003;
48. Haylula, Mukhtasar al-'aqida, 13.
49. Haylula, Mukhtasar al-'aqida, 13-14.
50. Manar Al-Huda 40 (February 1996): 13;
51. Jam'iyyat al-mashari'al-khayriyya al-islamiyya fi lubnan, sira wa-injazat (Beirut: N.d.), 40-45.
52. Manar Al-Huda 24 (August 1994): 57.
53. Manar Al-Huda 89 (July 2000): 3-4.
54. Manar Al-Huda 101 (October 2001): 3;
55. see also Manar Al-Huda 60 (November 1997): 4, 5, 17, 24.
56. http://www.safeena.org
57. Muhamad Yusuf Isma'il, "Qissat al-kulub."
58. See note 12. The story of Harar in 1947-48 and what came to be known as "fitnat al-kulūb" is too complicated to be told here. On 21 January 1948, the Ethiopian authorities arrested 81 members of the Somali Youth Club branch in Harar. Thus, there ended a long story, beginning in 1941, of a local Islamic, Wahhabi-inspired effort, led by Shaykh Yusuf, to gain Harari independence from Ethiopia. Shaykh Yusuf blamed Shaykh 'Abdalla in collaborating with the Ethiopians and in tricking the Harari activists to join the pan-Somali cause. He thus helped exposing them to the authorities and killed the chance of gaining Islamic independence. For British reports, see PRO, FO 371/63216, 371/69423, and WO 230/236, 170/1454.
59. Z. al-Zamil, "Islamic Sects and Followings: Al-Ahbash, Their History and Their Beliefs," http://www.islamicweb.com/
60. see more at http://www.albarghothy.net and http://www.anthihabashis.com/
61. Manar Al-Huda 31 (May 1995)
62. Haylula, Mukhtasar al-'aqida, 6-11.
63. "Fatwat hay' at kibar al-'ulama'fi 'Abdalla al-Habashi" [fatwa no. 19606], http://www.antihabashis.com/
64. Al-Muslimun [Riyadh], 20 November (1992). On the contrary, the Ahbash Websites insist women remain obedient to their husbands and acknowledge their superiority. The idea of female liberation is presented as dangerous to society and family. "Tahdhir al-nisa' min al-khuruj bila fa'ida" and "Husn al-'ishra bayna al-zawjayn," http://www.alhabashi.info/
65. 'Abdalla al-Harari, al-Maqallat al-saniyya fi kashf dalalat Ahmad ibn Taymiyya (Beirut: 1994), 12. Of those sixty issues, for example, are Ibn Taymiyya's contention that some dimensions of God are found in his creatures [al-Maqallat, 16] and his concept of God's personification (tajsīm). Manar Al-Huda 34 (August 1995): 2.
66. 'Abdalla, Dalalat, 43-48.
67. Ibid., 5-9.
68. 'Abu Suhayb 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Maliki, al-Maqalat al-sunniya fi kashf dalalat al-firqa al-habashiyya (Sidney: 1995), 74.
69. Ibid., 167-69.
70. Ibid., http://www.antihabashis.com/
71. al-Maliki, Maqalat, 167-69.
72. "Qadaya wa-hiwarat," 3 May 2004, http://www.islamtoday.net/
73. Manar Al-Huda 130 (May 2004): 44.
74. Manar Al-Huda 37 (November 1995): 82.
75. Manar Al-Huda 95 (January 2001): 71.
76. http://www.antihabashis.com/
77. al-Maliki, Maqalat, 127.
78. http://www.albarghoty.net/
79. Tafnid maza'im al-mud'i fi ma nasabahu ila shaykh 'Abdalla al-Harari (Beirut: Jam'iyyat al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya, 1995), 41-45.
80. Qur'an, Sura 7, 54, or 20, 5.
81. 'Abdalla al-Harari, al-Matalib al-wafiyya fi sharh al-'aqida al-nasfiyya (Beirut: 1997), 39-40.
82. The above passage is based on a tape of a lecture delivered by Shaykh 'Abdalla in Jordan, 26 January 2003, and on his book Bughyat al-talib li-ma 'rifat al-'ilm al-dini al-wajib (Beirut: 1995), 31.
83. al-Maliki, al-Maqalat, 23.
84. http://www.antihabashis.com/
85. 'Abdalla, Bughyat al-talib, 31
86. Shaykh 'Abdalla's lecture, 26 January 2003.
87. For discussions of saint shrine visitation, see Valerie Hoffman, Sufism, Mystics, and Saints in Modern Egypt (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1995);
88. Julian Johansen, Sufism and Islamic Reform in Egypt: The Battle for Islamic Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996);
89. Frederick de Jong and Bemd Radtke, ed., Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999).
90. 'Taymiyya, Sharh al-'umda, vol. 4, 427.
91. al-Harari, al-Maqalat al-saniyya, 9.
92. Tafnid, 41.
93. See note 8.
94. Hussein Ahmed, "The Historiography of Islam in Ethiopia," Journal of Islamic Studies 3 (1992): 12-46.
95. Tafnid, 41.
96. Shaykh 'Abdalla al-Harari, al-Sharh al-qawim fi hal alfaz al-sirat al-mustaqim (Beirut: 2002), 7, 32.
97. Shaykh 'Abdalla's lecture, 26 January 2003.
98. Faris Noor, "What is the Victory of Islam," in Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism, ed. Omid Safi (Oxford: 2003), 320-32.
99. http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SR3004/.
100. The fatwa was found at http://www.islamonline.net/ on 2 December 2002.
101. Reuven Paz, "Sleeping with the Enemy: Participation of Muslims in U.S. Elections," in PRISM Series of Global Jihad, Occasional Papers, ed. R. Paz (Herzliyya, Israel: The Interdisciplinary Academic Center, 2003), vol. 1, no. 9, http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/ FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=74388/
102. In his book, al-Sharh al-qadim fi asl al-sirat al-mustaqim (Beirut: 2002), 32, Shaykh 'Abdalla al-Harari wrote, "There were righteous people from ahl al-kitab, Jews and Christians, like 'Abdalla ibn Salam the scholar of the Jews in Medina, and the najāshī, Ashama, the Christian king of Ethiopia. The najāshī followed the Prophet fully and died when the Prophet was still alive. He prayed over him like over a departed Muslim. There was light radiating from his grave. This is the proof that he was a holy man."
103. See more on this debate in "Munazara" at http://www.alislam.be/ debate.htm/
104. al-Harari, Mukhtasar al-'aqida, 82.
105. See the text of his lecture at http:/www.Arabic.islamicweb.com/
106. al-Harari, Kamukhtasar Abdalla al-Harari mashaf ya' emnat kift atchru tenatna (Harar: 2003).