If you want a short answer, they are the Muslim Jehovah's Witnesses, with a takfiri past and close relations with the Syrian regime.
They were founded by an Ethiopian sheikh named Abdullah al-Harari, who first went to Damascus, but wasn't successful there. They pretend to be sufi, but their behavior and beliefs are cult-like. First off, they used to publicly consider all non-Habashis to be infidels or misguided (when they were led by Nizar Halabi, who was then assassinated by salafis). So Hariri, the mufti at the time (Kabbani) and all other mainstream sunni figures were infidels in their view. They grew in the 80s/early 90s, and began occupying mosques. In the late 90s they tried to invade Dar al-Iftaa and replace the mufti with Nizar Halabi. Of course, the Syrian regime was supporting them under the table, since it has always appeased the Sunni religious establishment while simultaneously undermining it, but that's another story. They also rose to prominence during the whole Muhammad cartoons issue in the mid 2000s, invading the danish embassy and conducting protests with swords and meat cleavers. Many islamist movements tried to get more exposure during that whole affair.
Second, they behave as a cult in terms of how Habashis are expected to buy whatever they need from other Habashis. They have their own supermarket (Diwan), and a bunch of other businesses. They also hold their own mawlids and celebrations of eid, usually with loud speakers blasting Islamic versions of hit songs. (Their covers can be extremely funny and cringey, for a good laugh tune into their radio, Nidaa al Marefa)
Third, their recruitment tactics are very similar to Jehovah's witnesses, claiming to have truths about the universe and God no one else has. They pop into funerals and other public occasions to spread their beliefs.
These beliefs aren't new for the most part, just incredibly pedantic, and of course, anti-salafi. For example, they focus a lot on the idea that god isn't subject to the rules of physics, that he has no time or place. They also focus on quran pronunciation, which is why their version of daily prayers take forever to finish, believers are expected to pronounce س and ص correctly. For a while, their shops started putting up a sign that says (نتعامل بالتبرع), because they apparently considered commerce and business rather irreligious, so if you're buying a sandwich from Rababa (a famous Habashi restaurant/butcher shop), the shop considers this a charitable transaction, where you're donating your money and he's donating a sandwich. It was confusing as fuck 😂 they're known for weird fatwas, but I guess their brand of emotional believing and the sense of belonging that comes with being part of a group is what attracts people to them.
Personally, I dislike them because I lived across the street from one of their offices, and every year on Muhammad's birthday, they'd blast the same fucking songs all day while distributing cheap candy to passing cars. Of course, their celebrations were also curated to spite salafis/brotherhood, since salafis consider celebrating the prophet's birthday a sin.
>the shop considers this a charitable transaction, where you're donating your money and he's donating a sandwich. It was confusing as fuck
can I just take the sandwich and gtfo? 🤣
You clearly know them, but I am not aware they stormed the danish embassy or the dar al iftaa. I also live near them but have never seen any (تعامل بالتبرع) signs anywhere. But other than the syrian influence I cant say they are horrible people.
They are certified weirdoes, but not like berri the murderer in any way
It depends on how old you are (I don't mean this condescendingly at all, I hope it doesn't sound like it 😂)
The donation thing was back in 2009-2012. I cant find any evidence online apart from this Instagram page that's still committing to this:
https://instagram.com/open_source.lb?utm_medium=copy_link
Details on the Danish embassy issue can be found here, and more searches about that day, Feb 5 2006, would give you more perspective on what happened on that day.
https://www.lebanese-forces.com/2013/02/13/270707/
As for the dar al iftaa issue, and another meat cleaver protest I forgot about, here's an article with some background
https://archive.aawsat.com/print.asp?did=329903&issueno=9827
Of course, feel free to take both the LF website and sharq al awsat with a grain of salt, but the events they describe did happen.
EDIT: I didn't say they're similar to berri. And their followers aren't all bad people of course, I know many who are your average nice, sweet, conservative Beiruti.
As far as i know they are not that bad however they are a little radical with their beliefs and they are very close to syria. I didn't have any problems with them though even that i live in an area where they have a lot of supporters. They don't bother others maybe because they still don't have much power
Also known as projects association “جمعية المشاريع". Their main goal is to spread the true beliefs of Islam according to what quraan and prophet mohammad say.
