Muslim authorities fear that extremists could fall prey to manipulation

15 September 2005

Editor's note: This is part two of two articles exploring the political and theological background of the Salafi movement and the concerns of a sectarian strife breaking out between Sunni and Shiite sects in Lebanon.

BEIRUT: Sunni and Shiite scholars have lately begun to express fears of sectarian strife between members of the two communities in Lebanon. Some scholars say the likelihood of such conflict has increased because U.S. occupation forces in Iraq have infiltrated Salafi groups there and manipulate them. Others attribute potential conflict to "a growing trend towards Shiite fanaticism."

Whether or not such fears are justified, Lebanon's Salafi movement has not yet grown to threatening proportions, and disputes among Muslim groups are contained within the framework of theological disagreements.

Because Lebanon is going through a sensitive period of change and political turmoil, though, most Muslim authorities fear that Salafis and Shiite extremists could fall easy prey to manipulation, local and foreign.

Jaafar, is a student in a Shiite religious school who prefers to remain anonymous. "My school is financed by pro-American Iraqi Shiite politicians," he admits, "while other schools receive financial aid from mysterious sources from other countries in the Muslim world."

Prominent Shiite Islamic scholar and jurist, Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah is aware of these irregularities, and sees Shiite fanaticism as a threat to Islam.

"To maintain Muslim unity and prevent possible strife between Sunnis and Shiites," he warns, "we should keep an eye on extremists among both groups in order to prevent them widening the rift [between Sunnis and Shiite] by preaching false doctrines in unauthorized religious schools."

"In objective terms," Fadlallah argues, "both [Shiite and Sunni extremism] are natural allies in accomplishing the aims of foreign powers wanting to repress the Muslim faith."

Interior and exterior threats, Fadlallah preaches, are of equal danger to Islam.

"Islam is being subjected to an aggressive assault from foreign neocolonialist powers," he believes, "and internally from extremist groups within both the Sunni and Shiite communities."

Thus far scholars and politicians have focused their attention on local and regional Salafi groups, simply because Shiite extremists have not caused any "trouble" outside the Iranian sphere of influence.

In a recent speech describing the Iraqi scene, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, "In part, the Salafi's sectarian assault on their Shiite fellow citizens happened under the guidance of American generals, while the Salafis claim to be 'fighting the occupation and its collaborators.'"

Bekaa Mufti Khalil al-Meiss could not agree more. He believes the Salafi movement can only grow on the wreckage of Islam. "The U.S. and other Western powers," he said, "are working toward this objective under the pretext of fighting terrorism, which is itself promoted by such misguided Islamic groupings."

"Unlike Sufis, who emerged during Islam's flourishing epochs," Meiss explained, "the Salafi groups grew during its decline. It is a negative reaction to feeling inferior to the dominant Western powers."

Sheikh Abdo-Nasser Jabri, a member of the Congregation of Muslim Ulama (scholars), sees in this inferiority complex the additional danger that Salafi groups will easily surrender to the wishes of intelligence agencies of the great powers.

In addition to its structural deficiencies, Meiss believes the Salafi doctrine is doomed because it seeks to disregard centuries of Islamic history and "revive the message from scratch, without actually providing a messenger to guide the Ummah (Muslim community)."

Adnan Amama, a Salafi from Majdal Anjar, says he doesn't belong to a unified movement or follow a single Imam or religious leader. He says he derives his political views from Salafi Web sites and statements occasionally published in the Arab media.

A Salafi scholar who runs a  religious school in Majdal Anjar and preaches at one of its mosques, Amama believes the enemies of Islam are all those who have introduced new doctrines and beliefs into Islam since the end of the first Islamic epoch - the era of Mohammad and the first four "rightly guided" caliphs.

From this perspective, all other Islamic sects and scholars can be included in the Salafi's list of "enemies."

Amama insists the Salafi doctrine does not urge its followers to initiate "hostile actions against other Muslims." Citing the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Web site, however, he referred to certain Shiite groups massacring Iraqi Sunnis and raping their women.

Amama denied Zarqawi's responsibility for killing ordinary Shiite citizens, saying the American occupiers circulate such "lies" to incite sectarian strife in Iraq and "tarnish the credibility of the resistance."

On the other hand, Amama defended Zarqawi for killing members of the Iraqi Police Force, drawing similarities between these operations and those conducted by Hizbullah against Lebanese collaborators in South Lebanon.

"How could we justify Hizbullah's hits against Antoine Lahd's men," he wondered, "while denouncing Zarqawi's similar actions?"

On the other hand, Amama said, "We do not believe in violence and reject any sectarian strife in Lebanon between Shiites and Sunnis, or between Christians and Muslims for that matter."

Some are not convinced. In an interview with Ad-Diyar daily, which raised the question of the growing Salafi movement in Lebanon, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Kesrouan MP General Michel Aoun, said state authorities must outlaw and control all Salafi groups.

"Once in power," he vowed, "I will drive all Salafi groups from their hideouts and prevent their growth as they pose an imminent threat to national unity and reconciliation."

"Salafi groups are not calling for a holy war to establish Islamic rule in Lebanon," Amama reiterated, "but they will fight for their survival when threatened by force."