Who Are Al Ahbash?

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Who Are Al Ahbash?

l Posted by Daoud Ibrahim on August 7, 2008 at 3:59am
l View Daoud Ibrahim's blog

The name al-Ahbash, recently mentioned in the media in connection to the UN investigation into the
murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, refers to The Association of Islamic
Charitable Projects in Lebanon which was founded by A Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al
Hirari, nicknamed “al Habashi”, referring to his Ethiopian origin. Born in the city of al Hirara , near
Somalia , al Hirari settled in Lebanon in 1950 where he taught religious studies and cultivated a
personal following.

Maintaining strong relations with the Syrian government, the groups leader, Nizar al Halabi was
killed in 1995 by Ahmad Abdul Karim al Saaid, known as Abu Mihjin, who headed “Asbat al
Ansar”or the League of Partisans. The latter was sentenced to death in absentia for his crime.

In April 2001, al Ahbash organized a series of public rallies to counter demonstrations called by
those opposed to Syria's presence in Lebanon on the anniversary of the civil war. Members took to
the streets dressed in black and wearing face paint and masks, the al-Ahbash members chanted pro-
Syrian slogans before the TV cameras while waving nail-encrusted broomsticks, kitchen knives,
brass knuckles, chains, axes, old rusted swords and hammers.

Released on Friday, the UN report into the assassination of Hariri featured the name of three

http://mediageeks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/1976249:BlogPost:57699 11/13/2008
Who Are Al Ahbash? - Wired Journalists Page 2 of 4

brothers, Ahmad Abd al Al, an active member of al Ahbash currently in Lebanese custody, Walid, a
member of the Presidential Guard, and Mahmud, also member of al Ahbash who, according to the
investigation telephoned Lebanese President Emile Lahoud moments before the bombing which
targeted Hariri’s convoy on February 14 th 2005. Mahmud was arrested on Sunday on a warrant
issued by Magistrate Judge Sai Mirza. Police in Beirut also raised a sweet shop in Tariq al Jadidah
neighbourhood owned by Hashem Mahmud Alian, allegedly a member of al Ahbash where hand
grenades were found and confiscates and Alian arrested.

According to Dar al Iftaa in Beirut , the Lebanese state mufti’s administration, Abdullah al Hirari
was “a man hostile to those who did not share his views, even his predecessors such as Sheikh Ibn
Taymiya and Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdul Wahab. He was nicknamed the Sheikh of strife.”

On its internet site, the group explains how its name was originally “used to indicate the students and
supporters of sheikh al Hirari. In reality, al Ahbash are an organization called The Association of
Islamic Charitable Projects.”

“The Association rejects the Takfir ideology and opposes the use of violence against the ruling
authorities and the killing of the elderly, women, and children. It does not depend on any
government for financial support and rejects the takfir ideologies that denounce Muslims as
infidels”.

According to the site, the former Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Mukhtar al Alayli, had recognized the
religious knowledge of al Hirari and helped him settle in Lebanon and teach in its mosques.

Listing the group's accomplishments, the site mentions the schools and colleges it has founded
around Lebanon and the university it established. Members are alleged to live as far as North
America and Europe where they run a number of religious schools. Al Ahbash run their own radio
station which broadcasts religious programs in Lebanon. Sheikh Abdullah al Habashi is married to
four women and has two children, a boy and a girl, the site added.

Based in Burj Abi Haidar in west Beirut , the group maintains centers across Europe , including
Switzerland , France , The Netherlands, Sweden , Denmark , and German, and several US states.

Al Ahbash entered the Lebanese political arena in 1992 when its candidate Dr. Adnan Trabulisi was
elected to the Lebanese parliament.

Dar al Iftaa has accused the group of following the Khawarij, an Islamic sect in the 7 th and 8 th
centuries in Southern Iraq and being extreme in their denunciation of their predecessors without
taking into consideration the regulations around takfir.

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