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Muslim Affairs Page
Answer
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Name
Yousef
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Profession
Question
Dr. Mohamed, I would like to ask what the position of Muslim community in Kenya is regarding the current political crisis. Also how do they look at the social unrest; are they facing any threats from other different tribal and religious groups. I know I am putting all Muslims in one bucket, but at least I would like to know official position of Muslim organizations.
Answer
The question is as you said, a generalization of Muslims have so far not been manifestly affected but there is no knowledge of what will happen if this continues. The so-called tribes are nationalities and sometimes nationalities are more important than religion especially where the adoption of Islam is very young in terms of years.
Name
fariss
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Profession
Question
Dr. Hyder,
Do you trust the united nations involvement in the Kenian issues? How would that affect chariaa in the Islamic regions?
Answer
At the Moment Kofi Annan represents the best hope for a solution to the problem. The issue of Shariaa does not arise since it is not applicable in Kenya except in very limited conditions such as marriage, divorce and inheritance only.
Name
Abdo
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Profession
Question
A few days go Al-Jazeera had a hot discussion on whether social violence is a necessary method to restore democracy in Kenya and other parts of the world. How do you see the political results of the violence so far? It seems like Kibaki is now willing to compromise, and any president now has to think twice before attempting to fix the elections.
Answer
One would hope that social violence is not necessary but it would seem that it has become a necessary evil. Clearly had those who had sworn in Kibaki with the unholy haste considered the consequences of their act, they might have thought twice before embarking on it. They obviously thought that the results imposed upon the people would be accepted as a fait accompli but not so in the Kenya of today.
Name
Ahmed
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Profession
Question
ASW Prof Hyder, Since both sides of Kenyan election dispute have committed systematic killing against civilian, is there an alternatives for Kenyans. and what we would expect in the next few weeks if Mr Kofi Annan's mediation should fail. Thanks
Answer
WS Sheikh Ahmed. The initial reaction to upstaging of the Election Results unfortunately brought out the feelings against a kind of imposition of ethnic hegemony which was quite unacceptable. This was an instinctive and spontaneous revulsion on the part of the majority of the peoples of this country most of whom did not participate in the ant-Kikuyu violence even if they sympathised with it. But latterly it has been the Kikuyu youth who have reacted to the burning and destruction of their properties (meagre as these were in most cases). Unfortunately, the rich and powerful have remained safe and it would seem that these Kikuyu gangs have not seen anything like the harsh treatment by the police that was exacted against the earlier (anti-Kikuyu) violence. Both the action and the reaction are of course wrong but they are being treated unevenly by the police.
As to the possibility of an Annan failure, one would hope that enough damage has been inflicted on Kenya that both sides would be inclined to do everything to ensure that it succeeds
Name
mariam
- Puerto Rico
Profession
none
Question
Why is the world in such chaos?Who is responsable?
Answer
Good question Mariam. Some of us believe that there is a sort of imbalance of power in the world. The militarily strong are not necessarily guided by wisdom and understanding. Their tendency to impose their will by military means rather than by accepting that there are points of view other than their own is unfortunate and is contributing to global instability. Then the easy access to arms makes the expression of dissent by military means that armed rebellion follows military imposition of political will. The whole process of colonization and the subsequent handing of power to those who line themselves with ex-colonial masters and the intransigence of these powers and their uncompromising pursuit of their interests rather than their responsibilities has led to the interplay of the strong versus the weak without a moral frame of reference.
Name
Sara
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Profession
Question
What is the percentage of Muslims in Kenyan population? What is the political situation for Muslims in Kenya? What stance do they have regarding the ongoing violence, if any?
Answer
Muslims believe that they constitute some 25-30% of the population. Up to this last election, the influence of Kenya Muslims on the general political position in Kenya has been minimal despite the increasingly vigorous expression of the Muslim viewpoint. But since the turn of the century, the intense civic education of the Kenya Muslim by organizations such as the one I am chairman of (Muslim Civic Education Trust), there has been a great awakening of Muslims and these have exerted a growing influence on both the Government of the day as well as on the Opposition.
Muslims do not believe in violent expressions but past experience has shown that when provoked they can respond with equal verocity
Name
Muslim Arabian
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Profession
Question
Why do you think the USnited States is not that interested in Kenya now as it was in the case of Burma some months ago, don't both have the same democratic cause?
Answer
But the United States is definitely keenly interested in Kenya. Americans have vast investments in Kenya but more importantly they reckon that Kenya is the hub for East and Central Africa and could not possibly ignore it without many setbacks.
Name
Ibrahim
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Profession
Question
Dr. Hyder, What do you think the impact of this social, political turmoil would be on future Kenyan elections and inter tribal relations?
Answer
Allah Ya’lam. If we learn the right lessons, we can even conceive of a situation where the pain has been a necessary part of the gain that followed. There are many lessons to be learnt from the events following the Dec. 27, 20007 elections. If we learn them and put our heads together to ensure that the necessary constitutional reforms are put into place, we would be immensely the better for it. And so would be the inter-tribal relationship. Ethnic hegemony has been the rule rather than the exception so far not only in Kenya but in many ex-colonial African countries. If we learn the right lessons, this would be significantly changed. But then, if we do not we would be doomed.
Name
Choaib
- Sudan
Profession
Question
Mr. Mohamed, Sudan is preparing for elections soon and I think the government here is paying real attention to what is happening In Kenya. To what extent do you think the post-election violence in Kenya is sending shock waves to all governments in Africa?
Answer
The short answer, Choaib, would be I do not know. But the long answer would be that all right-thinking African ex-colonies in particular as well as others would learn that the Quranic prescription of ‘Wa amruhum shuura baina hum’ should be taken very seriously. Justice and equity should be our guiding stars. Taking political power as a Trusteeship during which the inner self of the vast majority of the citizenry is genuinely satisfied that those in charge of running their affairs are genuinely dedicated to their service rather than to serve their personal interests is an important lesson. But modern political thinking is not always based on those premises. We do not need political pundits, we need political saints and these, I am afraid, are few and far between in real life
Name
Editor, Mustapha Ajbaili
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Profession
Question
The session has ended. We would like to thank Dr. Kareem, M. Kamel for taking the time to answer our and your questions. We also thank all those who participated in the dialogue.
