Contested Secularism in Ethiopia: the Contention between Muslims and the Government
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examines the nature, causes and dynamics of the conflict between the Muslim
community and the Ethiopian government, particularly since 2011 over issues related to
secularism and freedom of religion. By analyzing the historical trajectories of statereligion
relations and the contemporary developments, the study seeks to answer why the
relationship between Muslims and the government has soured – despite an auspicious
beginning – leading to securitization of Islam in general and Islamic reform movements
in particular. This is evident in the firm governmental control over Islamic institutions
and the repression of the Muslim protest movement. Muslim grievances and complaints –
channeled through their representative, social media and their weekly protests – were
articulated in historical and social terms but sought remedy for religious parity within
the constitutional framework of secularism and freedom of religion. Using the various
complaint letters of the Muslims’ Solution Finding Committee, official speeches,
government policy documents and the data obtained from the field through qualitative
methods of data collection techniques, the study scrutinizes the concerns and fears of the
Muslims and appraises the government’s claim of religious extremism in general and
Islamic fundamentalism in particular as a national security threat. At the heart of the
contestation lies the defense of secularism on both sides; each accusing the other for
‘violating the secular constitutional order’. From many of the empirical researches
conducted so far, the data collected and analyzed in this study and information obtained
from the narrations and deeds of the Committee members, the accusation of Muslims
(what it calls Salafis/Wahhabis) by the government ‘conspiring for establishing an
Islamic government and harboring religious extremism’ is found to be an overstretch and
government responses to the demands of Muslims are too simplistic and inaccurate.
Many of the government policies and actions towards Muslims are marked by antithetic
between ‘bad and good, tolerant and intolerant, moderate and extremist’ that resonates
with the western governments’ dichotomy between what Mamdani (2002) calls “good
and bad Muslims”. By doing so, the option for promoting the practice of Sufism
(supposed to be tolerant, apolitical and hence good) and encouraging Sufi-oriented
Muslims to occupy important leadership positions in the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs
Supreme Council (Mejilis) have been ‘on the table’ for countering religious extremism
and political Islam in the Ethiopian government policy circles. This has resulted in the
deep involvement, if not intervention, of government in religious matters, which the
principles of secularism and freedom of religion did not warrant. The strategy of
encouraging apolitical and tolerant religious groups for developing mutual tolerance and
peaceful coexistence between religious communities by itself might not be a bad idea but
it has to be done by the government without taking religious side. Secularism should also
be interpreted as ‘a constitutional principle’ that requires states to treat all religions
equally and their official policies being free from the dictation of religious dictums
instead of interpreting it as ‘a way of life’ to be adopted by individuals to secularize
students through the prohibition of religious practices in educational institutions.