A letter from the Salafis of Somalia to Shaykh Al-Albani describing the prevailing situation in Somalia.

The questioner : Peace be upon the noblest of messengers, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows: Our Shaykh, may Allah bless you and extend your life in good deeds and righteous acts, and make you a great benefit to the Muslims, if Allah wills, and make us, you, and them upon guidance and a straight path, following the guidance of the master of messengers (peace and blessings be upon him), and upon his family and all his Companions. Our Shaykh, may Allah bless you, this is a letter I received from some of our brothers in Somalia. It says, and it is addressed to you: "Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. As for what follows: Peace be upon the scholar Al-Albani from his Salafi brothers in Somalia. We would like to present to you some questions, and before presenting them, we would like to briefly depict the reality that gave rise to these questions and necessitated them in the land of Somalia. It is a Muslim people with no disbelieving minorities. Four years ago, there was a tyrannical, shifting government that turned its face sometimes toward Bolshevism and sometimes toward the White House, driving the people like a herd of sheep, caring for none of their rights, oaths, or dignity, trampling on their necks and destroying their dignity, until it reached the point of tampering with the Book of Allah, disregarding whatever it wished and denying it as it pleased, until it even denied the system of family and inheritance in Islam. The president claimed that this was a remnant of colonialism and a foolish opinion. When the injustice reached its peak and the oppression reached its height, fronts formed against it, composed of tribes with their tribal leaders at their heads. Then confrontations began between these fronts and the government army, lasting for years until the government was forced to withdraw from the regions and governorates and concentrated in the capital. Then fierce confrontations occurred within the capital, lasting for a month, in which the regime used all lethal weapons, but they availed it nothing. The victims of this war numbered in the tens of thousands of men, women, children, and elders, until the capital nearly became a mass grave."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : "The fronts triumphed over him, and he left the capital with the remnants of his army, dragging the tails of defeat. When he was expelled from the capital, the people scattered in all directions, with each tribe returning to its original region. The youth of the Awakening movement belonging to each tribe followed them for the sake of security and the economy, and perhaps for da'wah. The tyrant and some of his close army members settled in a village in his tribe's region, and the remnants of his army gathered in another city. Somalia had Islamic movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood in its local and international branches, the Tabligh movement, and the Islamic Union in Somalia. The latter stated in its basic constitution that its methodology is the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the pious predecessors, while benefiting from the Islamic heritage, both old and new. This phrase aligns with, meaning, the words of the one who..."

The Shaykh : But, if Allah wills, it will not be a cover; it will be a reality.

The questioner : "And its goal is to establish the rule of Allah on earth."

The Shaykh : Very good.

The questioner : "Using all lawful means to achieve this, or to achieve that goal. Organizationally, it resembles the Muslim Brotherhood in its system of families, cells, and emirates, where the emirate is obligatory to obey and takes the pledge of allegiance from its members to its leader for obedience in ease and hardship. During the previous government, the youth gathered to participate in the ongoing fighting between the government and the tribes, but they avoided participating in the fighting between the government and the tribes, describing it as a war between people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Since the Islamic Union group was the largest movement, as they claimed, they felt they could insert themselves into the arenas of events and engage in battles to take power after the bond had broken. They helped influential groups within that group support their tribes in some battles against other tribes, on the pretext that their tribe had pledged to accept the rule of Islam if they were defended. With the participation of their tribe, others were able to expel some fronts from a town they controlled, on the pretext that the expelled ones were rebels (baghy). They cited a verse from Surat al-Hujurat..."

The Shaykh : On the pretext that...

The questioner : "That the expelled ones were rebels (baghy)."

The Shaykh : Rebels (baghy), yes.

The questioner : "And they cited a verse from Surat al-Hujurat regarding fighting the rebels (baghy). The leadership of the group decided two years ago, in a manner contrary to their constitution, to seize a large region of the country, whether by peace or war. They carried out a coup against those tribes, but they were quickly defeated and fled to a mountainous region where they remained besieged for a long time. They fought bravely to repel the tribes' attacks until the matter was finally settled. Some wise men sought reconciliation, and the youth put down their weapons, but the da'wah was greatly affected by what happened. Now, another faction of the group is preparing and training to liberate the capital, Mogadishu, from the grip of the tribal fronts. The Osama bin Laden group provided them with some training courses and fiqh lessons, and other groups outside the country are assisting them. These youth and their supporters call what has happened and what they intend to do now jihad in the path of Allah. The leader of that group believes that the Somali people are not inviolable in their blood, and that he has pledged to Allah to spill much blood until they stand upon the law of Allah. This leader, of course, believes that such a prince must be obeyed and disobeying him is forbidden. On this basis, they rush to carry out what he orders them to do. Finally, we send these questions from the Muslim Brotherhood or the Salafis in Somalia, who trust in...The Shaykh : ...and benefit greatly from his books and cassettes. They need the answers to be detailed, as heated ideological discussions are taking place in the Somali arena. As for the first question, it is not mentioned in the set of questions they sent on this paper.