"The Prospects of Islamism in Kenya as Epitomized by Shaykh Aboud Rogo's Sermons", The Annual Review of Islam in Africa, Issue No. 12/2, 2013-2014, p7-12 (original) (raw)
Related papers
From Islamic reform to Muslim activism : The evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya
African Affairs, 2019
This article traces the evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya's public discourse, putting Islamist ideas within a longer history of Muslim politics than most other studies. Specifically, it examines internal debates amongst the minority Muslim population of Kenya, and debates between Muslims and the state and Muslims and the wider Christian public, regarding how to improve the Muslim condition in a Christiandominated country. The immediate background for the emergence of Islamist ideas is then discussed through an examination of trends since the 1990s, including increased contestations of religious and political authority, and responses to Muslim activism by the state and the wider Christian public. The article concludes that Islamist politics in Kenya, and elsewhere, are more often than not a result of local histories as much as they are part of a global Muslim 'victimization' narrative.
Kenya's Jihadi Clerics: Formulation of a “Liberation Theology” and the Challenge to Secular Power
The political reforms of 1990s in Kenya provided extremist Muslim activists the prospect to articulate a political vision that runs counter to the secular principle of plural co-existence. The liberalization of the political space led to the democratization of religious decree-issuing process, thereby undermining the credibility of “moderate” Muslim leaders in interpreting Islamic texts. The paper’s central argument is that the articulation of jihadi ideology is a deliberate recourse by sections of Muslims in Kenya to formulate their political discourse in religious terms. This trend has granted the country’s Muslims the choice to pick between Islamic and secular ideologies with the former being espoused by the jihadists. Through their activities and sermons, the jihadists have criticized the idea of a secular state by issuing fatwas that completely disregard religious mutual co-existence. This study traces the intellectual genesis and the ultimate growth of the jihadi ideology in the country to a prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz Rimo whose efforts ushered in a new way of addressing political issues amongst Kenyan Muslims. It is concluded that this scenario draws impetus from the jihadists’ framing of the Muslims’ grievances along religious lines and thereby apply religion to “solve” political problems.
Kenya is not a stranger to terrorism. The country has experienced a number of attacks since the 1980’s, perpetrated by organizations such as PFLP, Al Qaeda and al-Shabaab. While Kenya was long considered a permissive environment for terrorist operations and for sanctuary, in the past decade the country has experienced a surge in the number of individuals being radicalized and recruited into radical Islamic movements such as al-Shabaab and Daesh . Islamic radicalization and terror has thus become a home- grown problem. Across Kenya’s northern border lies Ethiopia; a country with many similarities to Kenya in terms of religious demography, historical religious power relations, a long border with an instable Somalia and a significant presence of conservative factions of Islam stemming from the Arabian Peninsula. Ethiopia has not, however, experienced near as much religiously motivated terrorism, and reports of Ethiopian individuals being radicalized, or joining movements such as al-Shabaab, are few and far in between. This study attempts to explain this variation between the two countries, using a comparative case study approach. The thesis has its starting point in Social Movement Theory, in order to explain the growth of Islamic radicalization and jihadi sentiments on Kenyan soil and the absence thereof in Ethiopia. It argues that the presence of radicalization in Kenya and the near absence of the same in Ethiopia can, at least to some degree, be explained by the differences in the relationship between the state and its Muslim minority relative other religious groups. Muslims in in Kenya appear to be more deprived in relation to others, than Muslims in Ethiopia in terms of economic and political factors. Moreover, the Muslim population in Kenya are being disproportionally and often indiscriminately targeted by state violence, while the Ethiopian state, although being highly repressive, appear to target all political opposition equally. In Kenya, this creates resentment towards the state on a group level, while it reinforces narratives claiming that the state is waging war against Islam. These factors aid in the creation of an environment that is easily exploited by jihadist movements in their recruitment efforts.
The numerous killings of non-Muslims by Muslim jihadi groups in Kenya, have fuelled ethno-religious tensions manifested in hatred and anger against the entire Muslim community. Though anti-jihadi Muslims have rightly condemned the targeting of their non-Muslim countrymen by the jihadists, the Christian leaders have not been satisfied by their counterpart's internal self-criticism. There are suspicions from Christians, even when anti-jihadi Muslims disassociate themselves from the heinous criminal acts of the jihadists, that all Muslims are the same, and posing a threat to peace in the country. In this context, there has arisen two theories of why we do have jihadist Islam in Kenya, and, for that matter, in other parts of the world. The one argument is that it is due to the social and economic marginalisation and exclusion of Muslims from the dominant and governing hegemony of the mainly Christian-affiliated parties in the country. This causes discontent and dissatisfaction among Muslims, especially among the poor and underprivileged, with the result of their radicalisation, attraction and exposure to, the jihadi groups. The other argument, and this coming from the Christian side, is that Muslims are not the only ones economically marginalized in the country. For them, one of the main factors for the radicalisation of some Muslims and their joining of jihadi groups, is the indoctrination by charismatic Muslim leaders (imams). Foregrounding the potency of both these accounts for explaining why some Muslims join the jihadi movement, as well as why we have jihadi violence (especially against Christians in Kenya), this article addresses these two theories and attempts to point to a
Radicalisation in Kenya: Recruitment to al-Shabaab and the Mombasa Republican Council
Despite a history of extremism and unconventional political developments in Kenya, relatively little empirical research has been done to determine why and how individuals join al-Shabaab and the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). This paper is based on interviews with Kenyan and Somali-Kenyan individuals associated with al-Shabaab and the MRC. These organisations have very different profiles. Al-Shabaab pursues an Islamist terrorist agenda while the MRC pursues a secessionist agenda; the latter has not carried out terrorist attacks. Muslim youth have joined extremist groups as a counter-reaction to what they see as government-imposed ‘collective punishment’ driven by the misguided perception that all Somali and Kenyan-Somali nationals are potential terrorists. As long as Kenyan citizens exclusively identify with an ethnic/religious identity that is perceived to be under threat, radicalisation will increase.
From Islamic reform to Muslim Activism.pdf
From Islamic reform to Muslim activism: the evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya, 2019
This article traces the evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya’s public discourse, putting Islamist ideas within a longer history of Muslim politics than most other studies. Specifically, it examines internal debates amongst the minority Muslim population of Kenya, and debates between Muslims and the state and Muslims and the wider Christian public, regarding how to improve the Muslim condition in a Christian-dominated country. The immediate background for the emergence of Islamist ideas is then discussed through an examination of trends since the 1990s, including increased contestations of religious and political authority, and responses to Muslim activism by the state and the wider Christian public. The article concludes that Islamist politics in Kenya, and elsewhere, are more often than not a result of local histories as much as they are part of a global Muslim ‘victimization’ narrative.