Al-Shabab Ideology

Al-Shabab’s ideology is typically described as a brand of Salafism and Wahhabism that supports takfir, the excommunication of apostates or unbelievers. Though it has stated many goals in the past, the group fights first and foremost to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in the Horn of Africa that would include not only Somalia but also Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Islamism and Salafism served to express commonalities and build alliances against shared enemies who happened to be world powers such as the USA or the USSR. The leadership of Al-Shabab describes the ideology in parallel to that of Al-Qaida as Manhaj, “It is the same manhaj repeatedly heard from the mouth of the Mujahid Shaykh Usama Bin Laden … the doctor Ayman ath-Thawaahiri [bin Laden's right-hand man] … and the hero, Abu Mus'ab az-Zarqaawi” [leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq] – Abu Mansoor al-Amriki reportedly announced.
This ideology of Al-Shabab is inspired by the teachings of scholars like Mohamed ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism, a stricter version of Salafism and his mission was to restore a more pure and original form of the faith of Islam, as anyone who didn’t adhere to this interpretation were considered …show more content…
Al-Banna insisted on the importance of Jihad with sword more than Jihad with Soul thus promoting a movement against colonial and imperial western powers. The other prominent scholars that influenced the ideology of Al-Shabaab are Sayyid Qutb, Abdullah Azzam of The Brotherhood and Abu A'la Maududi of Jamaat-I-Islami. These scholars emphasized on the refusal to go under the rule of Kaafir government. Salafism as dominant ideology of Al-Shabaab has helped get Somalia into global politics and served as a uniting force to gain political objectives of getting into power which their ancestors failed to do so due to the complicated fabric of Somali society based on Clan