In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All praise be to Allah, the lord of the world and Allah’s blessing and peace be upon our prophet Mohammad, his family and companions.

Overview

The general conference of the Islamic group “Al-E’tisam Bil Kitab Wassunnah” which was held in Hargaisa, the capital of Somaliland between 3/03 – 04/04 1433 H (22 – 26 / 02 / 2012) came at a time when Somali people are undergoing severe predicaments complicated by interwoven internal and external factors. Acting upon the need to fulfill their responsibilities of declaring the truth as well as their duties towards guarding the interests of the nation and Somali people, the group issues this press release highlighting the following twenty points.

Thanksgiving and Appreciation

1. First and foremost, all thanks to Allah. We thank the government and the people of Somaliland. Special thanks go to the scholars and the elders of Somaliland for their hospitality, hosting of the conference and the well organized reception they provided us throughout. We also highly respect and appreciate the outstanding progress, stability and development Somaliland has so far achieved. We urge them to double their efforts in achieving peace and tranquility and take part in the process of helping their Somali brothers reach lasting solution for their problems.

Somali people

1. We urge Somali people to repent to Allah and unite as brothers in Islam, study and truly practice their religious teachings they believe in that eventually will result in showing mercy towards everyone as well as solving their differences and problems according to the sharia law.
2. We call Somali people to hold firm on their national sovereignty knowing that the current difficulty situation we are in is a direct result of our actions of which the ongoing conflict among Somalis is the prime cause.
3. We urge to immediately stop the bloodshed and refrain from the meaningless and unnecessary civil war under the banners of tribal conflicts, religious and political factions in addition for fighting for groups with special interests. We urge to solve all disputes through dialogue, mutual understanding and finding common middle ground.

Somali political and religious figures

1. We call all the heads of regional and local administrations to fear Allah and accomplish their responsibilities and duties towards their people in accordance to Islamic teachings and common interests of Somali people.
2. We call all Islamic scholars to live up to their role of observing the common interests of people and guarding Sharia principles based upon the fear of the Almighty God. We also insist upon them to come to a meeting at the earliest convenience to discuss on finding the right solution for the nation’s ongoing problem.
3. We strongly encourage Scholars and all callers of Da’wa to correct and guide the course of Da’wa and educate young generations according to the understanding and the way of the righteous Salaf scholars and companions (first generations of Islam).
4. We call all traditional elders of Somali people to fulfill their role based on Allah’s fear, honest and justice.  We also urge them to seriously act on the mediation and proposing real solutions for people’s problems.

Service providers

1. We call all those who provide services for Somali people such as media, education to work in an honest, transparent, and neutral way based upon the observation of fear of Allah and according to Sharia law.

The role of women

1. We call Somali women to fully perform their role in the society especially their responsibilities towards bringing up young people in accordance to Islamic moral values and good manners. We call them to hold fast and firm on their Islamic culture and practices and warn them against indirect attempts and plots in the name of freedom and women rights to misguide them and create invisible barriers between them and their Islamic religion.

Distorted thoughts

1. We urge the faction so called “Ahlusunnah Waljamee’a” to immediate refrain from the atrocities they commit against anyone who disputes them in their opinion in the name of fighting Al-Shabab and stop their unjustified closures of religious places, mosques and Qor’anic schools as these actions and atrocities will lead to unnecessary religious hostilities and widespread infighting.
2. We urge Al-Shabab movement who used to kill people under the name of Islam to repent to Allah and return back to their people. We call them to discontinue their stubbornness and persistence on distorted thoughts and their aggression against their people that will eventually result in hostility that only benefits the enemy of Somali people.
3. We urge all Somali regional administrations to offer pardon and amnesty as well as moral and financial support to anyone who departs and rejects those factions and encourage societies to welcome them in such a way that gives those young people confidence and courage to come back and rehabilitate.
4. We warn Somali people and young generations in particular to embrace those distorted thoughts under the name of religion that leads to name-calling of people, judging them as infidels, robbing their belongings and shedding their blood. We also warn them against causing any instability and carrying out any secret killings of community figures – such atrocities those factions used to commit.

External Interfering and meddling

1. We call all international governments who have interests in Somali affairs to refrain from carrying out their special interests and meddling that is intrusive to the Islamic religion, the national sovereignty and the existence of socio-economical common interests of Somali people.
2. We inform Somali people that those countries who’s their armies are currently present in Somalia follow their own agendas and their people’s interests as well as the interests of international superpowers. It is, therefore, us Somalis to unite and have lasting solutions for our conflicts and disputes and stop making excuses and redundant justifications for those countries to interfere and meddle our own affairs.
3. We warn those organizations which come to Somalia under the banner of relief and humanitarian aid and then it came to the attention of people that they carry out their hidden agendas against Islamic teachings and Somali culture and tradition to refrain from such actions or leave the country.

Muslim Countries and Somali Diaspora

1. We urge Muslim countries to actively get involved and take part in the endeavors to find lasting solutions for the Somali problem. We offer our thanks to Gulf countries, Egypt, Sudan and Turkey for their relief aid efforts they provided to Somali people at the time of their need.
2. We thank all Islamic countries and all those other countries that act in the interest of Somali people and offer aid to our society.
3. We also thank Somali Diaspora who always endeavors to fulfill their productive role of continuously helping and supporting Somali people.  We urge them to double their efforts and observe their religious duties, cultural ethics and look after their children according to Islamic manners and teachings. We remind them that they are away for their people and their nation.

 Conclusion

We ask Almighty Allah to relieve our people from the difficulties they face and guide them to their common interests in this world and hereafter.

Guidance and Direction is in the hand of Allah.

 Contact person: Sheik Hassan Mohammad Ibrahim

E-mail: xasanyare@msn.com