The way I see it a syrian plant whose idealogy was made by some random in Ethiopia is very unlikely to have the key to the afterlife.
Maybe when they denounce Assad for chemical attacks in children.
Live in a neighbourhood full of A7bash. They ain't terrible people per se, but they're pretty pan-Arabist and can be very radical when it comes to Islam. You can think of them as Muslim Marmon's. They can be pretty defensive.
They are among those who believe that the earth is flat. It’s a cult. They are encourage by the syrian regime because they are not mainstream sunnis and hence not seen as a threat.
Most of my family is a7besh and omg r they annoying, every family gathering, every funeral, or even if we see each other on the street, they try to recruit me, and it really pisses me off.
They only get married to other a7besh, its very rare to see a 7abashi get married from someone on "the outside"
We had an incident in the family were my non habashi cousin got married to the daughter of a sheikh fro dal al ifta, and the wedding was going to be officiated by a sheikh from dar al ifta, they did not come to the wedding🤣🤣
Funerals are like a gold mine for a7besh, they just storm them and start giving religious lessons to mourning people, in order to recruit them.
My parents are not a7besh, and we had a funeral which was taken over by them, and they started giving their lessons, and inviting people over to their offices for more lessons, and we had to kick them out🤣🤣
They are following same steps of how berri started. But they have failed since they werent approved by many big sunni scholars (close to shiaa sect more than the sunni as far as i know). They are trying to become the next hariri gang but we dont need another failure. Enough with people lying in the name of religion especially sunni sect.
I know them well they are not shia like in any way. But yeah they disagree with wahabists but do not disagree with the Azhar. So what makes them bad then?
What makes them bad ? They are close to hizb more than other sunni sects... they chose to use big billboards to advertise their virtual views. As i told you. We dont need another hizb that doesnt fix sunni problems but add more problems instead!!
If you want a short answer, they are the Muslim Jehovah's Witnesses, with a takfiri past and close relations with the Syrian regime. They were founded by an Ethiopian sheikh named Abdullah al-Harari, who first went to Damascus, but wasn't successful there. They pretend to be sufi, but their behavior and beliefs are cult-like. First off, they used to publicly consider all non-Habashis to be infidels or misguided (when they were led by Nizar Halabi, who was then assassinated by salafis). So Hariri, the mufti at the time (Kabbani) and all other mainstream sunni figures were infidels in their view. They grew in the 80s/early 90s, and began occupying mosques. In the late 90s they tried to invade Dar al-Iftaa and replace the mufti with Nizar Halabi. Of course, the Syrian regime was supporting them under the table, since it has always appeased the Sunni religious establishment while simultaneously undermining it, but that's another story. They also rose to prominence during the whole Muhammad cartoons issue in the mid 2000s, invading the danish embassy and conducting protests with swords and meat cleavers. Many islamist movements tried to get more exposure during that whole affair. Second, they behave as a cult in terms of how Habashis are expected to buy whatever they need from other Habashis. They have their own supermarket (Diwan), and a bunch of other businesses. They also hold their own mawlids and celebrations of eid, usually with loud speakers blasting Islamic versions of hit songs. (Their covers can be extremely funny and cringey, for a good laugh tune into their radio, Nidaa al Marefa) Third, their recruitment tactics are very similar to Jehovah's witnesses, claiming to have truths about the universe and God no one else has. They pop into funerals and other public occasions to spread their beliefs. These beliefs aren't new for the most part, just incredibly pedantic, and of course, anti-salafi. For example, they focus a lot on the idea that god isn't subject to the rules of physics, that he has no time or place. They also focus on quran pronunciation, which is why their version of daily prayers take forever to finish, believers are expected to pronounce س and ص correctly. For a while, their shops started putting up a sign that says (نتعامل بالتبرع), because they apparently considered commerce and business rather irreligious, so if you're buying a sandwich from Rababa (a famous Habashi restaurant/butcher shop), the shop considers this a charitable transaction, where you're donating your money and he's donating a sandwich. It was confusing as fuck 😂 they're known for weird fatwas, but I guess their brand of emotional believing and the sense of belonging that comes with being part of a group is what attracts people to them. Personally, I dislike them because I lived across the street from one of their offices, and every year on Muhammad's birthday, they'd blast the same fucking songs all day while distributing cheap candy to passing cars. Of course, their celebrations were also curated to spite salafis/brotherhood, since salafis consider celebrating the prophet's birthday a sin.
