It’s always useful, or at least fine, to hear the advice of those who have the expertise of a particular subject. Religion and faith are quite unique, and not something we can simply swallow without asking the questions Why? Why now? And who?
Hassan Dahir Aweys, the founding father of extremism in Somalia, a man listed both by the U.S. and United Nations as global terrorist associated with Al Qaeda who should in my opinion be the last person to give a fatwa for the same people he inflicted the pain of the horrors of terrorism based on the misinterpretation of a noble religion.
He is in prison only because the previous administration was reluctant to risk a backlash if he was charged, found guilty and sentenced to death. Which in my opinion is what he deserves and should have taken place a long time ago. But, thanks to the mentality of “us the clan”.
This can only happen in Somalia where an individual like Hassan Dahir Aweys who has been associated with war crimes and genocide against the Somali people to freely share and spread his message from prison!
The message and the ideology that got him there in the first place, and not only that the message that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of the Somali people if not millions.
More importantly as far as I’m aware Hassan Dahir Aweys has not denounced his ideologies and beliefs to this day, meaning he is still practically a member of Al-Shabaab, sitting in a luxurious house the government calls it “a prison” (I wonder if any one with a modicum of humanity would swallow that) still continues to spread the same message and Fatwa’s encouraging his followers to kill and insult those he thinks don’t agree with his interpretation of Islam. An insult to injury! something no prisoner of terrorism is privileged with.
It sometimes shocks me beyond comfort how low our leaders rate the Somali people and their levels of intelligence by telling us Hassan Dahir Aweys acted on his own and above all has the right to “defend his religion” while in prison and share his message. Remember Hassan Dahir Aweys is in PRISON! I repeat Hassan Dahir Aweys is in PRISON. It is an insult to intuition!
The Somali people need to wake up and see those who preach water but drink wine. You’ve already fallen into their traps. You’ve been their victims, and they’ve been predators. You’ve endured for ignorantly embracing them and for taking their false message to heart. You’ve been negatively impacted. They’ve caused you more harm than good. You’ve been through immense pain, misery and heartbreak.
For A.A. Warsame, who triggered all this, all I would say is that he made a serious mistake and, thanks to Allah SWT, he had swallowed up his ego, repented and asked Allah SWT forgiveness. In his response to the backlash and the criticisms he received after the comments he made while giving a speech in Germany, he denied that he believed or said that the hadith is false, but only he differs on how some scholars interpreted the hadith.
He cleared the air as much as he could, demonstrating his affection for his religion and his prophet (PPH). To me, that’s enough, we’re not judges here, Allah SWT sees everything that is inside his heart, and Allah SWT alone has the power to judge.
For those other scholars(other than Hassan Dahir Aweys) who were too eager to reach a conclusions and declare A.A Warsame as a “KAAFIR” I have one simple message for them, PREACH WATER AND DRINK WATER NOT WINE! Don’t give a fatwa that is based on interests and personal gain, remember that your words matter.
The games you are playing these days will only damage your reputation even more and the trust we have in you and our scholars. Your main role is to educate the society not to get involved in politics campaign for some politicians, declare others non-believers and call for their murder.
Those at the Villa Somalia especially the President who is in charge and responsible for keeping the country and the citizens safe, you may enjoy all of this drama now for cheap political gain. but, remember this will only damage your credibility even more as a leader to govern a country raising from the ashes of the same ideology, an ideology preached by Hassan Dahir Aweys and his associates freely and fairly.
I say that mainly because its as clear as the day that Hassan Dahir Aweys did not act on his own and you were the mastermind behind all of this, and if your hands are clean as your Minister of Information claims you should have acted swiftly and decisively by now and at least cut off the access and the privileges Hassan Dahir Aweys has to spread his message of hatred and destruction which will only make things worse.
My advice to you as a leaders is that you are heading towards a dead end hiding in plain site. Stop it Now and put the unity and the wellbeing of the Somali people above all, otherwise it will be too late. Read the history! Religious wars are never ending, we have already got one to deal with, a war that took thousands of lives and displaced millions and guess who started? None other than Hassan Dahir Aweys himself and his group now based in peaceful countries and some of them living in Mogadishu in five-star hotels paid by the tax payer’s money and giving fatwa’s for cash.
Abdullahi Samoow
Abdullahisamoow@gmail. com