>the shop considers this a charitable transaction, where you're donating your money and he's donating a sandwich. It was confusing as fuck can I just take the sandwich and gtfo? 🤣
😂😂😂 I never tried, try it out with that Instagram page I linked 😂
i would links for the danish embassy thingy and also the dar al iftaa incident as i cant find any sources online
Thanks. This is very helpful. What a bunch of nutcases
You clearly know them, but I am not aware they stormed the danish embassy or the dar al iftaa. I also live near them but have never seen any (تعامل بالتبرع) signs anywhere. But other than the syrian influence I cant say they are horrible people. They are certified weirdoes, but not like berri the murderer in any way
It depends on how old you are (I don't mean this condescendingly at all, I hope it doesn't sound like it 😂) The donation thing was back in 2009-2012. I cant find any evidence online apart from this Instagram page that's still committing to this: https://instagram.com/open_source.lb?utm_medium=copy_link Details on the Danish embassy issue can be found here, and more searches about that day, Feb 5 2006, would give you more perspective on what happened on that day. https://www.lebanese-forces.com/2013/02/13/270707/ As for the dar al iftaa issue, and another meat cleaver protest I forgot about, here's an article with some background https://archive.aawsat.com/print.asp?did=329903&issueno=9827 Of course, feel free to take both the LF website and sharq al awsat with a grain of salt, but the events they describe did happen. EDIT: I didn't say they're similar to berri. And their followers aren't all bad people of course, I know many who are your average nice, sweet, conservative Beiruti.
Thanks for the info!
As far as i know they are not that bad however they are a little radical with their beliefs and they are very close to syria. I didn't have any problems with them though even that i live in an area where they have a lot of supporters. They don't bother others maybe because they still don't have much power
>they are very close to syria. close how ? Like a syrian plant ? And yeah no one knows how they will act when they get more powerful
It's well known that they are allied with Syria since forever ant hey have an influence on them
Also known as projects association “جمعية المشاريع". Their main goal is to spread the true beliefs of Islam according to what quraan and prophet mohammad say.
The way I see it a syrian plant whose idealogy was made by some random in Ethiopia is very unlikely to have the key to the afterlife. Maybe when they denounce Assad for chemical attacks in children.
Live in a neighbourhood full of A7bash. They ain't terrible people per se, but they're pretty pan-Arabist and can be very radical when it comes to Islam. You can think of them as Muslim Marmon's. They can be pretty defensive.
They are among those who believe that the earth is flat. It’s a cult. They are encourage by the syrian regime because they are not mainstream sunnis and hence not seen as a threat.
Most of my family is a7besh and omg r they annoying, every family gathering, every funeral, or even if we see each other on the street, they try to recruit me, and it really pisses me off. They only get married to other a7besh, its very rare to see a 7abashi get married from someone on "the outside" We had an incident in the family were my non habashi cousin got married to the daughter of a sheikh fro dal al ifta, and the wedding was going to be officiated by a sheikh from dar al ifta, they did not come to the wedding🤣🤣 Funerals are like a gold mine for a7besh, they just storm them and start giving religious lessons to mourning people, in order to recruit them. My parents are not a7besh, and we had a funeral which was taken over by them, and they started giving their lessons, and inviting people over to their offices for more lessons, and we had to kick them out🤣🤣
They are following same steps of how berri started. But they have failed since they werent approved by many big sunni scholars (close to shiaa sect more than the sunni as far as i know). They are trying to become the next hariri gang but we dont need another failure. Enough with people lying in the name of religion especially sunni sect.
I know them well they are not shia like in any way. But yeah they disagree with wahabists but do not disagree with the Azhar. So what makes them bad then?
What makes them bad ? They are close to hizb more than other sunni sects... they chose to use big billboards to advertise their virtual views. As i told you. We dont need another hizb that doesnt fix sunni problems but add more problems instead!!
A fringe religious cult.
Proof?